NRL 2005 Tipping Grand Final

Posted October 3rd, 2005 by jhuny

Well well... it's the end and guess who won!

...

ME!

And, no, I still don't see anything wrong with that! Someone has to organise the competition, and why should anyone else outside of the competition be lumped with that job when they're not going to get anything out of it? And why should I deny myself a chance at the prize just because I take on the job?

Anyway, it was an interesting situation tipping for the grand final. With both underdogs upsetting the favourites, denying me of tipping points for an entire round, second place RP was in striking distance and was still able to win. Even before the game was set to start, it became apparent that RP and I tipping the same team to win the grand final would ensure that I would win the tipping competition regardless of the match outcome. Being from the far North Queensland and so far being totally loyal to the Cowboys, it was easy to predict what team RP was going to tip and had I could have just tipped Cowboys and taken the shortcut to the finish line. RP could have taken a risk that I would do this and gone for the Tigers and, had she picked the margin, would have sneakily taken the top spot from me (of course I could have just waited for RP to tip then copy her to ensure my victory either way but that would be cheating and I DON'T CHEAT!). The problem with this strategy is that, if Cowboys won she ran the risk of losing her top three spot had NL and JG both tipped Cowboys (JG with the added condition that she get the right margin as well), with no prizemoney and the added agony of knowing that she was disloyal (which, knowing RP, she would never do). That being said it was just as unlikely for NL, a proud westie, to tip agains the Wests as it was for RP to tip the Cowboys and that brings up the other situation where RP tips the Tigers to play for second spot knowing that NL would most likely pick her home team.

In the end, everyone pretty much tipped as expected and as we now know the Wests Tigers finally won. When Benji set up that try just before half time it started to become apparent that I would win the tipping competition and that westie girl NL would get second spot. But what else was starting to happen was that the tipping margin was beginning to be important as the Wests Tigers extended their lead just after half time. JG tipped a close match with the Wests Tigers winning and she needed those bonus points to overtake RP and take third spot. In effect JG needed to pray that the Cowboys could contain the Tigers and not allow them to extend their lead. Had Scott Prince managed to kick that field goal near the end of the match and that was that then RP would have taken the cash winning third spot. Prince, as it turned out, missed and it wasn't until Hodgson converted at full time that RP's prize was assured.

It was tense for a moment there, JPB was hoping for RP's sake that the Wests Tigers would extend the margin (she had won him over in Melbourne when she said he was handsome) and was relieved when Hodgson booted the ball between the poles. Hooray!

My prize has already been spent, by the way...

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