Firstly a question: have paddy got some new thing going on about only taking bets on the handicap in one direction on the GAA?
Looking at the aertel pages at the moment they’re showing:
http://www.rte.ie/aertel/images/287-09.gif
http://www.rte.ie/aertel/images/287-09.gif
What does “Handicap applies 1 side” mean? And why aren’t they quoting the -3 on Mayo?
Had a quick look at the rugbyleague there. I seem to be backing favourites every week in this but the good weather (except last weekend) has seen some big scores in most games and that’s allowing teams to beat the handicaps the whole time. Plus there’s a definite change in momentum now with the big teams beginning to hit their strides as they push for playoff places.
Warrington did just enough a fortnight ago to beat the handicap against Huddersfield after letting them back into the game but the win was more convincing than the result. They’ve been in great form, other than the loss to Leeds a month or so ago. The win at Bradford last week wasn’t as impressive but it was still a decent win away from home in a secondary competition.
They’re off to Salford this week and will fancy their chances of covering the 12 point handicap. Salford have won their last 2 Superleague games - an 8 point win over the bottom side (Catalans) and before then a shock win over third placed St Helens. I think you can’t do anything other than dismiss that St Helens game as a flash in the pan. They’ve shown no real form at all this year and even then they managed to ship 34 points, it was just a rare abysmal defensive effort from St Helens.
The real form marker for this game is Murrayfield a month ago where Warrington hammered Salford 68-12. That was a massacre from start to finish in the Scottish sunshine and reflected a real gap in quality between the two teams. The Reds have conceded twice as many points as the Wolves, scored half as many points, have won less than half as many games, have lost more than twice as many etc.
12 points in the handicap isn’t a freebie but the Wolves can go 43 points worse off this weekend than the match in early May and still cover the handicap. I expect them to do that easily enough.
