Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs

[leespam]

Super League Friday 14 August 2009 Leeds Rhinos (-12) v Castleford Tigers (20:00 BST) Wigan Warriors (-12) v Warrington Wolves (20:00 BST) Saturday 15 August 2009 Harlequins RL (-10) v Salford City Reds (15:00 BST) Catalans Dragons (-12) v Hull FC (21:15 BST) Sunday 16 August 2009 Hull KR (+4) v St Helens (15:00 BST) Wakefield Wildcats (-20) v Celtic Crusaders (15:30 BST) Huddersfield Giants (-8) v Bradford Bulls (19:00 BST) No lines for the Co-op games as of yet so please feel free to add when they come out. GL all :hope :ok

[leespam]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs A few stats... How Super League would look with h’caps applied each week: Full Table Pld W D L F A Diff Pts PpG 1 Huddersfield 23 17 0 6 524 344 180 34 1.48 2 Hull K R 23 14 0 9 532 456 76 28 1.22 3 Wigan 23 13 0 10 484 439 45 26 1.13 4 Castleford 23 12 1 10 588 575 13 25 1.09 5 St Helens 23 12 0 11 397 388 9 24 1.04 6 Catalans 23 12 0 11 551 565 -14 24 1.04 7 Wakefield 23 11 1 11 609 539 70 23 1.00 8 Warrington 23 11 0 12 491 555 -64 22 0.96 9 Bradford 23 11 0 12 514 596 -82 22 0.96 10 Harlequins RL 23 10 1 12 553 547 6 21 0.91 11 Salford 23 10 1 12 592 644 -52 21 0.91 12 Leeds 23 9 0 14 345 407 -62 18 0.78 13 Celtic 23 8 1 14 633 683 -50 17 0.74 14 Hull 23 8 1 14 470 544 -74 17 0.74 How a 3 game form table would look with h’caps applied each week: Form Table Pld W D L F A Diff Pts PpG 1 Huddersfield 3 3 0 0 68 22 46 6 2.00 2 Wigan 3 3 0 0 70 34 36 6 2.00 3 Warrington 3 2 0 1 100 72 28 4 1.33 4 Bradford 3 2 0 1 74 52 22 4 1.33 5 Hull K R 3 2 0 1 90 70 20 4 1.33 6 Hull 3 2 0 1 44 54 -10 4 1.33 7 Salford 3 2 0 1 86 110 -24 4 1.33 8 Castleford 3 1 1 1 64 70 -6 3 1.00 9 Wakefield 3 1 0 2 66 64 2 2 0.67 10 Catalans 3 1 0 2 42 52 -10 2 0.67 11 St Helens 3 1 0 2 38 52 -14 2 0.67 12 Harlequins RL 3 1 0 2 84 100 -16 2 0.67 13 Celtic 3 0 0 3 60 90 -30 0 0.00 14 Leeds 3 0 0 3 28 64 -36 0 0.00 Individual fixtures h’cap clearing/receiving records: Leeds (-12.5) 10 wins from 23 (43%) Castleford (+13.5) 18 wins from 23 (78%) Wigan (-10.5) 8 wins from 23 (35%) Warrington (+11.5) 16 wins from 23 (70%) Catalans (-12.5) 5 wins from 23 (22%) Hull (+13.5) 17 wins from 23 (74%) Harlequins (-8.5) 6 wins from 23 (26%) Salford (+11.5) 12 wins from 23 (52%) Huddersfield (-8.5) 14 wins from 23 (61%) Bradford (+9.5) 17 wins from 23 (74%) Hull KR (+5.5) 15 wins from 23 (65%) St Helens (-4.5) 15 wins from 23 (65%) Wakefield (-18.5) 5 wins from 23 (22%) Celtic (+19.5) 12 wins from 23 (52%) GL all :hope :ok

[leespam]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs One for me tonight... Castleford (+14) to beat Leeds @ 10/11 (Ladbrokes) 4/5 Cas' look overpriced to me here. They've only lost 1 game this season with a 14 start - a 50-10 hiding to the league leaders at Knowsley Road - and were unlucky to lose in the reverse of this fixture when Kevin Sinfield kicked a last-gasp penalty for a cruel 22-24 loss. Kirk Dixon is out, but Brent Sherwin and Richard Owen are hoping to be fit. Leeds haven't hit the heights they did last season and have regularly failed to beat the handicapper all season (they are 12th out of 14 on my SL H'cap League table). They've suffered from poor discipline all season and just seem unable to get enough points on the board at times. Leeds, however are unchanged with Danny Buderus, Ryan Bailey, Ian Kirke and Paul McShane still missing. Slight doubt that the break may give the Rhinos a bit of a boost but on the evidence of the season so far, the gap between the top two and the rest of Super League seems to be closing. Which leads me onto a couple of ante-post bets... Huddersfield Giants to be Grand Final Winner @ 11.5 & Hull KR to be Grand Final Winner @ 26.0 (Betfair) 2/5 on each Surprisingly, although seemingly stuggling this year, the W/D/L league records of St Helens and Leeds are near identical between this year's table and this time last year. However, points differences are markedly different with Saints only on +301 to last year's +448 and Leeds on +206 to last year's +344. With this in mind, some could argue that the superiority enjoyed by the big two in past year's may be declining and this could finally be the year that another side makes the Grand Final. This theory is further backed up by Saints and Leeds' non-appearance in this year's Challenge Cup Final and I've taken a small bet on two of the other teams high up in the league. Other considerations for this bet were Wigan and Warrington but the Warriors looked a shadow of their former selves in last week's Semi and I want to see how Warrington fare this round; if they suffer an injury-affected defeat to Wigan tonight their price could drift further and I may be inclined to take them aswell. All these bets are with the view to trading out if they make the final so fingers-crossed they can break the trend. GL all :hope :ok

[kevshat]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs 4pts Warrington (+14) to beat Wigan Evs Bet365 Warrington beat Wigan 39-26 in the cup on Saturday and although they have a few injuries out of that match, this handicap is requiring a 28pt turnaround and that's a huge ask. Home advantage helps Wigan here as well but they've got Phil Bailey injured and he's a pretty key player to the Warriors. While the Wolves have injuries to the likes of King, Higham and Hicks, they do still possess a lot of quality in Briers, Westwood, Morley, Monaghan and the two Andersons. I wouldn't expect Warrington to necessarily win this game with the injuries they've got but I fully expect them to stay within 3 scores. Warrington need to win this game to strengthen their chances of the playoffs. Wigan are as good as in the playoffs and while there's the possibility Warrington could go easy with Wembley 2 weeks away, the playoffs will still be on their mind and I expect them to stay within 14pts of Wigan tonight.

[Greenhoff]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs The defensively hapless Penny recalled on the RW for Wire. Have to play Richards FTS EW @ 9/1. Would expect Penny to have a few bombs to diffuse tonight, with one of the best jumpers around breathing down his neck.

[Greenhoff]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs Gutted. Gubbed by the inept whistleblower. Blatant knock on for the Wire opener right in front of the tit. Place money a result, but should have been so much better.

[leespam]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs Unlucky GH. Didn't see the TV as I was invited to the Leeds/Cas game by a mate but saw the place had come in. Could have been worse - you could have backed Cas! :lol They were a complete shambles last night :$. Another one for me tonight: Hull FC (+12.5) to beat Catalans @ 1.84 (betfair) 2/5 Bit of a weird one this, I went for what I thought was a confident pick last night and it went a bit haywire so I'm going to go for a more marginal one. Catalans have an excellent home h'cap record this season winning 7 out of their 11 fixtures, however tonight's game is due to be played at an alternative venue in Beziers. Last time Catalans played away from their natural home they were humbled 12-24 by Warrington so I'm hoping this can affect them again. They will also have Steve Bell, Thomas Bosc and Shane Perry missing from their line-up tonight, although Clint Greenshields and Greg Bird return. Now Hull are definitely no Warrington but they have a few players returning tonight in Kirk Yeaman, Tom Briscoe and Jamie Thackray - although stand-off Richard Horne misses out. They've kept within this 12.5 line in 2 out of their last 3 away games (against two decent sides in Warrington and Hull KR as well) and although Catalans are the side with something to play for, I just have a small fancy for Hull to keep within the 2 scores tonight. GL all :hope :ok

[leespam]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs

Hull FC (+12.5) to beat Catalans @ 1.84 (betfair) 2/5

That was a close one :\. Been keeping an eye on team news for this one: Hull KR (+6) to beat St Helens @ 10/11 (bet365) 3/5 Have been umming and ahhing about this one and having seen the starting line-ups have gone for it. KR have already beaten Saints this season and look to be at near full strength with Scott Murrell their only notable absentee. They've been one of the underpriced teams all season and I'm going to have another go on them this afternoon. The big miss for Saints is Kyle Eastmond. Already replacing the injured Sean Long, his place is now filled by rookie Jamie Ellis. This on top of the already missing Keiron Cunningham, Chris Dean and Maurie Fa'asavalu. A strange position for this Saints side; this is the first time they've played after a Challenge Cup defeat for donkeys years so I'll take a chance on KR giving them another tough game today. GL all :hope :ok

[kevshat]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs Top stuff the last couple of days Lee :clap.

[Greenhoff]

Re: Rugby League: Super League XIV Round 24 & Co-op Champs Great recovery mate! Solid punting.