Blog

A good round for most punters this week, but as you will read later our leaderboard has tightened up.

“Here they go again, Manly and Parra ……..” Punters were split on this one with 26 riding on Manly, while 32 saw the Eels taking the points. The Eels started and finished the match in style. They got away early with two quick tries in the first 8 minutes and came home with 22 unanswered points in the last 25 minutes. The victory keeps them in the hunt for a spot in the top four and leaves Manly’s finals hopes on life support. 

Last night saw something of an upset with the Knights hanging on to prevail over the Tigers 14 – 10 in Campbelltown. 85% of our tippers had selected Wests. It was not touted as the match of the round which saw 14^th play 15^th. and it played out as a pretty ordinary contest too. Wests rallied in the last 10 – 15 minutes and they had opportunities to win but the Knights hung on to take the 2 competition points.

Tensions are high in Canberra with the Raiders needing a win to keep in touch with the top 8. A Clearly-less Panther side ultimately prevailed in a grubby match 26 – 6. But the big news from the match actually came after the game in the post-match interview. A fired up Ricky Stuart (so out of character – NOT) coming out with an attack on Jaeman Salmon over a kicking incident during the game with the comment …… “He was a weak gutted dog as a kid and he hasn’t changed now. He is a weak gutted dog person now.”

All the commentaries I have heard and read have rightly condemned his comments because they were directed personally at Salmon AND NOT at the dog of an act that Salmon performed which, lets be honest, were unacceptable.  

After mounting pressure from the press and public Ricky eventually made a statement –  “I regret saying what I did on that platform after the game. …. I was speaking as a father and not as a football coach. My reaction was to a family situation that I thought I had dealt with. Clearly I haven’t. I allowed my emotions to get the better of me and for that I’m sorry…. There is a history between Jaeman Salmon and my family that I will not go into. … I should not have brought it up after the game, but it just got the better of me. I am truly sorry.”

So lets have a closer look. He regrets saying what he said. He allowed his emotions to get the better of him – for which he is sorry.  And he admits he shouldn’t have brought up the history with the Salmon family, for which he is truly sorry. BUT I still haven’t heard an actual apology to Jaemon Salmon himself over what were flat out defamatory comments made against him as an individual.

Here are all the results from round 21 ;

Main Competition

With only 4 rounds to go, things are tight at the top. We have 3 punters ALL on 153 points and only separated by differential points – murch leads Admireel by 24,and Turbohamstrings by 29 who is in 3^rd. They have a 3 match lead over Panthers29 who sits in 4^th. PabloW moves up 1 place into 5^th.

Big mover was UpthePamfers (scoring 12 this week) who moved up 11 places and into the cash in 8^th place.

Second (Chance) Competition

iTerry’s lead has decreased from 13 to 11 points from Bridie and PabloW who share 2^nd and 3^rd place. Robert Cook is a mere 2 points behind them in 4^th place.  

The Standout

• 65 – got it right.
• 3 – got it wrong
• The average score –  7.6
• Our round high – 12 (More on that below).  
• Our round low was – 4

Footy Tipper Weekly Jackpot

We actually had 2 clever punters get 8 from 8 this week. Well done to UpthePamfers and HeyRobuphere (who went from 61^st place to 57^th – lol). So our jackpot pool rises to $40 for round 22.     

Good luck with your tips this week.

Paul