Final Eight of NAB Cup

The first round of the NAB Cup was completed with the four remaining matches being played. There were some interesting results.

First up St Kilda edged out Collingwood by a point. It was a spirited display by the Saints who had gone through a very tough week. They raced out of the blocks with a six goals to two opening quarter and that said the mood for the match.

Nick Riewoldt kicked four and Adam Schneider was the only other multiple goal kicker. For the Pies, Leigh Brown kicked four and Paul Medhurst and Travis Cloke each bagged two. Former Saint, Luke Ball managed one.

The Saints now face the Swans who managed their first ever NAB Cup victory under coach Paul Roos. The Swans just had too much class for the Blues even though the Blues played in the finals last year and the Swans didn’t. Betting was quite even, but in the end the Swans' superior experience stood firm. The Swans would be very pleased by how their new recruits went. Ben McGlynn, Trent Dennis-Lane, Gary Rohan and Lewis Jetta all impressed with Jetta the pick of the bunch.

The Blues showed that it will take them a while to get over the loss of key-forward Brendan Fevola.

In somewhat of a surprise, North Melbourne defeated defending champion, Geelong. Liam Anthony was the best on ground with 38 touches as the Cats were put to the sword. Anyone who bet on this would be doing very nicely thanks to AFL betting. North Melbourne were offering some very healthy odds.

They will play Fremantle who just had too much firepower for an up and coming Demons side. Even with Jack Tengrove and Tom Scully the likes of Pavlich, Hasleby and Mundy had too much experience.

Looking ahead to the second round of action you would favour the West Coast Eagles at home to Port. That will be too much of a home ground advantage. The Bulldogs will take on the Hawks in what should be a pretty compelling game. It is quite hard to split these two. Both sides offer a lot and would be favourites with AFL betting for the day premiership.

Sydney and St Kilda meet again in Round 1 and it will be interesting to see how full-on the both treat this. Will they sacrifice something here in return for keeping somethings disclosed for when they meet in Round 1?

Finally Fremantle have to travel to Victoria to take on the Kangaroos. Should be a fascinating quarter-finals round.

Darren Albert writes for this blog. He also writes about live bets during sporting contests.