c4countdown

With Roy Taylor's loss today, we have the 8 finalists set. It's an interesting field, with a fairly clear favorite, two octochamps right behind him, and a lot of six timers. Match-ups are as follows:

June 13th: #1 Mark Murray vs #8 Andy Gardner
June 16th: #2 Samir Pilica vs #7 Priscilla Munday
June 23rd: #3 Andy Naylor vs #6 Bobby Banerjee
June 24th: #4 Neil Green vs #5 Sean Fletcher
June 25th: SF1
June 26th: SF2
June 27th: Grand Final

So what do you all think? I will say Mark Murray is probably the clear favorite, but I think if Samir or Neil can face him, they will pose a solid threat to him on letters, and who knows if they can challenge him in that regard. We also have a rematch of a prelim match up between Neil and Sean, in which Sean won last time. Looking forward to this, some interesting potential match ups on the horizon. You can put your thoughts here.

I'd predict with 90% certainty that Mark will beat Samir in the final, and expect that they'll carry their QFs and SFs accordingly. The third and fourth QFs might be a little more up in the air -- as we already know, from the fact that Neil vs. Sean is a rematch of a heat game that went to a tie-break. I expect Sean to sneak through (once again, on a crucial).

Johnny Canuck wrote:I'd predict with 90% certainty that Mark will beat Samir in the final, and expect that they'll carry their QFs and SFs accordingly. The third and fourth QFs might be a little more up in the air -- as we already know, from the fact that Neil vs. Sean is a rematch of a heat game that went to a tie-break. I expect Sean to sneak through (once again, on a crucial).

90% is very high. If you were a bookmaker I'd without hesitation bet a decent amount of money on not Mark to beat Samir in the final (so either of them failing to make the final or Samir beating Mark) at odds of 9/1, or slightly lower odds to allow for your inbuilt profit.

I think I'll go with Mark. Better all-round game, although Neil and Samir have been really good on letters. Andy was good too, but less consistent than those three. I'd be very surprised if the semi-finals weren't those four. It could very well even be a repeat of S68 with all the results going according to the seeds.

Bear in mind that Neil has to play Sean in the Quarter Final, and Sean has beaten him once already. He could do it again, although Neil may have been a bit tired last time.

Callum Todd wrote:Bear in mind that Neil has to play Sean in the Quarter Final, and Sean has beaten him once already. He could do it again, although Neil may have been a bit tired last time.

In a one-off game, upsets are possible, but I think Neil was quite a bit better than Sean overall. It could depend on what Neil does on the numbers though.

Yeah I agree that Neil is the favourite for that game. I just don't think he's a huge favourite, it should be close.

With no intended disrespect to the finalists, I wonder how many great players from last series (specifically the top 4 seeds, plus Zarte, Abdi and Mark Hartnett) are maybe wishing they had left it one more series before applying?

Fred Mumford wrote:With no intended disrespect to the finalists, I wonder how many great players from last series (specifically the top 4 seeds, plus Zarte, Abdi and Mark Hartnett) are maybe wishing they had left it one more series before applying?

Not really. I admit I had some thoughts on whether I should've applied for the following series to have a better chance of winning the series, or even reach the final. But the fact is I always intended to apply once I turned 18 and I had no idea what the contestants were going to be like, I was just in a very challenging series by chance. Also, before the finals, my goal was to reach the semi-finals because I knew that I would've played against Dylan if I won my quarter-final. I achieved my goal and it was better than I expected. To beat some very good contestants during my run and to score a century against someone as good as Dylan despite losing was an achievement and a half. I also had a tremendous time during the filming of my octorun and the finals, so I have no regrets whatsoever.

Fred Mumford wrote:With no intended disrespect to the finalists, I wonder how many great players from last series (specifically the top 4 seeds, plus Zarte, Abdi and Mark Hartnett) are maybe wishing they had left it one more series before applying?

In many ways, yes. In others, no.

Interesting that Priscilla got two votes. Can't tell if they're gags or not, but I feel, despite her definitely being a decent player, I feel to get through Samir, and potentially Andy N. and Mark would be a big ask, and would be curious to know the thought process of picking her. Again, I know she is skilled, I'm just not sure with this field whether she'd be able to win 3 games. (I say this and then she'll win.)

Off on a tangent here, but does anyone know if the pencam was used at these finals? Or has the last word to be pencammed already been broadcast?

Adam Gillard wrote:Off on a tangent here, but does anyone know if the pencam was used at these finals? Or has the last word to be pencammed already been broadcast?

It was used for the last time in the Grand Final, in the very last letters round to highlight an awesome word.

samir pilica wrote:

Adam Gillard wrote:Off on a tangent here, but does anyone know if the pencam was used at these finals? Or has the last word to be pencammed already been broadcast?

It was used for the last time in the Grand Final, in the very last letters round to highlight an awesome word.

R.I.P pencam. Good to hear it got a good send-off though.

Thanks Samir, sounds exciting - looking forward to seeing it!

samir pilica wrote:

Adam Gillard wrote:Off on a tangent here, but does anyone know if the pencam was used at these finals? Or has the last word to be pencammed already been broadcast?

It was used for the last time in the Grand Final, in the very last letters round to highlight an awesome word.

Spoiler!!!

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Johnny Canuck wrote:I'd predict with 90% certainty that Mark will beat Samir in the final, and expect that they'll carry their QFs and SFs accordingly. The third and fourth QFs might be a little more up in the air -- as we already know, from the fact that Neil vs. Sean is a rematch of a heat game that went to a tie-break. I expect Sean to sneak through (once again, on a crucial).

90% is very high. If you were a bookmaker I'd without hesitation bet a decent amount of money on not Mark to beat Samir in the final (so either of them failing to make the final or Samir beating Mark) at odds of 9/1, or slightly lower odds to allow for your inbuilt profit.

We should have come to an agreement.