Skip to content

Fiddes' Cent

Sky Bet's rugby league expert tells us where the smart money will be going on this weekend's action.

Sky Bet's Jordan Fiddes expects a change of attitude for this week's elimination round.

It's knockout rugby right up until Old Trafford now for the six teams remaining in the competition. Both Warrington and Wigan have earned a week off so all eyes are focused on the John Smith's Stadium and Headingley Carnegie Stadium in Leeds. Hull FC recorded an impressive victory over the Catalans last week but now travel to the team who finished top, Huddersfield, in the first semi-final. The Airlie Birds have not beaten the Giants in 2013, yet they managed a comfortable win against them in last year's play-offs - albeit at home. This year's League Leaders Shield winners will be rocked by the loss to Wigan but they still come into the game as 4/11 favourites. Paul Anderson's men have a -10 handicap to contend with - as they did in the league fixture back in March - but will be buoyed by the fact they have no new injury fears after last week's defeat. With Danny Tickle back in the side for Hull FC, kicking should once again play a vital part in Peter Gentle's game plan. Last week, Hull's first points came from Tickle's boot and, in the First Scoring Play market this week, a Hull FC Penalty is a huge 12/1 - with it just 10/1 against the Dragons in the last play-off round. Tickle is the man likely to be on kicking duty come Thursday evening and, having missed just 10 of his 57 attempts in 2013, he is a good bet to open the scoring for the Black and Whites. Traditionally, the underdogs - which Hull are at 2/1 - will try to post points early and with Huddersfield having conceded over 200 penalties this year, the Hull forward should get plenty of opportunity to convert them into points.

The knockout kings

On Friday night, it's a repeat of four of the last six Grand Finals at Headingley. St Helens have a good record at Leeds, however, winning their last three visits there - however, this is only the second time the two have met at Headingley in the play-offs, with Leeds winning 44-16 in the 1998 Final Eliminator. They are 7/4 outsiders in this knockout fixture as they attempt to avenge the four Grand Finals gone by. It's Leeds at -6 which appeals to me though, with the Rhinos knowing their Champion status is on the line. Brian McDermott has a near full-strength squad to choose from and, despite losing 40-20 at Warrington, they know how to win in the play-offs. Led by Kevin Sinfield, Leeds have won their last eight play-off games and, until last week, have not been beaten on the route to Old Trafford since September 2010. Surprisingly, the Saints have not beaten Leeds in the play-offs since 2008 and, in that year, the Rhinos bounced back to beat them in the Grand Final. Brian McDermott's men are -6 on the handicap at 10/11 - a score they have won by in 16 of their 18 wins this season, including a 20-12 victory at this weekend's opponents back in Round Five. It's a gamble considering Leeds' record at home to Saints in the summer era but, given the never-say-die attitude Leeds have shown in recent years, I expect them to end Nathan Brown and his men's excellent end of season form.
View from the Sky Bet trading room...
"Huddersfield have been well backed early on, moving from -8 to -10 in the handicap market, with punters expecting a backlash from last week's defeat. "Danny Brough is popular in the Tryscoring markets after he opened the scoring last week against Wigan. "He's moved from 4/1 into 10/3 to score anytime against Hull. "The punters are undecided in the Leeds vs St Helens game as both teams have been backed evenly, leaving the odds as they were when the market first became available."

Around Sky

GPT Lazyload Debugger

Loading…
Loading the web debug toolbar…
Attempt #