NRL Finals Week 1 - St George Illawarra v Manly

[GameTipper]

Discuss the big Qualifying Final clash, St George Illawarra v Manly in this thread! Any betting tips, odds or anything about the match can be written here!
First round of the NRL finals series begins here...

[GameTipper]

Match Preview

The last of the Qualifying final will make St George Illawarra very happy as they are up against the win or die Manly Sea Eagles, in what really should be a walk over. WIN Jubilee Stadium hosts the Sunday afternoon game which will decide who has next weekend off. For the Dragons it’ll be to prepare, for the Sea Eagles, it’s a little more permanent! Either way, it spells danger for the top of the table Dragons as Manly will play out of their skins here to cause the upset and attempt to keep their season alive. Playing to each others weaknesses will be the key here, but which weakness in what team will break first?

The Stats: Played 16 – St George Illawarra (11 wins) – Manly (5 wins) – Draw (0). The ledger is all squared this year with a win a piece, but last time it was the Dragons who turned on the scoring to beat Manly 32-10. At the venue it’s also the Dragons who have won 3 straight! The head to head stats are in favor of the home side too, as well as 5 wins from the last 8 games in total. Not much to write home about for the Sea Eagles here except they smashed the Dragons 38-6 in Week 1 of the finals in 2008 – can they draw any inspiration from this old stat?

You don’t end up top of the tree for nothing. Sure the Dragons have fallen a few rungs later in the season, but they know how to turn the thumb screws when needed and power away. Last week they did this to the Bunnies, Round 23 they did the exact same thing to the Sea Eagles, which gives them one hell of an advantage here. Their previous Finals woes should be beyond them or at least out of mind, as they are playing well and will work their way into the contest at a comfortable pace and control the game from the get-go. They’ll be working on their confidence this week, and the win will give them the belief that this could be their year to shine.

The Sea Eagles perplex me somewhat. They dropped the last game of the season to the Sharks and had to rely on this weeks opponents to beat their final place rivals to remain in 8th place to even make this game. To top it all off, they go and lose multiple players to silly suspensions and injury! This is a team that has had success this year, and thrown it all away cheaply when it all matters. They do not deserve to win this game, but if they do, watch out, this is a rabble mob who play for confidence, and giving it to them would be a major mistake.

Conclusion

Picking a winner here is not hard, far from it, it really came down to how much and selection a margin. If the Dragons turn it on early, then this game will blow right out as the Sea Eagles will absolutely capitulate if they fall to far behind early. If they hang in there for long enough, some respect will be given to Manly and St George will settle for a slim victory late. I believe that the Dragons will get the scoring under way here, and maintain a comfortable lead for the game, and score a couple of late extras to pump the scoreboard and margin over the 13+ line. I’m Predicting – St George Illawarra by 22pts!

[fox]

you know ur teams in trouble when the opposition has a better halfback on the bench than the one your starting with. steve matai should change his name to steve 'headhunter' matai and join the ufc, not a good time of year to have ur 2nd stringers in. farrars in for a tough time against gasnier,aint gonna be pretty- dragons by a lazy 30. bastards

[fox]

my mates going dragons -10.5 @ $1.46 bet 8k
dragons -24.5 @ $3.00 bet $500
dragons -17.5 @ $1.90 bet $1500
$6000 profit if all come in. i said to him to go 4k to win 2k dragons -11.5 @ $1.47 but he wants more, dangerous giving some guys tips cos they go crazy. crap thing is he doesnt even watch the game,i do the stressing for him.whos the sucker eh haha

[fox]

my mates going dragons -10.5 @ $1.46 bet 8k
dragons -24.5 @ $3.00 bet $500
dragons -17.5 @ $1.90 bet $1500
$6000 profit if all come in. i said to him to go 4k to win 2k dragons -11.5 @ $1.47 but he wants more, dangerous giving some guys tips cos they go crazy. crap thing is he doesnt even watch the game,i do the stressing for him.whos the sucker eh haha

SHOW ME THE MONEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
$6030 for my mate and $1200 cut for fox

[fox]

got the foxtrot going fellas, dont miss out next time