The Melbourne Storm captured their fourth Premiership on Sunday to cap off one of the strangest, but also one of the most exciting, NRL seasons to date.
This year’s decider featured a bit of everything in the form of points, controversial penalties, comebacks, send-offs, and perhaps most importantly, plenty of value from a betting perspective.
The book came out on top in match result betting, while it also enjoyed a decent little collect on Justin Olam saluting as the First Try Scorer @ $19.00.
If you’re craving some more facts and figures, be sure to read the season finale of ‘The Offload’ below!
Performance of the Week
How can you possibly go past the most electrifying fullback in footy?
Ryan Papenhuyzen was outstanding on Sunday night scoring not only one of the tries of the season, but also mopping up the little one-percenters that often go a long way to winning a Premiership.
Mr. Mohawk himself was paying $2.70 Anytime, which was fairly generous considering he’d scored a try against the Eels and the Raiders leading in.
Those that took the $9.00 about Papz to win the Norm Smith also walked away with a smile on their face as selectors thankfully put any Cameron Smith bias aside and awarded it to the most deserving.
Don’t Argue…
With Cameron Smith.
In what may have been his final game, the captain left nothing to chance pouncing on a loose ball to score right before half-time whilst also nailing three conversions and two simple penalty goals to extend Melbourne’s lead.
Smith was paying $11.00 Anytime, a nice little consolation prize for anyone that backed him as the $4.00 favourite to win the Clive Churchill Medal.
Smith’s future remains a mystery going forward, but if Sunday was indeed his final game, at least he left us with one final spray of the referee to remember him by.
Punters Pals
- Stephen Crichton Anytime @ $2.80: Chrichton really got the Panthers’ mini comeback started when he scored in the 68th minute. He’s easily been one of the most profitable betting plays this year scoring in 13 of his last 17 games, so the price listed above was pretty generous considering.
- Ryan Papenhuyzen Anytime @ $2.70: keep this one in mind for next season – Papz has now scored in six of his last seven games when Melbourne are the favourites.
- Brian To’o Anytime @ $2.60: To’o lit a spark under the Panthers in the second half, and it came as no real surprise if you’ve been paying attention to the trends. The big man has now scored in each of his last four games at ANZ Stadium.
- Suliasi Vunivalu Anytime @ $2.40: adding to the Anytime value was the big Fijian, who would you believe it, scored in his fifth consecutive finals game on what can only be described as one of the intercepts of the century.
- Josh Mansour Anytime @ $2.70: Sauce made things pretty interesting in the 72nd minute when he scored on a lovely looping ball in the corner from Jarome Luai. As a result, Mansour has now scored in eight of Penrith’s last nine games!
Mr. Irrelevant
Sadly, we have to give it to Josh Addo-Carr.
The Foxx went missing in what might have been his final game in Melbourne, finishing with only 51m in just his 10th try-less performance of the 24 game season.
To be fair, Addo-Carr did have a hand in Justin Olam’s opening try, but he struggled to do much else along the wing as the Panthers continued to give up points through the middle.
Unfortunately for punters that backed him as the $2.10 Anytime favourite, Addo-Carr let you down.
Don’t Forget About…
Papenhuyzen (as if you actually could).
Aside from the Churchill, Papz also lobbed @ $2.75 in our ‘Most Metres’ market for anyone brave enough to take on Dylan Edwards as the favourite.
Papenhuyzen finished with over 200 run metres to his name for the seventh time this season whilst also clocking over 20 MPH on his sprint along the sidelines.
Don’t Tell the Misso
We’ve seen some absolute doozy’s when it comes to live betting this season, particularly on no-hopers like the Dragons and Cowboys.
Turns out somebody was silly enough to keep the trend alive to close out the season by backing Penrith to erase their incredible half-time deficit with this head-scratcher…
- $100k @ $3.00: Panthers to Win
Mad Multis
Fortunately, every cloud has a silver lining.
One punter managed to collect just shy of $34k by combining Olam, To’o, Mansour, Crichton and the Storm 1-12 in a five-leg multi @ $135.96 odds!
Futures Forecast
And finally, a look ahead.
Despite losing in dramatic fashion on Sunday, the Panthers have opened as the $5.00 favourites in our 2021 NRL Premiership market, largely due to the potential absence of Smith, Addo-Carr and maybe even Craig Bellamy in Melbourne.
The Roosters aren’t far behind @ $6.00, while the Knights represent some good value at 21-1 if they can manage to stay healthy.
