2011 MARS Ratings After Round 9

/
Action was again confined to the middle sections of the MARS Ladder this week, with the teams from 4th through 12th collectively registering 3 rises and 4 falls. Carlton and Essendon, despite losing, rose by 1 spot thanks to significant losses by the Swans and the Dogs. Indeed, so large was the Dogs' defeat that their opponents, the Eagles, climbed 3 ladder positions as a consequence. Other falls were recorded by the Crows, down 2 spots to 11th, and the Dees, down 1 spot to 12th.
Read More

2011 Round 9 Results: A Small Setback

/
Richmond and Hawthorn brightened what was an otherwise fairly dull weekend for Investors, though a typo in my Ready Reckoner for the Port Adelaide v Fremantle game meant that the total loss was only just over 3% for the round and not 5% as the Ready Reckoner suggested. The Head-to-Head Fund landed 2 or 4 wagers, jumping 4% in the process to move back into profitability for the first time since Round 1. The Line Fund managed just 3 from 8, however, shedding a tick over 10% to leave it down just over 13% for the season and leaving Portfolios down 5.7% for the season.
Read More

2011 Round 9: Attritional Wagering

/
In this round, more than any before it this season, the terms "Home" and "Away" really mean something. For seven of the week's eight contests the designated Home team has at least 7 games more venue experience than their opponents, and in six of the games the Away team has played at the venue on no more than 3 occasions in the past year. Only Essendon has any right to feel that it's meeting its opponent on anything close to neutral territory and even then it has only half the venue experience of the Home team.
Read More

2011 MARS Ratings After Round 8

/
All the action on MARS Ratings last weekend happened amongst the teams in positions 3rd through 11th. First and second positions remain unchanged despite second-placed Geelong's victory over Collingwood, the 12th-placed Eagles and 13th-placed Roos both won but failed to gain enough Ratings Points to catch those ahead of them, and the teams in positions 14th through 17th all lost in a manner sufficient to preserve their rankings.
Read More

2011 Round 8: The Forward Estimates Show a Surplus in 2011

/
For the first time since Round 5, both the Head-to-Head and the Line Fund have failed to find value in a contest. It's the Brisbane v Essendon clash on Saturday that's bereft of financial interest, and represents the first time this season that Investors have not had a wager in a contest involving the Lions. (It's the third time, however, that a Dons clash has gone unwagered upon.)
Read More

2011 Round 7: Guaranteed Profit

/

There's still a game to be played before we can draw the curtain on Round 7 so the full weekly blog won't appear for another 24 hours. 

In the meantime, Investors will be pleased to know that their Portfolios are up 6.7% on the round so far, which means that a profit is guaranteed for Round 7 even if Carlton beat the Saints by more than 15 points in the last game, on Monday night. Alternatively, should the Saints spring the upset, another 5% will be added to the Portfolio value, which would leave it at just under breakeven for the season.

2011 Round 6 Results: A Couple of Goals Down at Quarter Time

/
This was an unusual week in that Investors were rooting solely for Away teams from Thursday to Saturday, albeit with points start in every case. That proved to be a largely unedifying experience, save for the one bright spot of the Blues defeating the Swans on a sodden SCG on Friday night, as Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Brisbane and St Kilda all conspired to lose by more than the handicap they were being provided.
Read More

2011 Round 6: Back So Soon?

/
It feels like, well, only yesterday that I was writing up the results for Round 5 and here we are, talking about the wagers for Round 6. This week, the AFL's only managed to drag the round's seven games out over four days, but we start again on Thursday night so, come Sunday, that means there'll have been an AFL game on somewhere in the country on nine of the preceding eleven days. On current form, I'm not sure Investors can afford that rate of activity.
Read More

2011 MARS Ratings After Round 5

/

There were no major moves on MARS Ratings this weekends.

The teams at the opposite ends of the MARS Ratings ladder enjoyed the largest gains, with Richmond (17th) rising by 1.6 Ratings Points, Collingwood (1st) rising by 1.4 Ratings Points, and Geelong (2nd) rising by 1.3 Ratings Points.

In terms of positions, Carlton and Hawthorn swapped 4th and 5th, Adelaide and Essendon swapped 9th and 10th, and the Gold Coast and the Lions swapped 14th and 15th, with the Gold Coast rising instead of falling precipitously for the first time the season (barring the bye).

2011 Round 5 Results: Can Tip, Can't Punt

/
It's just not happening for the Funds at the moment. When the Dons almost drew level with the Pies in the 3rd term on Anzac Day it looked, however briefly, that the Head-to-Head Fund might be about to drag itself back into profitability, but the Pies soon made that unlikely, then improbable, and ultimately impossible as they kicked clear to eventually win by 30 points. Thankfully that meant the Pies covered the spread - by just a point and a half - so all was not entirely lost for Investors as this ensured that the other, smaller Line Fund wager was successful. In total, though, the Dons v Pies game represented a net loss. Three other games yielded profits. Freo did the right thing by Investors in limiting their victory margin to just 7 points, allowing the Dogs to get up by half a point on Line betting; Gold Coast did a lot more than just protect their 63.5 points start, winning outright; and Carlton were victorious, though not by as large a margin as we'd hoped.
Read More

2011 Round 4 Results: Just One Kick Away From Profit

/
Across the weekend's shortened Round, the Head-to-Head Fund landed 3 from 5 to drag itself almost back to break-even for the season, but the Line Fund bagged just 2 from 4, courtesy of a late surge by the Roos, which proved enough to see our Freo -34.5 line bet go down by a single goal. Reversing that result would have been sufficient for Investors to see black ink for the weekend taken as a whole.
Read More