Hi everyone!
Another season is done and dusted!
Congratulations to the Melbourne Storm on a fantastic season of redemption as the Purple Pride put the disaster of 2010's Salary Scandal well and truly behind them.
After being stripped of the 07 and 09 premierships as well as their minor premierships & World Club Challenge title, this mighty club from Melbourne have recovered in outstanding fashion putting on a near perfect Grand Final performance to wear down the minor premier Bulldogs 14-4 in the premiership decider last Sunday.
Also a congratulations to the Bulldogs on an outstanding season, winning the minor premiership, making the decider in their first season under Des Hasler after having not made the finals for 2 straight years.
Read below for the extended Grand Final Review.
In our tipping competition, all the prizes were decided last week, but again, a big congratulations to all our winning tipsters and of course, thanks to everyone who took part this year. It was the best turn out of this competition since the online competition began in 2004. I hope to see you all back next year and please tell your mad league lovin' family and friends to get involved! LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!
STAY TUNED FOR THE 20 YEAR TIPPING HISTORY BLOG in the next few days!
A real eye opener as to how far this competition has really come!
Championship:
sava4 (162 points) - $520
Runner Up: The
Neighbour (161 points) - $220
2nd Runner Up: BEARlythere (158 points) - $100
2nd Runner Up: BEARlythere (158 points) - $100
Bonus Pool Winners ($100 each)
Pool A: ootz (151
points)
Pool B: The
Neighbour (161 points)
Pool C: sava4
(162 points)
Pool D:
BEARlythere (158 points)
Pool E: Wilshere
Wonderland (152 points)
Pool F: Jessamine
(149 points)
Pool G:
Kiwi_Misty (156 points)
Pool H:
cmcnls+1day (145 points)
Some prizes have been paid out already but to those who have won something this season and yet to be paid, please contact me at nztigers.nrl.tipping@gmail.com with your bank account details :)
Melbourne Storm has won its first premiership since the NRL stripped it of two titles for salary cap breaches.
The Storm defeated the Bulldogs 14-4 in a grand final marred by a biting allegation levelled against Canterbury's James Graham.
The Bulldogs' English forward appeared to bite Storm full-back Billy Slater after a brawl broke out following the 26th minute try to Canterbury winger Sam Perrett.
Graham was placed on report after Slater, with a bloodied ear, made the biting allegation to referee Tony Archer.
Perrett had levelled the scores after Storm forward Ryan Hoffman scored the opening try of the match in the seventh minute.
But Melbourne half-back Cooper Cronk stamped his class on the match in the back end of the first half.
Cronk, who was awarded the Clive Churchill medal for the best player in the grand final, produced a deft pass for Slater to score in the 32nd minute.
Melbourne consolidated its lead in the shadows of the break with Cronk's pin-point kick for winger Justin O'Neill to score in the corner in the 39th minute.
Melbourne maintained its 14-4 half-time lead through to the end of the game with a superb defensive display in the second half.
Storm Skipper Cameron Smith said he has never seen a better defensive effort from his side in a big game.
"I thought our defence was amazing today," Slater told the media after the match.
"We knew it was going to take a special effort to beat these guys. They did not finish minor premiers on a fluke."
Melbourne set the standard for an excellent second half defensive effort when it repelled five successive sets of six early in the second half.
The Bulldogs went close to reeling in the Storm's lead just after the hour mark when full-back Ben Barba broke away down the touch line.
He kicked in field for centre Josh Morris but the experienced Slater was able to knock the high bouncing ball dead.
Slater's performance was not far behind man-of-the-match Cronk.
We knew it was going to take a special effort to beat these guys. They did not finish minor premiers on a fluke.
Slater, along with Cronk, was playing in a fifth grand final. They had won the 2007 and 2009 titles but later had them taken away for salary cap breaches.
"It's just a pleasure playing with this lot," Slater said.
"You see a lot of highlights when we are scoring tries and people doing special things but the work ethic of this group of players is exceptional."
The Storm should have won by a bigger margin but captain Smith only kicked one goal from four attempts.
Smith praised the contribution of coach Craig Bellamy and said there is a difference between he and other coaches in what they do during the year.
"He puts so much time and effort into preparation and knowing what to expect from your opposition on game day.
"I read during the week that he's been through some tough times and was thinking of giving it away. Geez I'm glad he didn't."
Losing captain Michael Ennis said the Bulldogs were courageous in defeat but just made too many errors.
"We knew we had to start well and we didn't do that," Ennis said.
"We tried hard the entire match, maybe too hard and we made too many errors."
We'll take a lot out of it, it was a wonderful experience for everyone. It just leaves something burning, that's all.
The Storm's performance had touches of brilliance but mostly it was clinical.
The team completed 32 of 35 sets. As a result the Bulldogs were forced to make more tackles led by captain Ennis, who made 48.
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler, who had taken the team from ninth last year to runners-up in his first year at the club, said Melbourne was too good.
"(They were) too clinical, too polished," Hasler said after the match.
"They had 10 of 11 sets on our try line.
"The try right before half-time was a tough one to have that scored against us. To go in 14-4, Melbourne are a very hard team to run down."
==================================================
Beakster, Redv4me, Shay Wall, Lainey, Link Abrams and Heath Caldwell with a top score of 1 point and a margin of 0. Chee Hoooo!
|
RANK
|
TIPPER
|
GRAND FINAL SCORE
|
GRAND FINAL MARGIN
|
FINAL SCORE
|
FINAL MARGIN
|
|
1
|
sava4
|
1
|
4
|
162
|
313
|
|
2
|
The Neighbour
|
1
|
2
|
161
|
351
|
|
3
|
BEARlythere
|
1
|
6
|
158
|
391
|
|
4
|
Kiwi_Misty
|
1
|
2
|
156
|
334
|
|
5
|
Vee8head
|
0
|
18
|
153
|
405
|
|
6
|
Wilshere Wonderland
|
1
|
4
|
152
|
317
|
|
7
|
ootz
|
0
|
11
|
151
|
345
|
|
8
|
Jessamine
|
0
|
18
|
149
|
364
|
|
9
|
Link Abrams
|
1
|
0
|
148
|
360
|
|
10
|
Feet Little
|
0
|
10
|
147
|
336
|
|
11
|
Keith Wilton
|
1
|
2
|
147
|
348
|
|
12
|
melz
|
0
|
18
|
147
|
405
|
|
13
|
cmcnls+1day
|
1
|
4
|
145
|
362
|
|
14
|
Evra69
|
0
|
10
|
144
|
333
|
|
15
|
Harveysan
|
0
|
20
|
144
|
356
|
|
16
|
Heath Caldwell
|
1
|
0
|
144
|
373
|
|
17
|
Simply The Bears
|
0
|
18
|
144
|
429
|
|
18
|
Warmess
|
1
|
6
|
143
|
350
|
|
19
|
Beakster
|
1
|
0
|
142
|
328
|
|
20
|
steven bowers
|
0
|
10
|
142
|
368
|
|
21
|
TUMUCH
|
0
|
20
|
142
|
389
|
|
22
|
blo1
|
0
|
22
|
142
|
431
|
|
23
|
wayne
|
1
|
1
|
141
|
321
|
|
24
|
boogs_nz
|
0
|
10
|
141
|
337
|
|
25
|
NO1QPRNZ
|
1
|
3
|
141
|
343
|
|
26
|
Lainey
|
1
|
0
|
141
|
356
|
|
27
|
TimmyDemon
|
0
|
14
|
141
|
376
|
|
28
|
Bronco2020
|
1
|
1
|
141
|
430
|
|
29
|
kazgriffo
|
0
|
14
|
140
|
330
|
|
30
|
Sincas
|
0
|
10
|
140
|
343
|
|
31
|
jared francois
|
1
|
4
|
140
|
380
|
|
32
|
Rex Kwando
|
1
|
9
|
140
|
380
|
|
33
|
Dean Campbell
|
0
|
28
|
139
|
402
|
|
34
|
killswitch
|
0
|
17
|
138
|
331
|
|
35
|
NZ Tiger (Aka NZ Ranger)
|
1
|
2
|
138
|
347
|
|
36
|
Brenda Kirkman
|
0
|
10
|
137
|
351
|
|
37
|
Matthew Bowers
|
0
|
10
|
137
|
370
|
|
38
|
Scotsta
|
0
|
10
|
137
|
394
|
|
39
|
Steven Marshall
|
0
|
10
|
136
|
353
|
|
40
|
sole@basher
|
0
|
10
|
136
|
375
|
|
41
|
taijay
|
0
|
23
|
136
|
378
|
|
42
|
Shay Wall
|
1
|
0
|
134
|
338
|
|
43
|
Yo Mama
|
0
|
10
|
134
|
341
|
|
44
|
Richard McCourt
|
0
|
10
|
134
|
360
|
|
45
|
Bearass
|
0
|
14
|
133
|
366
|
|
46
|
OVERATEDBENJI
|
0
|
10
|
133
|
369
|
|
47
|
eviltwin
|
0
|
14
|
132
|
327
|
|
48
|
Bearette
|
0
|
10
|
132
|
328
|
|
49
|
Balmainadrian
|
0
|
18
|
132
|
331
|
|
50
|
MrBusy
|
0
|
18
|
131
|
304
|
|
51
|
Staks
|
0
|
20
|
131
|
386
|
|
52
|
Scott Nielson
|
0
|
10
|
129
|
362
|
|
53
|
Redv4me
|
1
|
0
|
128
|
331
|
|
54
|
kelren
|
1
|
4
|
126
|
314
|
|
55
|
Hemi Ropata
|
1
|
2
|
124
|
337
|
|
56
|
money_box_man
|
0
|
14
|
124
|
464
|
|
57
|
tais1
|
0
|
10
|
123
|
410
|
|
58
|
ROOSTERSRCHAMPIONS
|
0
|
10
|
122
|
323
|
|
59
|
5JS
|
0
|
10
|
121
|
363
|
|
60
|
Gaddaffi
|
0
|
10
|
121
|
397
|
|
61
|
Joejoez
|
0
|
10
|
120
|
321
|
|
62
|
katie rice
|
0
|
22
|
120
|
437
|
|
63
|
Kyle Thomson
|
0
|
10
|
118
|
364
|
|
64
|
Tiger Warrior
|
0
|
10
|
117
|
394
|
|
65
|
Bruiser
|
0
|
10
|
116
|
328
|
|
66
|
BT Ross
|
1
|
2
|
116
|
381
|
|
67
|
Pistol
|
0
|
20
|
114
|
408
|
|
68
|
Radman
|
0
|
10
|
112
|
403
|
|
69
|
mdt64
|
0
|
10
|
110
|
340
|
|
70
|
melros
|
0
|
10
|
106
|
320
|
|
71
|
Darren Scott
|
0
|
10
|
106
|
375
|
|
72
|
rog the dodge
|
0
|
10
|
94
|
389
|
|
73
|
Anotherstranger
|
0
|
10
|
93
|
330
|
|
74
|
Tubasaurus
|
0
|
10
|
90
|
398
|
|
75
|
haze13
|
0
|
10
|
89
|
364
|
|
76
|
Joey James
|
0
|
10
|
88
|
339
|
|
77
|
Irontiger
|
0
|
10
|
87
|
356
|
|
78
|
Tigerstu
|
0
|
10
|
87
|
394
|
|
79
|
Dave Gearey
|
0
|
10
|
72
|
341
|
|
80
|
Sanka
|
0
|
10
|
68
|
333
|
|
81
|
Big Trouble
|
0
|
10
|
64
|
340
|
|
82
|
Tiger77
|
0
|
10
|
60
|
402
|
TO SEE WHO TIPPED WHAT - VISIT THE FOOTY TIPS 'WHO TIPPED WHAT' LINK (YOU MUST BE SIGNED IN TO VIEW). FOR THE FINAL POOLS TABLES PLACINGS - VISIT THE FINAL POOLS TABLE PAGE
That's it for this season. Thanks again for all taking part!
Hope to see you all back (and more) next season!
Go the Kiwis!
Mark
aka NZ Tiger
IN STORES 11th OCTOBER 2012 on both PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®
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