Right Said Fred: Talking Betting With Betfred Boss Fred Done

SALFORD are set to this weekend go sixth  in  Betfred Super League - pipping both Hull clubs to the vital play off spot.

It is a golden opportunity on Saturday when they play lowly Toulouse in France while Hull FC have a tricky encounter against Castleford in the next round of fixtures on the back of an absolute thumping by sixty points to nil against rampant Wigan.

While the Black and Whites were going down to a Bevan French-inspired Warriors, my home town club pulled off a morale-boosting 32-6 triumph against high-riding albeit inconsistent Catalans.

The Red Devils are now a tempting 150/1 at Betfred to win the Grand Final at Old Trafford in September but those odds will certainly be cut should Hull FC lose and Hull KR come unstuck at Warrington, also on Friday.

And if like me you think Salford could mount an 11th hour charge up the table we have Ken Sio at 8/1 to follow up his hat-trick of tries against the Dragons with the opener against Toulouse.

Talking of Warrington coach Daryl Powell must be getting increasingly frustrated at the Wolves’ stop-start season, was particularly scathing after his side’s 35-22 defeat at Castleford last weekend.

Powell, who I’m sure is finding it much more difficult than he imagined trying to revive the Wire’s fortunes, described his players as “dumb”.

He also concluded that a top-six finish is looking increasingly unlikely with just eight games of the regular season to play.

The 56-year-old said: “We started dumb, and we finished dumb. You don’t win matches when you do some of the things that we did.

“It’ll be tough now making the play-offs, but we must keep believing. We must be consistent as individuals and as a team.”

And, according to the odds, Powell is spot on, with Wolves drifting out from 25/1 to 33/1 at Betfred to achieve a top-six finish.

The Wolves are third from bottom, and if it wasn’t for Wakefield’s demise and Toulouse struggling to establish themselves in the Betfred Super League, Warrington would be battling to avoid relegation.

Next up for the Wire is Hull KR at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday – and we make them odds-on to pick up both points, with Matty Ashton 10/1 to score the first try.

Leaders St Helens are EVS to win the Grand Final yet again, with Wigan – who enjoyed that headline-grabbing performance last week when French scored a record seven tries  – now in at 3/1.

Meanwhile Betfred TV rugby pundit Paul Sculthorpe, the Oldham-born double Man of Steel winner, reckons St Helens victory over third place Huddersfield may have been over shadowed by Wigan but that doesn’t bother him as he thinks Saints are firmly in pole position for more glory.

He writes: “ Joe Batchelor  crossed for the opening try of the game and the only of the first half, before the champions put the Giants to the sword in the second, scoring 19 unanswered points.

“In the eyes of many, this was the performance of the season so far – total domination of an in-form team riding high in Betfred Super League.

“I’ve said it for many years now – if Saints perform, they win.

“They are far superior to any team in the league… including Wigan. To beat a top-three side to-nil shows how good a performance this was, especially playing the majority of the game with 12 men following referee Chris Kendall’s dismissal of Sione Mata’utia for lifting an injured opponent off the ground.

“What can be seen as a bit pedantic in the current world of player welfare and liability, players must realise you CAN’T do this or you will spend more time on the sidelines that on the pitch.

“Sione now faces a three-match ban for his actions and will be joined by Morgan Knowles for the first of them after he was handed a one-match ban by the match review panel. Knowles was reprimanded for a late hit on the passer, for which he received a 10-min stint in the sin bin.

“Rugby league is a physical sport, and the gladiatorial traits are what fans come out to see, and something our game can’t lose. However, there are new, stricter laws in place to protect both the players and the governing bodies, which means these will never be reversed – so players have to learn to adapt and use more control in these situations.

“Saints’ demolition of the Giants could have stood out as the performance of the week, but on the same evening our neighbours over the hill put in an equally impressive performance, totalling embarrassing Hull FC .

“That’s twice in two weeks FC have had 60 points put past them, which is unacceptable for a club that were spoke about at the start of the year as potential competition contenders.

“A lot has been said this year about Wigan’s strike duo of Jai Field & Bevan French, and rightly so. There is no substitute for blistering pace, and these two have opened up all defensive lines this season – but not as convincingly as the latter did on Friday evening, with French helping himself to a Super League record seven tries.

“Next up for Kristian Woolf’s men is a visit to basement boys Wakefield on Sunday. Trinity, who for the first time this season slipped below Toulouse on points difference.

“It will be interesting to see Woolf’s team selection and whether he decides to rest some key players ahead of the end of season run-in.

“He will, however, know what is happening around him in the league table. Second-placed Wigan face Leeds Rhinos on Thursday evening – and Huddersfield take on Catalans Dragons on Saturday in what is probably the game of the round.

“Whatever our team selection, I’m going for a Saints win by 18 points – and I’m again making it a double (7/1 at Betfred) with Joe Batchelor bagging the first try.”

Finally what a relief it was for me that Rory McIlroy didn’t win The Open at St Andrews at the weekend.

All indications as the last round begin was that he would triumph as the great event was staged for the 150^th time.

We’d have lost at least £750,000 if the Ulsterman had triumphed, with one punter backing Rory with a huge £30,000 pre-tournament wager at 12/1.

I’d have  paid out with a smile, because a McIlroy victory would have given the sport a huge shot in the arm as it is going through a controversial period.

Rory would have of course gone in as favourite ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan – the Betfred World Snooker champion – in the race to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The betting for that award, which is of course determined by a public vote, is wide open at Betfred, with much depending on how our football team gets on at the World Cup in Qatar later this year.