Hi everyone!
The NRL finals are into the 2nd week and down to the final six sides after both the Broncos (8th) and Sharks (7th) were eliminated last week.
Here is a quick run down of each finals result over last weekend...and wow, what a finals weekend it was!
Canterbury is one match away from the season decider after beating Manly 16-10 in a brutal qualifying final at ANZ stadium on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs trailed 10-6 at half-time but tries to Kris Keating and Dally M medallist Ben Barba saw the minor premiers seize the lead in the second term to advance to the preliminary finals.
Both sides made uncharacteristic errors in what was a fiery encounter that saw Sea Eagles pair Jason King and Steve Matai placed on report for high shots.
Matai has 70 carryover points for previous offences and could potentially miss two matches should the match review committee decide to sanction the New Zealand international.
The contest threatened to erupt on a number of occasions and aside from King and Matai being in doubt for next week, the Sea Eagles lost co-captain Jamie Lyon to a calf injury.
Des Hasler's Bulldogs will take a rest next weekend and prepare for a preliminary final after laying down a marker to the rest of the competition that they are very much the team to beat.
Bulldogs captain Michael Ennis admitted it was not a pretty performance, but it proved effective.
"This time of year it doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you finish in front," Ennis told the media.
Hasler agreed with his skipper, as he was simply satisfied that the Bulldogs walked away with the win.
"I think semi-final football is always ugly, it's always a grind," he said.
South Sydney looked like rabbits caught in the spotlight as Melbourne romped to a 24-6 win in their qualifying final at AAMI Park.
Pre-match Souths downplayed its lack of finals experience - its last appearance back in 2007 - but was simply no match for the Storm's poise under pressure.
With full-back Billy Slater back to his devastating best, the Storm delivered a clinical performance that earned them a rest next weekend before a preliminary final in Melbourne.
The Rabbitohs must now put the hiding behind them and prepare to take on a red hot Canberra side in Sydney next week.
The game was effectively over by half-time with the home side leading 18-0 with Slater setting up two tries and scoring one of his own.
He showed that Souths full-back Greg Inglis still has plenty of work to do to take his mantle as the game's most complete number one, with the giant Inglis kept comparatively quiet.
Storm captain Cameron Smith told the media that despite the win his team needs to improve its second-half performances.
"The first 40 (minutes) was good (but) I thought we were a bit patchy in the second half," Smith said.
"That's an area we need to improve on.
"In these big games and this time of year you need to be able to finish off your game."
The door slammed shut on Broncos legend Petero Civoniceva's glittering career after North Queensland ran away with a 33-16 win in their elimination final in Townsville last Saturday night.
But it was no picnic either for fellow retiring veteran Aaron Payne after the Cowboys stalwart lasted just 11 minutes before succumbing to what appeared to be a knee complaint.
Cowboys half-back Michael Morgan led the way for the home side with a hat-trick of tries.
In 2004 in a steamy Townsville, North Queensland abruptly drew the curtain on Broncos forward Gorden Tallis' career in the teams' only previous finals clash.
Eight years later, the Cowboys again showed little respect for another Brisbane great as Civoniceva's 15-season, 309-match career came to a shuddering halt thanks to the five tries-to-three win in front of 21,307 fans.
Indeed not much went to plan for the retiring stalwarts in the knock-out clash on Saturday night.
The eighth-placed Broncos were expected to dig deep to try and add another chapter to the already amazing resume of 36-year-old Civoniceva, Australia's most capped forward with 46 Tests and 22 Origins for Queensland.
And the Cowboys had made no secret of the fact they would rally around Townsville-bred Payne, 30, as he looked to help North Queensland at least repeat its 2005 grand final heroics.
But someone forgot to tell another veteran - Cowboys livewire full-back Matt Bowen.
The North Queensland gamebreaker stole the limelight in his 250th match, scoring one try and setting up another for centre Brent Tate in a spectacular 85-metre second-half play.
Bowen told the media the win gives the Cowboys plenty of confidence going into the second week of their finals campaign.
"The way we played tonight, the first half especially we played well," Bowen said.
"In the second half we gave them a bit of a leg-up in the end but the game was over.
"We've just got to take the positive out of that and take it into next week."
The Raiders ended Cronulla's season with a pulsating 34-16 victory in the second elimination final at Canberra Stadium last Sunday afternoon.
The home side bravely led 18-16 with 13 minutes remaining in the match before a spectacular Blake Ferguson try gave them some breathing space.
Sam Williams iced the triumph with a try in the shadows of full-time, helping to keep the Raiders' play-offs campaign alive.
The Raiders will now meet South Sydney in next Saturday's second semi-final at ANZ stadium.
They may be without centre Jarrod Croker, who sustained a facial injury, while the Sharks' loss was further soured with Todd Carney forced from the field after injuring his Achilles tendon.
He had carried the injury into the match and left proceedings eight minutes into the second half.
The Sharks had opened the scoring through a converted try to Ricky Leutele and Raiders captain David Shillington admitted his side had their backs to the wall early in the first half.
"We had to weather storm in a few different parts of the game," he told the media
"Their line speed was fantastic and they kept competing. We made it real hard for ourselves but credit to the boys we fought back and got back in the game."
In our tipping competition, there is still no separating sava4 and The Neighbour (both 158) at the top of the Tipping Championship Table after both tipsters scored 2 corrects tips from the 4 finals matches over the weekend. This weekend's match between Manly and the Cowboys could be a decisive one with sava4 likely to back his beloved Seaeagles....will The Neighbour take a punt and go the Cowboys? Time will tell.
BEARlythere (154) scored 4 from 4 and in the process has cut the lead down to 4 points but also sits in a comfortable 3rd spot, 3 points clear of both Kiwi_Misty & Vee8Head (who are both also fighting out pole position in Pool G) on 151 points each.
Rounding off the Top 10 (and looking to secure their 1st place Pool spots) are:
Wilshere Wonderland (148), ootz (147), Feet Little (146), Jessamine (145), Link Abrams & melz (both 144).
With 3 weeks to go, here is currently how the prizes stand at this point in time:
TOTAL PRIZE POOL: $1640 (NZ)
sava4(Rio Savage)
1st Prize + POOL C
$620
(Currently equal on 158 points with The Neighbour but ahead by a +41 Margin difference. 4 points ahead of BEARlythere. Leads Pool C by an unassailable 18 points)
The Neighbour(Wayne Long)
2nd Prize + POOL B
$320
(Currently equal on 158 points with sava4 but behind by a -41 Margin difference. 4 points ahead of BEARlythere. Leads Pool B by an unassailable 15 points)
BEARlythere(PATRICK CRAWFORD)
3rd Prize + POOL D
$200
(Currently 4 points behind sava4 &The Neighbour and 3 points ahead of Kiwi_Misty and Vee8head. Leads Pool D by an unassailable 12 points)
ootz(Lewis Bavister)
POOL A
$100
(Currently leads Pool A by an unassailable 7 points)
Wilshere Wonderland (Laurie Coyne)
POOL E
$100
(Currently leads Pool E by 5 points ahead of Evra69)
Jessamine(Jessamine Bailey)
POOL F
$100
(Currently leads Pool E by 5 points ahead of melz)
Kiwi_Misty(Misty Taylor)
POOL G
$100
(Currently equal on 151 points with Vee8head but ahead by a +16 margin difference in Pool G. 5 points ahead of Feet Little)
cmcnls+1day(clancy condran)
POOL H
$100
(Currently leads Pool H by 1 point ahead of blo1, 2 points ahead of Warmess and 3 points ahead of Dean Campbell)
So three weeks of finals (5 games) left to go...it's still anyone's guess as to who will take out this year's Tipping Championship, the runner up prize, 3rd spot and the pools prizes? Good luck everyone!
kazgriffo, Wilshere Wonderland, Warmess, sole@basher & TimmyDemon with a top score of 4 points and a margin of 2. Nice!
RANK
|
TIPPER
|
FINALS WEEK 1 SCORE
|
FINALS WEEK 1 MARGIN
|
TOTAL SCORE
|
TOTAL MARGIN
|
1
|
sava4
|
2
|
12
|
158
|
270
|
2
|
The Neighbour
|
2
|
12
|
158
|
311
|
3
|
BEARlythere
|
4
|
4
|
154
|
353
|
4
|
Kiwi_Misty
|
3
|
12
|
151
|
306
|
5
|
Vee8head
|
3
|
14
|
151
|
332
|
6
|
Wilshere Wonderland
|
4
|
2
|
148
|
277
|
7
|
ootz
|
3
|
12
|
147
|
306
|
8
|
Feet Little
|
2
|
0
|
146
|
276
|
9
|
Jessamine
|
4
|
4
|
145
|
326
|
10
|
Link Abrams
|
3
|
14
|
144
|
332
|
11
|
melz
|
3
|
0
|
144
|
349
|
12
|
Evra69
|
0
|
16
|
143
|
285
|
13
|
Keith Wilton
|
1
|
12
|
143
|
310
|
14
|
Simply The Bears
|
1
|
16
|
143
|
351
|
15
|
Harveysan
|
3
|
1
|
142
|
287
|
16
|
boogs_nz
|
2
|
10
|
141
|
289
|
17
|
wayne
|
3
|
16
|
140
|
272
|
18
|
Sincas
|
1
|
4
|
140
|
295
|
19
|
steven bowers
|
2
|
13
|
140
|
321
|
20
|
cmcnls+1day
|
3
|
13
|
140
|
334
|
21
|
Heath Caldwell
|
3
|
0
|
140
|
348
|
22
|
kazgriffo
|
4
|
2
|
139
|
276
|
23
|
blo1
|
3
|
9
|
139
|
367
|
24
|
Lainey
|
2
|
12
|
138
|
304
|
25
|
Warmess
|
4
|
2
|
138
|
318
|
26
|
TimmyDemon
|
4
|
2
|
138
|
336
|
27
|
TUMUCH
|
3
|
3
|
138
|
351
|
28
|
Bronco2020
|
1
|
16
|
138
|
391
|
29
|
Brenda Kirkman
|
3
|
6
|
137
|
303
|
30
|
Beakster
|
2
|
12
|
137
|
308
|
31
|
Dean Campbell
|
2
|
13
|
137
|
334
|
32
|
NO1QPRNZ
|
2
|
14
|
136
|
322
|
33
|
killswitch
|
3
|
6
|
135
|
274
|
34
|
Steven Marshall
|
3
|
14
|
135
|
296
|
35
|
sole@basher
|
4
|
2
|
135
|
323
|
36
|
Rex Kwando
|
4
|
5
|
135
|
335
|
37
|
jared francois
|
3
|
12
|
135
|
348
|
38
|
Richard McCourt
|
2
|
10
|
134
|
312
|
39
|
NZ Tiger (Aka NZ Ranger)
|
2
|
10
|
134
|
313
|
40
|
Matthew Bowers
|
2
|
6
|
134
|
317
|
41
|
Scotsta
|
3
|
2
|
134
|
351
|
42
|
OVERATEDBENJI
|
0
|
6
|
133
|
321
|
43
|
taijay
|
3
|
5
|
132
|
342
|
44
|
Shay Wall
|
3
|
8
|
131
|
302
|
45
|
MrBusy
|
3
|
6
|
130
|
258
|
46
|
Staks
|
2
|
4
|
130
|
308
|
47
|
Yo Mama
|
2
|
6
|
130
|
313
|
48
|
Bearette
|
3
|
0
|
129
|
278
|
49
|
Balmainadrian
|
3
|
0
|
129
|
291
|
50
|
Scott Nielson
|
0
|
6
|
129
|
314
|
51
|
Bearass
|
3
|
12
|
129
|
326
|
52
|
eviltwin
|
1
|
2
|
128
|
280
|
53
|
Redv4me
|
2
|
9
|
124
|
295
|
54
|
tais1
|
0
|
6
|
123
|
362
|
55
|
kelren
|
3
|
0
|
122
|
272
|
56
|
money_box_man
|
2
|
10
|
122
|
416
|
57
|
ROOSTERSRCHAMPIONS
|
3
|
1
|
121
|
269
|
58
|
Hemi Ropata
|
0
|
6
|
121
|
305
|
59
|
5JS
|
0
|
6
|
121
|
315
|
60
|
Gaddaffi
|
3
|
0
|
121
|
337
|
61
|
Joejoez
|
0
|
6
|
120
|
273
|
62
|
katie rice
|
3
|
0
|
119
|
353
|
63
|
Kyle Thomson
|
0
|
6
|
118
|
316
|
64
|
Tiger Warrior
|
3
|
12
|
117
|
346
|
65
|
Bruiser
|
0
|
6
|
116
|
280
|
66
|
Pistol
|
4
|
4
|
114
|
340
|
67
|
Radman
|
2
|
18
|
111
|
343
|
68
|
BT Ross
|
1
|
4
|
111
|
359
|
69
|
mdt64
|
0
|
6
|
110
|
292
|
70
|
melros
|
0
|
6
|
106
|
272
|
71
|
Darren Scott
|
0
|
6
|
106
|
327
|
72
|
rog the dodge
|
0
|
6
|
94
|
341
|
73
|
Anotherstranger
|
0
|
6
|
93
|
282
|
74
|
Tubasaurus
|
0
|
6
|
90
|
350
|
75
|
haze13
|
0
|
6
|
89
|
316
|
76
|
Joey James
|
2
|
6
|
88
|
291
|
77
|
Irontiger
|
0
|
6
|
87
|
308
|
78
|
Tigerstu
|
0
|
6
|
87
|
346
|
79
|
Dave Gearey
|
0
|
6
|
72
|
293
|
80
|
Sanka
|
0
|
6
|
68
|
285
|
81
|
Big Trouble
|
0
|
6
|
64
|
292
|
82
|
Tiger77
|
0
|
6
|
60
|
354
|
TO SEE WHO TIPPED WHAT - VISIT THE FOOTY TIPS 'WHO TIPPED WHAT' LINK (YOU MUST BE SIGNED IN TO VIEW). FOR THE LATEST POOLS TABLES PLACINGS - VISIT THE CURRENT POOLS TABLE PAGE
That's it for this update.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the second week of the 2012 finals series!
Mark
aka NZ Tiger
 |
| Go the Tigers in 2013! |
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