It was billed as a clash of the titans. A game between two giants of football that had gone unbeaten until round 14, a game more hyped than most of the Grand Finals to date. So the question was, could St Kilda and Geelong live up the expectation? The answer was a resounding YES.
St Kilda’s 6 point victory over Geelong is going to go down in history as one of the greatest games of all time and rightly so. Each side traded blows and produced some of the best goals, marks and all round football ever seen on the oval pitch. St Kilda were at their devastating best and can now say they can match it with the bog boys. They led for most of the match and streamed out to a 23 point lead in the final quarter. But Geelong can never be counted out and levelled the scores late on only for Michael Gardiner to score the fourth of his goals and seal the 91-85 victory.
Despite the Saints win, the bookmakers still have Geelong as favourites to take the flag and rightly so in the eyes of Tigers star Matthew Richardson, “Geelong have been the best team in the competition for the last three years, I think they have earn’t the right to lose a game and still be favourites” he said on Channel Ten’s ‘One Week At A Time’. And I agree, I thought that the Saints would be up for that one, but when Grand Final day comes along (Which I am sure will be between these two teams) Geelong are not only going to be out for revenge in a big way, but they will also be looking forward to wiping away the painful memory of last years defeat to Hawthorn. Get on Geelong to bounce back from this defeat and win the flag at sportsbet.
Brownlow Betting
Nicky “Dangerbolt” Riewoldt took one of the marks of the season early on against Geelong and put in another outstanding performance cementing his reputation as the best big forward in the competition, and it finally looks like he his getting some Brownlow recognition from the bookies. Sportsbet have brought his odds in to $8.00 and he is now third favourite behind Ablett and Judd. While I still feel that Ablett will come away with this one Riewoldt could be a great outside bet. Go to sportsbet now to get your free $50 bet on the Brownlow winner.
The St Kilda win has also brought up another question will they go undefeated for the whole season. If you think that they can, and why not? Sportsbet are paying out $5.50 on this market.
The battle for the 2009 Brownlow medal is starting to hot up with a number of players coming in to contention with some fantastic performances in recent weeks. Geelong superstar Gary Ablett is still the hot favourite to finally take out his first medal, but there is a group of players that includes former winner Chris Judd and St Kilda pair Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna that could cause another upset for Ablett. Here at Sportbetblog we will give you a quick run down of who is really in contention.
Gary Ablett $2.00
At $2.00 Ablett is the hottest favourite to win the Brownlow medal since betting on the medal was allowed and rightly so. He is the all round footballer and is considered the best that there has ever been by many people. He tackles hard, scores his fair share of goals and regularly wracks up 30 + disposals. It would take a brave man to bet against him but stranger things have happened. Go to sportsbet now and register for your free bet.
Chris Judd $5.50
It was 2004 when Judd picked up his Brownlow medal in what was an outstanding season with The West Coast Eagles. In 2009 he looks like he has fully settled down with his new club Carlton and is again putting in some outstanding performances. Judd is averaging 27 disposals a game and 5 tackles. While these are some pretty impressive figures it is his presence and composure under pressure that set him apart from the majority of AFL players.
Dane Swan $12.00
Once you get past Ablett and Judd the odds start to lengthen significantly. But we should all know by now that bookmakers odds mean nothing when it comes to the Brownlow medal. Collinwoods Dane Swan has come from nowhere and is actually topping the overall stats list ahead of medal favourite Gary Ablett. Averaging 33 disposals, 19 kicks and 8 marks a game he has to be in with a shot, making $12.00 a great price.
Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna $14.00 Nick ‘Dangerbolt’ Riewoldt $16.00
The performances of these three players in 2009 have been one of the main reasons that the Saints have performed so well this year. And you have to think that if they can keep it up and finish above Geelong that the 2009 Brownlow medallist will be one of these three. If I had to pick one of them it would definitely be Nick Riewoldt. To me he is one of the best players in the competition, but if the umpires tend to ignore forwards Nick might just miss out.
But when it comes down to it there is really only one winner and that is Gary Ablett. He is easily the best AFL player around if not of all time. Many people think he was unlucky not to win the medal in 2007 and 2008 and I feel that this will finally be his year. Go to sportsbet now to get your $50 free bet just for signing up.
