Well we are off and running in 2023 and the weekend matches provided a glimpse of what should be a great season of NRL.
I wont wax on lyrically about the historic nature of the Dolphins inaugural victory in their first official match in the NRL. I will say it was a very strong performance against one of the favoured teams to actually take out the 2023 premiership. Their 28 – 18 win over the Roosters will have plenty of teams and coaches looking very closely at the match replay. From a tipsters perspective it was costly – Match result – 61 Roosters – 3 Dolphins. Worse still – 41 punters got their standouts wrong.
For the record, I would rather have seen the return of the Bluebags/Jets or Bears, but instead I have to tolerate another banana-bender team. Sadly all 4 Queensland teams had wins last weekend.
Round 1 also saw both of the 2022 Grand Finalists lose in their first games out.
The curtain raiser (Eels at home to the Storm)– saw the Storm prevail in the 4th minute of Golden Point 16 – 12. What a way to start the season ! Remarkably, and well noted in the press, the win marks 20 straight round 1 victories for the Storm and Craig Bellamy. Gutsy award defo goes to Cam Munster playing on with a seriously broken finger. He went off in the 28th minute but came back for the 2nd half.
Similarly, the reigning Premiers, the Panthers, got pipped by the Broncos courtesy of an Adam Reynolds field goal in the 70th minute (final score 13 -12). In front of a 17K strong crowd at Bluebet Stadium, the Broncos frustrated a very rusty Panthers outfit with tireless try-line defense. Even we mere punters did not expect this result – 62 – 2 on the match result AND 11 punters losing 2 points for having the Panthers as their standouts.
Here are all the results from round 1 ;
Main Competition
Early days obviously, but it would be remiss of me not to congratulate MLC who managed the round high of 9. Put in perspective, MLC normally has to drag the scroll bar down the ladder to see where she is running in the competition. I don’t think she has been in the top 50 in years- let alone the top of the ladder. Well done MLC – can you keep it up ? The pressure is on.
MB and Splinter hold down 2nd and 3rd places with on 8 points.
The Standout
The numbers this week are shocking. But fear not, most of us are all in the same boat ;
- Standouts correct – 8
- Standouts wrong – 55
- The average score – 2.58
- Our round high – 9 by MLC
- Our round low was – Minus 1
Footy Tipper Weekly Jackpot
We had no one pick the fullcard this week so our prize pool increases to $20.00 for round 2.
Good luck with your tips this week.
Paul
