My bold predictions for the 2011 Shute Shield
Armed with the Premiership Ladder & the dates for the finals I set about trying to work out where the Manly Marlins will end up for the finals.
First I had to do some back of the envelope predictions for the last four rounds for Manly, Sydney Uni, Eastern Suburbs, Randwick & Northern Suburbs, no easy task!
So here goes:
Manly to win the next two against Northern Suburbs (with bonus point 5) & Southern Districts (with out bonus points 4), lose to Sydney Uni within 7 points securing a bonus point & beating Randwick at home in the final round with our a bonus point – 14 points added to the 80 they have already gives them 2nd position on the ladder going into the finals series & earning a week off.
Sydney Uni to win three of the four games with bonus points but only securing 1 point against Randwick – 15 points added the the 64 they have gives them 79, one less than Manly, so they grab 3rd spot.
I predicted 15 points for Eastern Suburbs & 14 for Randwick.
So the ladder shapes up as follows:
- Eastwood
- Manly
- Sydney Uni
- Eastern Suburbs
- Randwick
- Northern Suburbs
First elimination semi will be between 3rd & 6th matching Sydney Uni & Northern Suburbs, you would have to bet on Uni winning this surely! Winner – Sydney Uni
Second elimination semi will be 4th v 6th matching Eastern Suburbs & Randwick, tough one to call but I say Randwick will get this one if Gituea is still paying for them. Winner – Randwick
Now we are really into the business end with the Preliminary Finals, with 1st playing the lowest ranked elimination semi winner matching Eastwood & Randwick,cant go past Eastwood for this one. Winner – Eastwood
Last game is 2nd v the highest ranked semi winner matching Manly & Uni, wow, what a tough match but I am going out on a limb to say manly will grab this one by the scruff of the neck as they have been here so many times before only to let the occasion get to them, with Tim lane back in charge at the village green I think we can pull this one off. Winner – Manly.
That leaves Manly with the final & playing the team that we played the last time we were in a Grand Final back in 1997 – Eastwood, history shows that Manly won that game & Tim Lane was the coach back then so I hope that helps us! Winner – Manly of course
So there you have it, the 2011 Sydney 1st Grade finals run explained & hopefully it all goes to plan for the Mighty Manly Marlins.