NRL grand final Footy Form: Stats that matter, what’s been backed, where the money is going
MELBOURNE has an excellent overall record against Cronulla, winning 21 of the 31 meetings, including 11 of 13 since their 2008 finals meeting.
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Check out all the best stats, what’s been backed and where the money is going in order to find a winner.
AS AT 5PM SUNDAY ARVO
Head to Head
- Cronulla has been backed in from $2.10 to $2 and easily the best backed team with 57 per cent of all bets
- That trend continues today and could see Cronulla push for favouritism come kick off
Clive Churchill
- James Maloney ($6) has been the best backed player to win the award.
- Cameron Smith ($5) and Cooper Cronk ($5) both next best and head betting
- Paul Gallen has been a big firmer $13 into $9 with good support
1st Try Scorer
- Valentine Holmes ($10) most popular with 10 per cent of all bets
- Suliasi Vunivali ($8) next best backed
- Luke Lewis ($21) and Kevin Proctor ($23) best backed roughies
Head to Head
$1.85 Melbourne (out from $1.75)
$2.00 Cronulla (in from $2.10)
Line
$1.95 Melbourne -1.5
$1.85 Cronulla +1.5
Margin (80 minutes)
$4.75 Melbourne 13+
$2.85 Melbourne 1-12
$15 Draw
$2.90 Cronulla 1-12
$5.50 Cronulla 13+
Clive Churchill Medal
$5 Cooper Cronk (in from $5.50)
$5 Cameron Smith (in from $6)
$6 James Maloney (in from $8) *was $23 before preliminary final win
$9 Paul Gallen (in from $13)
$13 Michael Ennis
$13 Wade Graham
$15 Jesse Bromwich
$15 Ben Barba
$15 Andrew Fifta
$17 or longer others
1st Try Scorer
$8 Suliasi Vunivalu
$10 Valentine Holmes
$11 Marika Koroibete
$12 Ben Barba
$12 Sosaia Feki
$17 Will Chambers
$17 Cheyse Blair
$17 Cooper Cronk
$17 Jack Bird
$21 or longer others
Melbourne V Cronulla, Sunday 7:15pm, ANZ Stadium
THUNDER STORM
Melbourne has an excellent overall record against Cronulla, winning 21 of the 31 meetings, including 11 of 13 since their 2008 Finals meeting.
HOUSE OF HORRORS
Cronulla has a poor record at ANZ winning just seven of 22 matches there, including just one of six since 2012. They have also lost both of their finals appearances at ANZ Stadium, falling to the Dragons 24-8 in the 1999 Preliminary Final and 16-10 to the Warriors in the 2002 Prelim.
HALF TIME TROUBLE
Since 1999, only four teams have come from trailing at half-time to win the Grand Final.
1999 - Melbourne came from 14-0 down at half-time against the Dragons to win 20-18
2004 - Canterbury came from 13-6 down against the Roosters to win 16-13
2010 – The Dragons came from 8-6 down to win 32-8 against the Roosters
2015 – North Queensland came back from 14-12 down at the break to win 17-16 in Golden Point.
BRILLIANT BELLAMY
2016 will be Craig Bellamy’s sixth Grand Final as a coach, moving him alongside the greats of Bob Fulton, Jack Gibson and Warren Ryan with the equal second most all time behind only his former mentor Wayne Bennett on nine.
SLIPPERY STREAKS
Nine of the 29 teams to have won 10 or more consecutive matches in a season in the compulsory Grand Final era (1954-2016) have gone on to win the Premiership.
Betting summary: More than 70 percent of the money is sitting with Cronulla to win their first ever Premiership.
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