Week 1 of SC Finals

Premiership Odds

20 weeks of intense competition has narrowed 32 teams down to 16. Now it gets really cut throat, with 4 weeks of elimination to decide the SC title!

We have a fixture! So the odds are?

Coach	Odds	Last Week	Change
Junktimer	8.22	9.45	1.22
reesbr	9.57	12.72	3.15
CrowsFan	10.62	9.51	-1.12
Fletch74	11.01	10.50	-0.51
thornz23	12.01	14.21	2.20
MTTY	12.11	10.90	-1.22
CFC 1979	16.92	17.93	1.01
bomberboy0618/Luigi197	17.18	17.60	0.42
Maca24	17.39	15.05	-2.34
korza	18.11	16.11	-2.00
Prospector_1	18.39	17.31	-1.08
Cruiseon	19.23	30.75	11.52
Barlow 21	22.90	23.02	0.12
BoredSaint	29.97	36.95	6.98
DazBurg	31.76	23.80	-7.96
MajorLazer	32.48	58.07	25.59

Junktimer the coach to beat, clearly favourite, and as the highest point scorer in the league, there is good reason for this! What I do like is that the odds give realistic chances to EVERY coach. I.e. if the Melbourne Cup gave these kind of odds, it would be billed as the best Melbourne Cup ever… by far.Some coaches already have some recognition after outstanding seasons with CrowsFan (KO Cup champion) the third favourite, thornz23 (Minor Premier) the fifth favourite and MTTY (m0nty medal winner) the 6th favourite. MajorLazer is at the back of the back, but at $32 is still rated a strong chance.Meanwhile, we are also playing off for the….Wooden Spoon

Coach	Odds	Last Week	Change
benjy251090	2.41	2.36	-0.05
HillHero13	7.51	9.68	2.17
roo boys!	11.37	12.34	0.96
RobsOverAchieverss	11.75	13.47	1.72
pyronerd	12.28	11.24	-1.04
hawka26	17.95	13.47	-4.48
naste	29.94	28.74	-1.20
hawk_88	40.12	41.05	0.94
ossie85	45.74	59.52	13.78
Alex7089	46.23	35.13	-11.10
Boomz	46.45	80.17	33.71
Marcz	55.85	58.10	2.25
McRooster	60.70	52.11	-8.59
BratPack	61.69	70.06	8.37
Hellopplz	83.48	97.24	13.76
dylsta05	113.77	94.06	-19.71

Well, benjy is almost unbackable. And I say almost. All benjy has to do to avoid the spoon is to win 1 game (same as everybody else) and then it is on for young and old. As DazBurg found out last week after an upset loss to benjy, anything can happen! Hilly is a chance of winning spoons in both comps!

Finals Head to Head

What an epic finals week. The last time our finalists faced each other we had a two 2 point margin, two 5 point margins, a 6 point margin, and a 31 point margin.

$1.61 thornz23 (1st, 2226) v $2.33 MajorLazer (16th, 2165)

Previous meeting:
thornz23 (2063) defeated MajorLazer (2058), Round 3 2011

Stormed his way to the minor premiership winning 8 of his last 9 (taking out both the Victorian SC and DT Minor premierships also), thornz23 will be tough to beat as he tries to add to his trophy cabinet. His opponent MajorLazer basically fell into the finals, winning only 2 of his last 9 and 5 of his last 15. It would take a monumental shift in form for an upset here, but stranger things have happened.

$2.43 BoredSaint (8th, 2165) v $1.56 reesbr (9th, 2242)

Previous meeting:
reesbr (2282) lost to BoredSaint (2399), Round 18 2011

Which BoredSaint will turn up this week? The one that scored 1872 in Round 13, or the one that scored 2455 in Round 19? Hard to judge which he is going to fall any given week. His opponent reesbr has scored 5074 points in the last 2 weeks, and is ranked 3rd overall on points, and is clear favourite despite being 1 spot lower on the ladder.

$1.94 Barlow 21 (5th, 2189) v $1.87 Cruiseon (12th, 2194)

Previous meeting:
Cruiseon (2319) lost to Barlow 21 (2402), Round 1 2011

Back to the beginning for these two, with Barlow 21 taking the honours when these two met in the very opening round. Recently we see Cruiseon is on a very impressive 9 match winning streak that saw him sore into the finals, while Barlow 21’s 9 from the last 11 is nothing to be sneezed at either. This should be a cracker of a match.

$2.09 CFC 1979 (4th, 2209) v $1.75 Fletch74 (13th, 2236)

Previous meeting:
CFC 1979 (2128) defeated Fletch74 (2097), Round 12 2011

CFC has had an extremely consistent year, and with the exception of Round 10, has registered at least 1 win in every other round, including the last 5 in a row. Fletch has found recent times a bit tougher after winning 7 of his first 8 matches and topping the ladder, his last round failed to register a win, but he goes in as favourite having scored higher overall for the year.

$1.75 MTTY (3rd, 2236) v $2.08 Prospector_1 (14th, 2211)

Previous meeting:
Prospector_1 (2407) lost to MTTY (2409), Round 18 2011

MTTY may have let top spot slip in the first round, but he did claim the inaugural m0nty medal, which highlights the terrific year he has had, highlighted by the fact he was won at least 1 match every round! Prospector also found the going tough the last week with only 1 victory, but is extremely capable of big scores, with two 2500+ scores. Only 2 points separated these two the last time they met in a huge 2400+ scoring epic.

$1.73 CrowsFan (6th, 2249) v $2.11 Maca24 (11th, 2217)

Previous meeting:
Maca25 (2115) defeated CrowsFan (2209), Round 10 2011

CrowsFan was flying between rounds 13 and 17 winning 7 of 8 matches, and taking out the KO Cup in Round 20. His last 5 league matches however have only registered 1 win. His opponent Maca24 has flown under the radar for much of the season, and would not want to be taken lightly.

$1.90 bomberboy0618/Luigi197 (7th, 2208) v $1.90 korza (10th, 2208)

Previous meeting:
korza (2179) lost to bomberboy0618/Luigi197 (2421), Round 18 2011

BBnL gave korza a thrashing the last time they met, and have won 6 of the last 7. Korza had a terrific run of form earlier in the season winning 10 in a row, before yielding only 1 win from his next 8. His poor run of form was broken last week though, managing to claim 3 wins, albeit a bit lucky. The bookies think this is a close one, but I’m backing BBnL comfortably.

$1.51 Junktimer (2nd, 2260) v $2.57 DazBurg (15th, 2174)

Previous meeting:
Junktimer (2055) defeated DazBurg (2053), Round 3 2011DazBurg got a severe wake-up call after becoming the only team in the last 17 matches to lose to perennial struggler benjy, and losing all 3 matches in a very poor display. Things do not get any easier, taking on Flag favourite and top point scorer Junktimer, and it would take an absolutely monumental effort for Daz to keep his season alive.

And the Bottom 16 play off odds:

Game 9
17 v 32	17	dylsta05 (A)	1.12	v	32	benjy251090 (A)	6.16
Game 10
24 v 25	24	Alex7089 (V)	1.67	v	25	hawka26 (V)	2.21
Game 11
21 v 28	21	BratPack (V)	1.46	v	28	pyronerd (A)	2.72
Game 12
20 v 29	20	Boomz (A)	1.89	v	29	hawk_88 (A)	1.91
Game 13
19 v 30	19	Hellopplz (V)	1.41	v	30	roo boys! (A)	2.94
Game 14
22 v 27	22	ossie85 (A)	1.52	v	27	RobsOverAchieverss (A)	2.54
Game 15
23 v 26	23	naste (A)	2.14	v	26	Marcz (A)	1.71
Game 16
18 v 31	18	McRooster (A)	1.36	v	31	HillHero13 (V)	3.19

And the conference finals…

	Victorians
1	thornz23	1.80	v	4	CFC 1979	2.02
2	Cruiseon	2.33	v	3	Junktimer	1.61
5	DazBurg	2.37	v	8	Fletch74	1.59
6	korza	2.18	v	7	reesbr	1.69
	Bottom 8 Finals
9	Prospector_1	1.67	v	12	MajorLazer	2.21
10	BratPack	2.06	v	11	Maca24	1.77
13	Hellopplz	1.30	v	16	HillHero13	3.54
14	Alex7089	1.67	v	15	hawka26	2.21
	All-Stars
1	Barlow 21	1.77	v	4	BoredSaint	2.06
2	CrowsFan	1.82	v	3	MTTY	2.00
5	bomberboy0618/Luigi197	1.90	v	8	dylsta05	1.91
6	McRooster	1.87	v	7	Boomz	1.94
	Bottom 8 Finals
9	ossie85	1.52	v	12	RobsOverAchieverss	2.54
10	naste	1.58	v	11	roo boys!	2.39
13	pyronerd	1.27	v	16	benjy251090	3.83
14	hawk_88	2.00	v	15	Marcz	1.82