Past Rounds Highlights
Round 24
Nick is away this week...a week’s sabbatical for his great work with the weekly updates. Only a huge trip up at the finish line could see Bryce get knocked off his top position...it was not to be...Congratulations on a great year, a very consistent year of tipping – except if you look at this round’s tips. Bryce went for the favourites and only got 4, but he had enough tipping reserves in the bank to win by 2, clear of Brian Whelan and Christine Hawes. Brian and Christine finished equal second, after Christine gained a spot on Brian for tipping St Kilda to beat Carlton. On the other hand Brian picked the Blues – against his own team...missing out on outright second place...For the others ‘above’ the line congratulations on a great year of tipping.
Of the 57 tippers left in Hot Tips coming into Round 24 – it was going come down to chance...so the remaining 38 survivors after Round 24 – it ended with Ron Petrusma being pulled from the ‘HAT’ and claiming Hot Tips 2 prize money. And to the winner this week (nearly forgot after the excitement of the overall winners)... Reinhold Krueger...a great way to finish the year with an 8/8 and closest total points.
We have a few weeks off now until the HAT Footy Tipping Bash Functions – one north and one south...details on email and on the front page of the HAT web site....Hope you can make it.
Cheers, Gerard obo of HAT Footy Team – Nick, Brian, Brett and Craig
Round 23
The one massive upset this week wasn’t enough to cause much action at the top of the table, with most betting agencies now paying out on Bryce to take home the money, but more importantly, the prestige of being the HAT footy tipping overall winner.
Hot tips looks like it is going to be a raffle with only 3 people dropping out his week. It will be interesting to see if the punters are going to keep on with this Port Adelaide theory, with the Power taking on the struggling (but supposedly on the way up) Demons over in Adelaide. Dunno if I’d be confident enough to use Melbourne as my hot tip if I was still in it.
The Toohey family get a special mention this week for their loyalty, with Warren, Jemima, Ruby and Matilda tipping their Swans to get over the Cats down at the Cattery. Well done Tooheys, and I have to ask, any relation to former Sydney Swan and 1987 All-Australian backman Bernard Toohey? Incidentally, it was the first time Geelong have been beaten in Geelong since the great depression.
I hope you are all keen for the HAT footy bashes coming up. I know Ewan Sherman is pumped for it. He is disappointed to be languishing down in 405th place on the leader board, so he will be aiming to make up for this terrible display of tipping by winning the Best on Ground at the bash. He has assured me he will be aiming to recapture his form of 2008 (which is why the HAT footy bashes are no longer held at the Duke) so we could be in for a treat.
Nick
Round 22
2 weeks to go and the competition is Bryce’s to lose. Another 7 out of 8 and he is now two points clear of Brian, so he’d have to forget to put his tips in to lose from here surely? Although Brian is a HAT administrator so don’t be surprised to see a late IT issue that only affects Bryce’s computer. Brad Walker was the main casualty this week, tipping 5 and slipping down to equal 6th. Lester Grundy has made his move with a perfect score to see him sneak up into 3rd.In a week that many had touted as the make or break week, all of the favourites won except one so it was pretty boring really. Hendryk Klempke not only won the round, he has also convincingly taken out the best name this week too so well done Hendryk. His score of 8/8 and 23 points off the game 1 total points was enough to get it done this week.
There are still 60 people left in the hot tips, with only 4 dropouts this week. It looks as though everyone has jumped off using whoever is playing the Gold Coast and jumped on whoever is playing Port Adelaide, with 37 out of 64 people selecting the struggling Bulldogs as their tip. When the dogs were 87 points up at three quarter time I reckon those 37 people would have been pretty confident. If we can’t narrow it down over the next two weeks it looks like we’ll have to pick it out of a hat (no pun intended).
Good luck this week tippers and I guess the only thing left to do is to see if Bryce can hold his nerve and take out the title for 2011.
NickRound 21
A quick review this week… Top of the leader board stayed pretty much steady with the top 5 each getting 7. Round 22 is where the all hell may break loose…It could be a do or die weekend for our top tippers…Let me see: Hawks or Blues? Suns or Crows? Roos or Dockers? Swans or Saints? Dees or Tigers? So that leave only 3 matches that may be easy to pick? ;-P Good luck to all. Now back to Round 21…Congrats to Nick Murnane for winning Round 21…he chose the Tigers to beat the Swans and hats off to you Nick for your loyalty to your Tigers…they got you over the line. 64 Hot Tippers left…it is looking like it will come down to chance after Round 24 as I reckon we won’t have an outright winner and then it will be determined on a chance draw. Cheers, GerardRound 20
3 winners this week with Ben March, Shane Chilcott and Terri Burgess all managing 8 out of 8 and two points off the correct total points scored, well done to you. Ben March’s name might ring a bell because this is his second round win of the season after taking out round 1. Should give someone else a go Ben.When I was entering my tips this week, I spent 2 seconds doing the first 6 matches and then about 10 minutes pondering the other two. With 5 matches decided by 40 points or more (including two over a hundred), my time spent per tip proved to be somewhat accurate. The two real smokies this week were the Essendon vs. Sydney and Brisbane vs. Adelaide, not exactly blockbusters on paper but both turned out to be absolute rippers, with both games being decided by less than a kick. When Goodes missed that goal on Saturday night and Brisbane were 20 points up at 3 quarter time on Sunday, I had myself pencilled in for 8 out of 8 (along with about 157 other people I reckon). But it wasn’t to be as Adelaide stormed home to win by 5 points.
With 20 rounds down and 4 to go, a few big players made their move this week. Brian Whelan, Philippa French, Brendan Nicholls, Jane Coogan and Mark Waldron all used their Wildcard to shoot into the money. Hats off to our man Brian who wouldn’t buckle under the constant pressure applied by myself and Gerry, he waited and waited then landed an 8 with his Wildcard, which has him in outright second. BT at the top just keeps getting it done though, with another 8, the man must have insider knowledge or something.
There is big battle going on underneath the three B’s at the top, Bryce, Brian and Brad ,with just a single point separating the next 14 tippers. The next few weeks will be very interesting, with those competing to have a bit of extra beer money for grand final day needing to be on their game.
As we roll into the second week of the final instalment of the quarterly tipping, it appears nothing short of perfection will win it for you, with 18 people correctly tipping every match over the past fortnight. If someone has a flawless quarter of tipping I’m sure we can find a prize for you in the deep coffers here at HAT headquarters. [Deep Coffers??! (Ed.)]
Nick
Round 19
Nick was planning to do Round 19 highlights, but he is missing in action, presumed guttered today and unfortunately he cannot do this week’s wrap. Might be something to do with being a Dees supporter, not sure?! Anyway I will soldier on and hopefully give at least half a good wrap than Nick can punch out… I guess the elephant in the room needs to be addressed – the Cats running a muck at the house of pain (for visiting sides) at Skilled Stadium (that makes it 28 straight games that the Cats have won down there!). We all thought Geelong would win…99.2% of tippers picked them to win, but what of the other 0.8% that tipped the Dees – delusional tippers? hypnotised tippers? …Those 0.8% tippers were made up of….Jemima Toohey, Faye Horne, Andrew Biner, Nick Beltz, Albert AwayGames and Greg Abbott…and NONE of these tippers are Demons supporters! Not sure what planet you have been living on (except for Albert, as he had to pick the away team)…but you could have chosen another game to go for an upset…The 96.8% of tippers who picked the Pies to beat the Dons, must have had their hand in their mouths at 3 Quarter Time…was an huge upset on the cards?…no…the Bombers ran out of petrol and let the Pies romp home. As it was only a 7 match round, only the 1 wildcard was used…you may think using your wildcard in a 7 match round is strange, as you are missing out on maximum points, but Rosalie Grant got 7…and going on this year’s wildcard’s usage – that is pretty good! With only 5 rounds remaining 129 tippers (which include the computer tippers) have not used their wildcard. The tipper we like to highlight is our fellow HAT teammate and comrade, Brian Whelan…ready to strike?…but has he left his usage of the wildcard to late? As the season draws to end teams start doing funny things and winning and losing becomes more unpredictable than ever. If you haven’t used your wildcard come Round 24, Mr HAT will play it for you; it’s just part of the service HAT Footy Tipping will provide you! Now to the winner…yep only 1 winner this week (as opposed to 4 last week)…142 tippers got 7/7 and some must have been thinking I’ve got this, but it was Kara who got the exact points and takes home the added bonus of $30 on top of the weekly $40…Congratulation Kara :-). Hopefully Nick will be back next week to give you Round 20 highlights and a run down on what he has been up to after the events of the Saturday Arvo and of his beloved Demons! Come on Dees it’s time to rise up and show us what you have! Cheers, Gerard.Round 18
The horror of Round 17 is but only a distance memory now…This week sees the first time that all 8 favourites got up for the win and that the tips correct averaged greater than 7 – first time in living recorded history, dating back to 2004. I would reckon this round was a far easier week to tip than last week. This had a flow on effect for Hot Tips with only 10 tippers seeing the ‘x’ next to their name in the Hot Tips column on the results sheet. A special note to the 2 Richmond supporters who backed their beloved Tigers against the Cats…In the last 6 matches (not including R18) Geelong has won by an average of 75 points, so a brave selection for Nick Murnane and Mark Richardson…
Now to the winner of Round 18 or more accurately 4 winners…Gees….another first in my thinking. So to Patrick, Graeme, Kelly and Ian you all get $40 prize money - congrats. You would have really broke the bank if you were that 1 point closer, as you all would have got that extra $30 bonus for getting exact points… The man of (Craig) Steele or is that Batman held his nerve to win the 3rd Quarter for the Quarterly Tipping…and to Jay, Brad, Jane and Kara – well done on staying up there for this quarter and getting some prize money. For those who don’t know it, the prize money is $100, $80, $60, $40 and $20 for places 1 -5 respectively. One last chance, for some, to get some joy out of tipping 2011…so for the last 6 round all have a chance to win the prize money. GerardRound 17
It was the horror round of tipping we have been waiting for, with 4 decent upsets. It would have been a great week for someone near the top to have a bit of a crack but, as usual, they've all gone with the favourites and let Bryce hold onto his lead. Bryce, if you split the winnings with me I'll send you everyone's tips Friday arvo so you can just do enough to keep in front, interested? (Insert Heath Shaw joke here.....)
Jason Brown would have been happy when his brother Jonathan was knocked out in Brisbane, allowing the cats to cruise to victory and him to get 7/8 and collect the $40 this week, well done Jason, some very brave tipping there. There was some interesting Hot Tip selections this week, with 16 out of 17 teams being used by at least one tipper. You'd think the one team that wasn't used might have been the bye team, Hawthorn, but no, Nathan Kingston thought they were a chance to get up so he used them as his Hot Tip. Better luck next year Nathan. Brisbane was the team who missed out. Three people have been installed as favourites for the Hot Tips, they are Steven Maloney, Kathy Wright and everyone's favourite Queenslander from last week Carolyn Sallis. These three inexplicably used the Gold Coast as their Hot Tip, and they won! If you are wondering Carolyn, yes my words from last week tasted quite nice with some sauce. Last week I gave Carolyn some advice on tipping the Qld teams, only for her to use the Gold Coast as her Hot Tip while I used Richmond as mine so I guess you get the last laugh. It is also worth mentioning the 5 brave souls who used their Wildcard in a week where tipping was always going to be tough. I'm not sure of the thinking behind their decision but David King, Brian Fleming, Lynda Robinson, Diane Evans and Felix Kennedy all went for double points for an average of 4.20, so bad luck guys. And finally, after assuring me she knows nothing about football, Jane Coogan has shot into contention this week with a 6. She now sits equal 3rd with a hit rate of 73%. Use that Wildcard wisely Jane.... NickRound 16
Two major upsets this week with the Cats losing to West Coast and the Bulldogs beating the Blues. Looks like most of you went for the safer options this week, with 245 people getting 5 correct, and as such there wasn't much movement at the top, with BT holding onto his 3 point lead.
I'd like to see some brave moves from a few of the chasers to try and close the gap, but I suspect they'd be reasonably happy to sit up there and collect a few dollars at the end of the season. Tip a few upsets I say, cover yourselves in glory, because in the words of Reese Bobby, if you ain't first, you're last. Just don't take any advice from Trent 'Supertips' Duggan, who managed to pick just 1 this week.
Yours Truly rocketed into equal 248th place this week with my equal round-high of 7 out of 7 correct. Unfortunately for me, the Cats and Eagles didn't kick a high enough score between them, leaving the door open for 'Johnny' Diesel Williamson to sneak in under me and collect the $40. I'd like to say well done Diesel but I wouldn't mean it so I won't. Well done to Leigh 'Hot Tip' Burrill though, who was the third and final tipper to get them all right this week.
Supporter of the round this week is Carolyn Sallis, who was the sole Hawks supporter to back in Brisbane to get over her boys up at Aurora Stadium. Been following the footy much this year Carolyn? Perhaps you are a loyal Queenslander, because you tipped the Gold Coast as well? If this is the case, stick to tipping the Queensland teams in State of Origin and Super Rugby at this point in time is my advice.
Good luck this week, I'm interested to see how loyal you Carlton supporters are in their match against Collingwood. And for the record, after watching the Saturday night game between Essendon and Richmond, Essendon supporters have overtaken Collingwood supporters for the worst supporters in football, a truly disgraceful performance. I just hope that our 34 Bombers supporters are exceptions, otherwise we may have to ban them from next year's competition.
Nick
Round 15
Probably the toughest round of tipping we’ve had for a few weeks now, with a couple of monster upsets, and haven’t we been hearing about one of them in particular? Now I can’t speak for the 34 Bombers supporters in our ranks, and I’m not sure how many of you non-Bombers supporters had the same thing happen, but my Facebook home page was absolutely inundated with (previously deafeningly silent) Bombers supporters banging on about a great win and sucked in to the Cats etc etc. I had to look twice to make sure I was reading it right and that they weren’t actually Collingwood supporters, who you get that from every week so you learn to ignore it. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fantastic game and Essendon withstood numerous Geelong fight backs and played some exciting football, but pull your heads in! The way some of my mates carried on you’d think the Bombers would be blind down at Fed Square at the moment dressed up like women on their Mad Monday with the premiership cup in tow!
Hot tips was back this week and we have 119 casualties already, largely thanks to the Geelong game. Interesting choice by you people, I would have thought Geelong would be worth keeping in the bank, especially with Fremantle playing the Suns in WA! And to Leigh Burrell of Aurora, did you press the wrong button mate? Leigh had the Gold Coast as his hot tip, so he’ll have to wait till next year to get another crack it. There were also over 100 people who used Collingwood, which again was an interesting choice, since they were taking on a fellow top 4 contender. Granted, they were playing Hawthorn’s reserves side, but Hawthorn’s recent form against the Pies has been as good as anyone’s. Anyway, they are still alive so good work.
Bryce just keeps getting it done at the top, tipping 6 this week and opening up a handy buffer over the rest of the gurus. Correct me if I’m wrong too Bryce but aren’t you up the top nearly every year? What’s your secret? And this week’s winner Karen Jenkins must have done her tips with her eyes closed to tip 8, but well done Karen I hope you enjoy your prize. Remember, next week is a multi-bye round so avoid using your Wildcard if you can, as there are only 7 games.
Nick
Round 14
One of my favourite features of HAT footy tipping, as you may have noticed if you read this wrap up, is the supporters summary. This feature allows us to have a look at who is supporting their team and who isn't. Warming the hearts of Collingwood and Essendon supporters this week was the entire contingent of Carlton supporters getting behind their Blues to beat West Coast, only to get it wrong. Have the Blues been exposed as being too skinny down back? Or was it the old chestnut 'loss they had to have'? Mind you, 95% of all tippers backed them as well, so they obviously weren't being too optimistic. The Bombers supporters are starting to learn with over half of them ducking the Bombers against the Hawks, and who do you think was the lone Demons supporter who ducked them this week?
Hot Tips finished this week, with Kellie Johns winning by using up the Demons on one of their good weeks. $100 heading your way Kellie, don't spend it all at once. Commiserations must go to the Night Owl Joshua Nash, who came second, but none of his available teams won so he was stuffed either way. Hot Tips will restart again this weekend so don't forget to nominate a team!
I know most of you just look at the leader board to see who's on top, but it isn't really a clear indication of who is the superior tipper due to the Wildcard. The true indication is in the 'hit rate' column. A person with the highest hit rate is actually the best tipper, but misuse your wildcard and you could miss out on the money, even if you have tipped the most correct results. Have a look down in 48th place, where Brian Whelan has a hit rate of 77%, equal to Helen Clarke who sits in second place. Some shrewd use of the wildcard could still see him jump to the podium, once again, no pressure Brian. It is worth noting that at the same time last year, the best hit rate in the entire competition was only 71%, but this year we have 155 people running at 71% and above. Are we getting smarter or is tipping getting easier?
Nick
Round 13
Sorry for the late post this week for Round 13. Nick is having a week off after ripping out some great reviews over the last few weeks. Do not worry his reviews will be back hopefully next week. Nick’s highlights have been very informative with a mixture of light heartiness and a touch of stirring (re Kennedy Clarke)…This week sees another high average score of 6.15 – who says tipping is hard, yet only 7 tippers used their wildcards. Some special mention to John Sayers and David Wilson as they only scored 3 with their wildcard…mmm, this is not going with the average! What’s up fellas?!
Some attention on the Hot Tips comp is warranted this week, as after round 13 only 2 remain…They are Kellie Johns and Joshua Nash. They only have a couple of teams left to pick from, so the pressure will on to select the right winning team. Good luck to the end. Depending on when the Hot Tips finishes, it may restart for another go. Stay tuned to the web page and email for further information.
Good luck to all for Round 14.
By Gerard Martindill, HAT Footy Tipping Team, Posted Tuesday 21 June
Round 12
Solid response from Kennedy Clarke after last week’s comments, he managed to pick 8, win the quarterly tipping AND win the tickets to the footy (and then gave them up, as he could not use them)! He’s obviously getting his tips from Helen Clarke though, who must be an auntie or a cousin, since those two are battling it out at the top, and judging by his rubbish Supercoach team he has no idea about football. But well done anyway ;)
He wasn’t the lone ranger in picking 8 though, with 107 other people joining him, which would have to be some kind of record. This certainly wasn’t the week to be picking upsets, so to Rod Vanderheide, hats off for your bravery but you should have stuck to the favourites this week buddy. We’ll let him off this time though, because he put 8 rounds worth of tips in back at the start of May, so chances are he hasn’t been following the form too much. Funnily enough, even with the average score of the round being 6.65, there were only 9 Wildcards used. I’m kicking myself I didn’t use mine. Of the 108 people who tipped 8, Haydon Dennison had the closest points, just missing out on the extra $30 by a single point. Well done Haydon.
A quick note to the 7 of my fellow Demons supporters who tipped them this week. Silly.
Ever wondered who is the hardest team to tip? Well I have, so I got our IT wizard Craig Owens to do some analysis to find out which team tipsters had the most trouble picking from week to week. The answer is Essendon, with tippers in this comp only tipping them correctly 53.2% of the time. I imagine this has something to do with their surprisingly good run at the start of the year, with tippers suspecting this was a fluke so they kept tipping against them, and when tipsters finally got on board and starting picking them and they started losing a month ago, we all thought it was a minor setback and kept backing them in. Basically, if you are thinking of tipping either for or against them, change your mind at the last minute, and you’ll have just as much chance as getting it right. Not surprisingly, Collingwood are clearly the easiest team to tip at 88.6%, followed by Carlton, Hawthorn, Gold Coast and Geelong. It seems people are starting to believe in the Cats again, with 84.6% of you backing them against the Hawks, which I thought was a pretty high figure for what on paper looked to be such an even contest.
Good luck to everyone in the next quarter.
By Nick Whittle, HAT Footy Tipping Team, 14th June 2011
Round 11
Another simple tipping round, but this week only one favourite losing, leading to a bell curve that sits more to the right than usual, with an average score of 6.28/8, which is exceptionally high. The stuff I said last week about the tipping combinations was even more pronounced this week, with only 15% of all possible combinations being used up. As usual, I tipped for one upset, and equally as usual, I tipped it wrong. Instead of going for my Dees against the Bombers, I tipped Brisbane to get over the Swans. Unfortunately for me, the Brisbane team couldn’t make it on the day, so the Lions’ officials wheeled out the Ridgley 4ths to fill in for them, and consequently were handed out a lesson to the tune of 65 points.
Another 50 Wildcards were used this week, with an average wildcard score of over 6 as well, so well done to you people. My old mate Kennedy Clarke rocketed into equal 3rd this week after playing his Wildcard, but I wouldn’t worry too much about him if I were at the pointy end, he has been known to choke so soon enough he will be back somewhere in the middle of the pack, and should not be considered a threat. In fact, I am installing Kennedy as the early favourite for the Ben Brooks Memorial Chokers Award. For those of us who remember, a couple of seasons back Ben was about 8 tips in front with about 5 rounds to go, and managed to lose.
Hats off to Alanna Cannon, who not only picked 8 out of 8, but she managed to tip the exact points margin as well, the first time that has happened this season. Well done Alanna, an extra $30 heading your way for the exact points, so buy yourself something nice. Only 1 week remains in the quarterly tipping, so good luck to the punters battling it out at the top. I notice Kennedy is near the top of this table as well, so we’ll know if his choking days are over by this time next week.
Finally, congratulations also go to Joshua Nash, who wins the inaugural insomniac tipper award. Joshua was either working the night shift, or out having a couple of frothies with Taylor Walker because he submitted his tips at 3:51 am on Thursday morning! Good work Joshua. (Hope I don’t get him in any trouble with the missus on that one.)
PS How about those Demons Kennedy??
By Nick Whittle, HAT Footy Tipping Team Posted Monday 6th June
Round 10
Rarely has a round come along that had all 8 games with such clear favourites in terms of percentage of tipsters tipping one of the teams. The match that had people scratching their head the most was the match between the Saints and the Dockers, but still 75% of people went with the Dockers. Another way to think about it is to look at the total number of possible tipping combinations each week. If there are 8 games, then there are 256 different combinations of tips, of these combinations, only 18% (47) were chosen this week, meaning people’s tips were largely the same. In fact, nearly half of you tipped Carlton, Sydney, Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn, Adelaide, Collingwood and Richmond.
Basically, what I’m getting at is that the stats point to this week being an easy tipping week, therefore, the talk between fellow tipsters around the water cooler on Friday was all about the Wildcard. I was asked by a casual tipping friend of mine whether or not she should use her Wildcard, but I refuse to give advice on these matters a) because if you check out where I am on the leader board, I’m not exactly an authority on tipping and b) I don’t like getting abused Monday morning for dishing out dud advice.
As it turned out, a massive 68 people used their wildcard, and with the 3 major upsets the average score was 4.99, so to you 68 people, unlucky! Fortunately for me, I had a feeling there would be at least one decent upset this week, unfortunately for me I thought it would be North over Sydney, so I ended up with 4, didn’t use my Wildcard though thankfully. It has got me stuffed how this week’s winner, Hugh Burdon, got 8 this week, the only tipster who managed that feat so Hugh, if you’re reading this, well done and I’d love to know how you did it.
Plenty of movement at the top this week with all of the Wildcards getting thrown around, but Bryce Turnbull did enough to stay and top and Helen, stung by my comments last week pulled out a 7 to stay in touch. Half of you Western Bulldogs wisened up from last week, but the other half still tipped them over the Hawks?! And I’m marvelling at the faith shown by 6 of the 11 Eagles supporters, who thought they could beat Collingwood at the ‘G. I admire your loyalty people, but surely not the Pies in Melbourne??
Finally, only 4 left in the hot tips competition so be ready for a re-start any week now...............
By Nick Whittle, HAT Footy Tipping Team
Round 9
The theme for this week’s discussion is Head vs Heart, the dilemma faced by all tippers at one stage. For me it’s easy, I’d rather try and win $40 than tip my team (the Demons) if I think they will lose, but some of my mates would, on principle alone, sooner burn at the stake than tip against their team. Admittedly, over the past few years, you’d be mad to tip with your team if you were a Demons supporter. Some people (Collingwood supporters in particular) are so one-eyed they believe their team will actually win no matter what, and unfortunately for the rest of us it seems to be working for them at the moment. While others tip against their team to hedge their bets, to soften the blow when their team loses, so when they get text messages after the game from gloating friends and colleagues they can reply with “I don’t care because I tipped against them anyway”.
The 6 Western Bulldogs supporters in our competition all obviously went with the heart this week, my Nan even tipped the Eagles because she knew the dogs’ backline wouldn’t be able to contain the Eagle’s tall forwards, and she hasn’t watched a game of footy since 1974. The Tigers supporters are still haunted by the recent past, and the Tiger’s form of late wasn’t enough to convince them they could beat the Bombers, with 12 out of the 28 of them ducking their side this week, only to see them run away with the game in a very encouraging performance. I thought Carlton supporters would have more sense, with 30 out of 45 of them tipping their boys to end the cats unbeaten run. Mind you, they should have won the game if Robbie Warnock had gone to his kicking lessons, what a terrible kick! My afore-mentioned Nan would have slotted that one 99 times out of 100. Finally, the one-eyed supporter of the week goes to the lone Adelaide supporter who thought their side could beat Collingwood. It was nice of the Pies to give that person some hope for three quarters before finally putting the foot down.
Individually, Helen Clarke let me down this week after I sung her praises over the last fortnight, only tipping three winners, opening the door for Bryce Turnbull to take the lead with his 7. Interestingly, two of my fellow HAT administrators are sitting in the top 20. Rest assured people I will be keeping an eye on those two, making sure the tips they submitted on Friday match the ones they are claiming on Monday.
By Nick Whittle, HAT Footy Tipping TeamRound 8
A fairly standard tipping week, the usual couple of upsets, the usual fluky 8 out of 8s. This week’s winner was the magic 8 ball of Ann-Maree Keogh, who must be using a different magic 8 ball than the one that back in 1996 told me I was going to be a football star. Congratulations must go to every male Geelong supporting Transend employees from the south, who are sitting on top of all of our challenge groups. Helen Clarke once again proved why she is on top of the ladder with another strong tipping performance, but also have a look at my fellow HAT administrator Brian Whelan, who is sitting in 19th place with his wildcard up his sleeve. Pressure’s on Brian, use it wisely and you could go to top spot.
Bogey teams and bogey grounds played a part in some of this week’s results. Die hard Richmond and Melbourne fans would have been the ones who ducked their respective teams this week, knowing that neither team plays their best football at Etihad Stadium, and for some reason Melbourne cannot beat North Melbourne, and haven’t done so since 2006. Had the Richmond versus Bulldogs game been at the ‘G, I think the 5 Tigers supporters who went for the Bulldogs might have tipped their boys to get over the line. It makes for an interesting week this week, with the Tigers and Bombers facing off at the annual ‘Dreamtime at the ‘G’ to celebrate the contribution of all indigenous players to the AFL.
The Saints season continues to go from bad to worse, but I expect them to get back on track with a win over an injury ravaged Demons this Saturday, and a heads up to anyone who is sitting next to a Collingwood supporter, expect to be sick to death of hearing about Pendlebury’s goal by the end of the week. He was extremely unlucky but it’s time to move on. Interestingly, ¾ tippers tipped against Geelong, I wonder how long it has been since the last time that happened?
Finally, Does anyone know Trent Duggan? Not only has he produced the worst ladder, he is dead last in the competition, he hasn’t been putting his tips in and he hasn’t paid his entry fee. He is a very short priced favourite for the Worst Tipper of the Year Award.
By Nick Whittle, HAT Footy Tipping Team
Round 7
One of my friends used to do her footy tipping based on which team had the prettiest colours, and that’s how the 4 people who tipped 8 this week must have done it, but well done to them. Especially Rachael Langridge, who is this week’s winner. Well done Rachael.
Some very brave use of the wildcard has seen Helen Clarke rocket to the top of the leaderboard. This round had at least 4, but potentially up to 6 games that, based on form, could have gone either way. The biggest upset this week was the Gold Coast hanging on to take out the inaugural ‘Pineapple Cup’, with only 12.7% of tippers getting this one right. We wouldn’t like to be Michael Voss right about now!
6 more people using the old ‘pick whoever is playing the Suns as my hot tip’ theory came unstuck this week, after 125 were knocked out when the Suns beat Port, meaning only 12 people are left to battle it out for the $100. I’m not sure we’d continue to use that theory either, since the Suns are playing the Crows this week!
It’s a tough gig, this footy tipping. Cast your minds back to round 1, where Adelaide defeated Hawthorn by 20 points. In round two the Hawks easily disposed of Melbourne to the tune of 45 points. 5 rounds later, Melbourne thrash Adelaide by 96 points! It looks like it’s going to be one of those years where anyone can beat anyone on their day, apart from Collingwood or Geelong apparently, who have set up an absolute blockbuster this Friday night. Is the ‘Curse of the Bye’ going to strike the Pies? Can the Cats get some revenge for the humiliating Preliminary final defeat last year? It will be an interesting match and we’re looking forward to see how you all think it is going to unfold.
Finally, it’s great to see the Tiger’s supporters having something to smile about. 3 in a row and people are starting to throw the F word about. Is their form enough to justify tipping them against the Western Bulldogs and Essendon in the next two weeks?
By Nick Whittle, HAT Footy Tipping Team