Pies at $1.22 for the eight €” it's better than bank interest

The Age

Friday March 19, 2010

CAMERON NOAKES

AFTER a $100,000 bet was wagered on Collingwood to make the top eight at odds of $1.22 during the week, it is apparent that punters are waking from their summery hibernation with dreams of easy money fresh in their consciousness and a bad case of trigger fingers.Not only did Sportingbet Australia accept that six-figure sum, the bookmaker took another bet of $50,000 on the Pies to make the finals and chief executive Michael Sullivan said Collingwood was the best-backed team in this market."They do look a certainty for the eight if they stay injury free, and punters aren't afraid to take the short odds," Sullivan said."(But) we have seen stranger things happen, though, and as a bookie, you have to be happy to lay these sorts of bets."While making long-range bets at this time of the year is not entirely silly (only a tad), betting on Barry Hall to win the Coleman Medal is utter lunacy, however. Betfair has taken more than $3000 on the Bustling One to be the competition's highest individual goal-scorer and he is $6.20 favourite.Betfair's Jake Norton said Hall had been at $26 when the market opened but most of the money that had come for him had all been in the past fortnight.At Sportsalive.com, Hall is into $7 for the Coleman behind Lance Franklin and Brendan Fevola, both at $4.25.This bookmaker offers place bets on the Coleman and, with Nick Riewoldt at $15, the value is seemingly with the St Kilda captain.Despite the Bulldogs', and Hall's, hot pre-season form, they were not able to force their way into Betfair's "first-loss" market, which is only being offered about last year's grand final combatants Geelong and St Kilda.The Cats are $5 to win every home-and-away match this season and $1.11 to lose in the first five rounds while the Saints are $3 and $1.01."Layers are being very cautious here," Norton said. "They're not prepared to offer anything better than $5 at this stage but expect interest in these markets to heat right up early in the season."In premiership betting, St Kilda is still favourite with all bookmakers but the Cats continue to ease and Sportsalive is the first to have the Bulldogs on level pegging with the reigning premier, both at $4.75.While it has been well documented that money keeps flooding in for the Dogs, Centrebet's Neil Evans said Collingwood had also been "well supported" in flag betting and was into $12.Round one odds are already up and there are few surprises, with Carlton, Geelong, Hawthorn, St Kilda, Brisbane Lions, Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs all solid favourites.Interestingly, the only game in dispute is the Dockers and Adelaide, and Sportsalive.com has found it hard to split the two."Many might be surprised how close together Freo ($1.91) and Adelaide ($1.87) are, but we reckon the Dockers are specials," Sportsalive's Gerard Daffy said.Although conventional wisdom tells us to stay away from the first few rounds, Centrebet's Evans tells us punters curiously jumped on North Melbourne "within minutes" of the market opening, taking the Roos at $2.89 to defeat Port ($1.42) at AAMI Stadium.In other news, despite a crippling sex addiction, Tiger Woods is a $4.50 favourite to win the US Masters, ahead of Phil Mickelson ($8.50) and Padraig Harrington ($17).

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