Melbourne's “big three” – Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cam Smith – are set to deliver a premiership next Sunday against Canterbury, according to the punters.
After opening outsiders for the Grand Final last night, the Storm have firmed from $2 to $1.85 and into favouritism on the back of plenty of support.
This morning one punter bucked the trend with $30,000 at $1.95 on the Bulldogs, but such is the volume of money for Melbourne the plunge failed to change the betting.
“The Storm’s popularity has never been higher, including the four years they played in Grand Finals between ’06 and ’09,” said TAB’s Matt Jenkins.
“Given this early show of support it is hard to see how they won’t start favourites next Sunday.
“It has been an incredible turnaround from Melbourne who touched $7 after losing to the Dragons in round 21. At that stage one customer had $20,000 on them to collect $140,000.”
The best premiership odds given for Melbourne was $9 in January, with the Storm firming into $7 before the start of round one.
Cooper Cronk ($5.50) is predicted to continue his form and has been installed favourite for the Clive Churchill Medal.
Head to Head
$1.95 Canterbury
$1.85 Melbourne
Line
$1.73 Canterbury +2.5
$2.10 Melbourne -2.5
Margin
$5.00 Canterbury 13+
$3.00 Canterbury 1-12
$17.00 Draw
$2.90 Melbourne 1-12
$4.75 Melbourne 13+
Clive Churchill Medal
$5.50 Cooper Cronk
$6.00 Ben Barba
$7.00 Cameron Smith
$8.00 Billy Slater
$9.00 Josh Reynolds
$11.00 James Graham
$11.00 Ryan Hoffman
$13.00 Gareth Widdop
$15.00 Frank Pritchard
$17.00 Aiden Tolman
$21.00 or longer others
1st Try Scorer
$7.00 Ben Barba
$7.00 Josh Morris
$9.00 Billy Slater
$11.00 Sisa Waqa
$13.00 Mahe Fonua
$13.00 Ryan Hoffman
$13.00 Krisnan Inu
$13.00 Justin O’Neill
$13.00 Sam Perrett
$13.00 Jonathan Wright
$15.00 Cooper Cronk
$15.00 Dane Neilsen
$15.00 Josh Reynolds
$17.00 or longer others