With the NRL finals series of 2009 now upon us, here's a retrospective look at the home-and-away season that was for punters on Betfair.
The 2009 season on Betfair
§ The 2009 season has seen a 14% increase in active punters on all NRL markets and a 24% increase in total volume bet on NRL home-and-away markets on 2008.
§ Punters from 61 countries bet in NRL markets in 2009.
§ More than 39% of people who had a bet on the NRL with Betfair in 2009 were from overseas.
§ The biggest win on an NRL market in 2009 came when one punter profited $88,700 on the round 20 match between Parramatta and the Bulldogs. The punter combined backing Parramatta at odds between $4.30 and $4.60 and laying the Bulldogs at odds between $1.26 and $1.50.
§ The NRL match that recorded the greatest volume traded in 2009 was the Canberra versus North Queensland match in round four, where $640,000 was matched.
§ There have been 29 occasions in 2009 when a punter with Betfair has won in excess of $20,000 on a single NRL match.
§ Last year's biggest home and away game in terms of volume invested was bettered 29 times in 2009.
Major upsets of 2009
§ ROUND 4 - PENRITH 12 def MANLY 10
- Penrith start the match as $5.10 outsiders against Manly at $1.23.
- The Panthers trade at a high price of $10.40 in-play and an average price of $1.91 during the match despite leading for the final ten minutes.
- Manly trade at a low price of $1.05 in-play when they lead the match, until Penrith's 69th minute equaliser, and subsequent conversion.
§ ROUND 13 - PARRAMATTA 20 def NEWCASTLE 18
- Parramatta enters the match having lost 7 of their first 11 games and are subsequent $4.50 outsiders against the Knights at $1.27.
- The Eels were backed at as much as $12 pre-game, and were backed at $10 in-play when trailing 12-nil at half-time.
§ ROUND 24 - BRISBANE 12 def DRAGONS 2
- The Broncos start the match as $4.36 outsiders against the odds-on, minor premiership favourites St George Illawarra at $1.29.
- The match goes 28 minutes before a point is scored. Brisbane is backed at $3.20 in-play prior to the first try of the match, scored by the Broncos David Taylor.
The tale of the top eight
Team | Price | High | Low | Comment |
DRAGONS | $3.50 | $17.50 | $2.80 | Have accounted for 18.3 percent of total volume traded and remain the punters pick after an emphatic return to form in round 26. |
MELBOURNE | $5.90 | $12.50 | $5.90 | Trading at the same price they opened at but reached double figure odds after losing to Manly in round 24. |
BULLDOGS | $6.20 | $60 | $4.10 | Became premiership favourites for the first and only time in 2009 when they were matched at $4.10, following the round 25 win over the Warriors. |
MANLY | $6.20 | $17.50 | $3.50 | Shortened from $200 to $12.50 to win the wooden spoon at the same time as they were backed at $17.50 in the premiership market. The most popular team for volume traded in the premiership, accounting for 19.2%. |
BRISBANE | $9.40 | $75 | $6 | Matched at their highest price only six weeks ago, after bring flogged 56-0 by Canberra. The best backed team in the initial six weeks of the competition and account for 14.6% of the market volume. |
TITANS | $14.50 | $36 | $9.10 | Have never been in favour with punters despite the most consistent of seasons. Interestingly, they enter the finals as equal sixth favourites even though they will host a final. The second least traded team in the finals. |
PARRAMATTA | $16.50 | $460 | $6 | An Eels grand final win would be the most remarkable betting story in the games history. Backed at their highest price in the premiership market when they were second favourites for the wooden spoon at $3.35. Shortened to $6 to win the title after their round 25 win over Penrith. |
NEWCASTLE | $32 | $125 | $10.50 | The rank outsiders of the remaining premiership hopes. Were backed at their top price, and also at $100, after being matched at their lowest quote of $10.50 in the premiership market. Have attracted the least volume of trading of the remaining sides. |
Finals week one
MELBOURNE $2 BULLDOGS $1.64
MANLY $2 NEWCASTLE $2.48
TITANS $2.48 DRAGONS $1.51
BRONCOS $1.68 EELS $2.80
Melbourne Storm grand final press conference
