All of the early money came for Sonny Bill Williams to win the Clive Churchill medal this Sunday but punters with online bookmaker Sportsbet Australia have switched their attention to Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans and Sea Eagles halfback is now the best backed player to snare the honour.
Headlined by a $4,000 bet, DCE has surpassed SBW in terms of punter support but does remain behind Williams on the second line of betting at $7.00. Williams is paying $6.00.
There’s daylight to the third best backed player, which is Mitchell Pearce at $12, with nibbles of support for James Maloney at $8.00, Jamie Lyon at $12 and Jake Friend at $15.
Even George Rose has his admirers, with a $5.00 and $1.00 wager going on the big fella at $126.
“We’ve priced big George at $126, which is a dollar for every kilo, and at least two punters have gobbled up his odds,” Sportsbet’s Ben Hawes said.
In match betting, punter support for the Roosters has cooled. Earlier in the week money was coming in 5 to 1 in their favour but that’s slowed down to 2 to 1. The Roosters are the $1.68 favourites with Manly at $2.25. With a tight clash expected, punters with sportsbet.com.au will have their losing head-to-head on the GF refunded if the final margin of the game is 10 points or less.
2013 Clive Churchill Medal winner
$6.00 Sonny Bill Williams (in from $7.00)
$7.00 Daly Cherry-Evans (in from $8.00)
$8.00 James Maloney (steady)
$9.00 Kieran Foran (steady)
$12 Brett Stewart (in from $15)
$12 Jamie Lyon (steady)
$12 Mitchell Pearce (steady)
$13 Glenn Stewart (steady)
$15 Jake Friend (steady)
$15 Anthony Watmough (steady)
$15 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (steady)
$21 Matt Ballin (steady)
$23 Anthony Minichiello (steady)
Others quoted
2013 NRL Grand Final winner
$1.68 Sydney Roosters (out from $1.67)
$2.25 Manly Sea Eagles (steady)