TAB round 24 odds the shortest in NRL history

After a season of massive NRL upsets, the TAB has declared this to be the most one-sided round in rugby league betting history — and our expert tipsters agree.

If you thought putting in your NRL tips this week was the easiest it has been in years, it turns out you’re bang on the money.

That’s according to the TAB, who have declared this to be the most one-sided round in NRL betting history.

And our experts agree, with all but two out of the 208 individual match tips in this masthead’s team of 26 tipsters going any upsets for this entire round.

But the TAB has also gone back over every round in the past five seasons and discovered the previous closest round to this week was in round 16 of 2020, where the longest favourite was paying $1.40.

This week the longest odds in the eight games for a favourite is $1.35 for the Sharks against the Titans who are paying $3.25.

Meanwhile, the shortest price is the Rabbitohs at $1.11 to beat the Dragons who are $6.50 outsiders.

In other games, the Panthers are $1.15 against the Sea Eagles at $5.50, while the Broncos are $1.30 against the Eels $3.50, the Warriors $1.18 against the Tigers $4.80, the Roosters $1.29 against the Dolphins $3.60, the Storm $1.26 against the Raiders $3.90, and the Knights $1.33 against the Bulldogs $3.35.

South Sydney will start $1.11 favourites against the Dragons. Picture: NRL Photos

A multi-bet on all eight favourites winning gives you a grand return of just $5.76, while a $1 TAB bet on all eight outsiders winning would deliver a giant return of $89,453.96.

TAB spokesman Rohan Walsh explained the introduction of the set restart rule three years ago had a significant impact on the betting market algorithms, with the favourites now generally shorter and the underdogs longer.

He said because of this change this weekend is likely the most one-sided betting round of the NRL era.

“It’s a definite weekend for favourite backers or those playing into their multis,” Walsh said.

“The last time we had a round so lopsided was back in round 16, 2020, when the longest priced favourite was $1.40.

“But it’s worth noting there were two upsets back then so the value is there for punters if they can find it.

“So far the best backed to cause a boilover this round has been the Raiders to with Canberra ($3.90) holding 50 per cent of the head-to-head investments against Melbourne ($1.26).”

To put it further in perspective, in our entire tipping panel the only two brave/dumb enough to go an upset this week was Brent Read who went the Sea Eagles over the Panthers, while Fatima Kdouh went the Raiders over the Storm.

In Fatima’s case it’s no secret she is a Raiders tragic, and would probably back the Green Machine even if Ricky Stuart ran out the entire NSW Cup team against the Storm in Melbourne.

While anyone who has watched Ready’s unwavering support of Anthony Seibold over the last few years might not be totally surprised by this.

We should point out that Ready is also currently sitting third on the tipping panel so he’s certainly no mug.

Brisbane is tipped to handle the Eels comfortably. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty

Yet aside from those two individual match tips, across the board all tipsters went exactly the same teams for every other game.

That went from our tipping frontrunner Badel all the way down to Matty Johns and Cooper Cronk, who are currently equal last and fighting it out for our version of the wooden spoon.

On that note it’s also worth pointing out just ahead of Johns and Cronk are Buzz Rothfield and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Who would have thought at the start of the season Buzz and the PM would be upstaging two of the great playmakers of the modern game?

Or maybe it just further highlights why picking the favourites isn’t always the safest bet when it comes to putting in your NRL tips.

Originally published as TAB round 24 odds the shortest in NRL history