Keep this in mind...
Everyone shoud know this, but professional sportsman in all codes play a gruelling season. The NRL is no different. Every week, you have to get yourself up mentally for the game, it may seem easy, but it isnt.
Teams, especially good ones, LOOK FOR EASY WAY OUTS from time to time, ie, taking the night off. If a team is in good form, good roster up against a worse team, mentally it is only natural for them to take the foot off the pedal in this scenario (they are looking for a break). Its like any of us that go for a day at work and couldnt be fucked being there. Professional sportsman are no different.
Manly is a prime example last night. You see it in the NBA, when a star player is out and they play another team, they end up winning because the opposition see it as an opportunity to "have the night off" , meaning they think they can coast through the game.
Last week, the Grizzlies were missing there 2 best players and playing the Lakers who were at full strength. When you look at the game on paper, Memphis had no right even competing with the lakers without those 2 players. But they took it to 2 OT's. The players who played out of there skin were role players, absolutely out of there skin. Have a look at the thread i created during that game. I said, i dont care who they play next, when the Grizz get there star players back, they will lose, i didnt care who they played, they were going to lose. The next game, they got there star players back and they lost against one of the worst teams in the NBA. This happened because the role players who played well against the Lakers thought "well, we almost beat the Lakers , now we get our 2 best players back against the Raptors, this will be easy, they turn up mentally down 5% for the game and that is enough...
You see it all the time with the bulls and Rose....
This sports gambling is 90% based on mental application of the players. If the game is played on paper, bookmakers wouldnt have a business. The only reason why bookies make money is because the public when betting assume that the players they bet on are going to give it all.....
Couldnt be further from the truth..