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The Punter's Guide to the 2013 NRL Season

With news in the past week that Premier Sports TV have signed a five-year contract to broadcast all Australian rugby league in the UK (every NRL match of every round with at least six live games per week, State of Origin, Test matches, finals series, archive footage, plus a block on all streaming via betting sites), it's good news for Northern Hemisphere rugby league fans if you are prepared to subscribe to the extra channel. A shame it's not in HD in the UK though, but perhaps a deal like this gives them the leverage to do it in the near future. Then again, given the broadcast latency on Premier, we don't any more time added before they upgrade their signal. Australia has full coverage across Fox Sports and the Nine Network, but are restricted by that stupid betting in-play online restriction, and probably the same deal as previous years, delayed coverage on Friday night games.

With wall-to-wall coverage these days and a plethora of betting options available, it makes perfect sense that someone has done the hard yards looking at betting trends in the NRL and assessing this year's squads. A old colleague of mine from PuntingAce, Nick Tedeschi has put together the ultimate guide:



The official spiel:

With all the latest information, including each team’s strongest line-up, a recruitment assessment, position ratings, coaching history, draw analysis and, most importantly, end of season predictions, The Punter’s Guide to the 2013 NRL Season has every part of the game covered—from a punter’s point of view. This is the ideal book if you want to take out first prize in the office tipping competition and win on the punt.

To buy the book, visit the Slattery Media website. Be warned though, postage prices from Australia are ridiculous (free within Aus)- the book costs $14.95, postage is a further $36!! Mind you, that's not a massive ask if you're staking $20.

There is an alternative though for expat/foreign punters. The book is available on iTunes for use on iPads, iPhones etc via the iBooks application. I was hesitant about reading a chunky book on the iPhone, but it comes up pretty well.



I can't give you a review of the book just yet, I'm less than halfway through it, but I'm impressed with the way it is written and the level of detail covered. To read more of Nick's work, look for his byline on makingthenut.com

Oh, and by the way, if Aussie Rules is more your thing, there's an AFL version out there too:
- iTunes link.
- buy the book

*DISCLAIMER*
I am making no money out of this post, I even paid for my copy, but Nick will owe me a beer or two next time I see him...

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