Favourites Storm will not gamble on Hayne having an off day

Favourites Storm will not gamble on Hayne having an off day


The form of Parramatta full-back Jarryd Hayne could hold the key to The
Eels upsetting Melbourne Storm in today's NRL grand final.


Betting markets are firmly on the side of Melbourne, but if The Storm
cannot control Hayne, they could find themselves falling short in their
quest to become the NRL side of the decade.


Billy Slater is the most direct answer to Hayne for The Storm, a
full-back who is already assured of his place in history.


Storm coach Craig Bellamy has been pondering the Hayne problem, and told
the Sydney Morning Herald his team had a game plan for dealing with the
agile talisman.


He said: "Hopefully, we'll handle it well. We're not going to lay down
and get out of his road.


"Obviously, different teams have different mentalities on how they
handle it. We always back ourselves. Everyone sees how hard he is to
defend.''


Bookmakers have The Eels as the outsiders for today's showpiece at the
ANZ stadium, with Betfair offering odds of 1.61 for Melbourne and 2.56
for Parramatta.


Betfair is also offering NRL betting odds on who will score the most
tries between The Storm's Billy Slater and Hayne for the Eels - Slater
is on 1.74 and Hayne is on odds of 2.16.