Four upsets across eight games = one rough weekend on the punt.
We’re back with everything you need to know straight from the bookies in this week’s edition of The Offload!
Performance of the Week
We touched on promising Newcastle centre Bradman Best last week as a player to watch following his two-try performance against Penrith, and he certainly didn’t disappoint by book-ending Sunday’s win over the Raiders with another double.
To say the 19-year-old is a freak would be the understatement of the year.
Best was paying a cool $19 in our First Try Scorer market, and punters didn’t have to wait long as he barraged his way through three Canberra players to score less than two minutes into the game.
He added another for good measure in the 79th minute with a nifty little kick-chase off a forced error, saluting for those that had him at $4.20 to score anytime.
We could go on and on here, but this mountain of a man is an absolute force to be reckoned with.
Don’t Argue…
With Kyle Feldt.
There wasn’t a whole lot to like about the Cowboys on Saturday night, but the North Queensland winger assured punters didn’t walk away empty-handed after his two-try performance.
The trends favoured Feldt for a big night after scoring in 10 of his last 11 appearances at home, and he quickly saluted as a $2.00 Anytime Try Scorer in the 25th minute off a handy pass from Jake Clifford in the corner.
The second came on a clever intercept on Sione Katoa’s miss-kick. Feldt returned it to the house to keep the Cowboys in the game, but perhaps more importantly, inch his way a little close to Matt Bowen atop North Queensland’s all-time leading try-scorers list.
From the Woodwork
If you’re a casual fan of the game, you might have seen the name Lindsay Collins floating around over the last two years.
He’s the bloke that was dropped from the Roosters heading into the 2018 and the 2019 Grand Final in favour of Dylan Napa and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, but judging by Thursday’s huge performance against the Broncos off the bench, he might finally have earned his way into Sydney’s lineup for good.
Collins crossed the line in garbage time against Brisbane to further pad their already ridiculous lead in the second half. He finished the game with 17 hit-ups, 28 tackles and a whopping 272 metres gained.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson gave the 24-year-old a huge rap afterwards saying the Queenslander is quickly developing into a lynchpin for his side up forward.
After an unlucky start to his career, he looks to be a real name to watch.
Punter’s Pals
- Suliasi Vunivalu seems to save his best for the Rabbitohs. The Storm winger has now scored in three straight games against the Bunnies after crossing the line in the first half of Friday’s 22-8 victory. The star Fijian was due a bounce-back following his no-show against the Raiders in Round 3 and will have an opportunity for more next week against the Knights.
- Speaking of the Storm, you may as well load up whenever they meet the Bunnies in Melbourne. Craig Bellamy’s side has now won 16 straight at AAMI against the Rabbitohs.
- So Parramatta’s new $360 million stadium is already starting to pay dividends. We saw the Eels turn Bankwest into somewhat of a fortress last year, a trend that has carried over into the fan-less 2020 season. Despite Saturday’s controversy, the Eels have now won nine of their last 10 games at Bankwest.
- Be sure to take note here: the Total has gone Under in 12 of Canterbury’s last 14 games. Even after piling on the points in the second half, the Dogs and Dragons still fell well short of the 36.5 point Total at kickoff. Whether that trend holds up next week against the Roosters is a different story.
Mr Irrelevant
We hate to do him dirty, but it’s Tom Trbojevic.
Forward pass or not, he was pretty quiet against the Eels where we was paying $2.50 as an Anytime Try Scorer and $12.00 to cross the line as the First Try Scorer.
Turbo had scored in each of his three games coming in but recored the same number of turnovers on Saturday night.
On a positive note, he tends to bounce-back well when he underperforms, and the Broncos are up next. Just saying…
Don’t You Forget About Me
- Matt Burton: not only did Burton salute at whopping $23 First Try Scorer odds on Friday night, he went on to add another 11-minutes later in the Panthers’ 26-0 shutout win over the Warriors. The 20-year-old from Dubbo has burst onto the scene this year and is definitely one to blackbook.
- Ryan Papenhuyzen: the sky really is the limit for the 22-year-old fullback. Papenhuyzen played a key role in Melbourne’s bounce-back win over the Rabbitohs scoring the first try (paying $11) and racking up over 200m on attack. They are big shoes to fill, but this kid might just do Billy Slater proud.
- Ronaldo Mulitalo: not hard to see why the Sharks winger spent some time training at the Blues’ Origin camp. His footwork is out of this world, as shown in his two-try performance on Saturday night against the Cowboys. His defence could use a little work, but Mulitalo is a name you have to include from here on out in your multi’s.
It’s Getting Hot in Here
Brisbane’s 2-0 start to the season seems life a lifetime ago following their 59-0 defeat at the hands of the Roosters last Thursday night.
In their defence the Broncos were missing Katoni Staggs, but the fact they allowed a James Tedesco-less Sydney outfit to put up that kind of margin is extremely worrying.
Anthony Seibold, much like Paul McGregor, faces a do-or-die type scenario this week against Manly.
Maybe playing away from Suncorp will actually help the Broncos out, but with the Sea Eagles looking to atone for a controversial loss last week, the early $4.45 about Brisbane tells the full story.
Bad Beats
– Eels v Sea Eagles – Over 38.5 Total Points: Saturday night was a real sucker-punch if you were a Manly fan who also backed the Over. The Total drifted out to 38.5 points before kickoff, and if the final no-try decision had of counted, you would have been paid out.
Don’t Tell the Misso
- $6.5k South Sydney Rabbitohs @ $3.50
The Storm almost never lose back-to-back games. Everybody knows that… right?
- $50k North Queensland Cowboys to Win Both Halves @ $2.80
A firm reminder that beating the Titans the week prior means jack.
- $10k Wests Tigers @ $1.28
Clearly somebody tempted this guy with a bad time.
- $13k St George Illawarra Dragons @ $1.70
Whoever you are, look up the definition of insanity. We literally went through this last week!
Mad Multis
This was by far the toughest round of the year with upsets right across the board, so this week’s Mad Multis are a little scarce.
- $25k @ $2.25: Sydney Roosters to Win Both Halves, Sydney Roosters to Cover the Line (-10.5 Points)
- $950 @ $29: Adam Elliott Anytime Try Scorer, Canterbury Bulldogs 13+