NRL Auckland Nines Odds: Hard Times
January 25th, 2015 by TJ DilferIt’s an issue that has been simmering for a little while, and we’re going to be keeping an eye out for disgruntled coaches ahead of the Auckland Nines at the weekend – we reckon there’s a possibility that some protective bosses could choose to rest players when it gets to crunch time, and we think that might well have a knock-on effect on the NRL odds we’re seeing for the Nines.
Most vocal about the risk to his players ahead of the regular season has been Panthers coach Ivan Cleary, who saw the injury toll last year, and is a worried man: ‘yes, I am concerned about more injuries. We’ve done our own research – because we haven’t got any back from the NRL – and based on last year we have found the game is 35 per cent faster. It’s played on a cricket oval, which is prepared for cricket, so it’s rock hard. It’s a very fast, very hard surface. It’s two weeks earlier this year. Last year, it was five weeks after the New Year break. We’re not going to risk rep players. The players who have played in the Four Nations, just through sheer lack of time, won’t be playing.’ Which is exactly what the NRL don’t want in their season-opening spectacular, of course. You can see what we mean about the effect that will have on the NRL odds for the Panthers if their key players are on ice for the tournament – are they worth $9.00 in that case?
But Cleary could be worrying about nothing, of course. The Turf Manager at Eden Park, Blair Christiansen, thinks he’s got nothing to fear: ‘we had the ODI last weekend and there’s a two-week gap between cricket and the Nines and that’s an ample time to turn it around from one code to another. We’ll bring the grass height up to double what it is for the cricket, so there is no way it’s going to resemble a cricket ground, people will be surprised that there was cricket here two weeks ago. In terms of surface firmness, it’s going to be comparable with what people would see at an early season Super Rugby game.’
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