Series 87 Finals Predictions (With Poll)

[Ryan Lam]

There you have it! With just two more preliminaries to go this Series, we now know who the final eight are and it has really been nail-biting not least to say! Here are the matches as follows below:

Quarter-Finals #1 (21 June): Ronan Higginson (#1 Seed) vs Andrew Barrett (#8 Seed)
Quarter-Finals #2 (22 June): Cillian McMulkin (#2 Seed) vs Dave Cappleman (#7 Seed)
Quarter-Finals #3 (23 June): Peter Burke (#3 Seed) vs Greg Pearce (#6 Seed)
Quarter-Finals #4 (26 June): Graham Moonie-Dalton (#4 Seed) vs Adam Dexter (#5 Seed)

If you think this Series hasn't been exciting enough due to having less episodes than usual due to CoC XVI in January or because we have way fewer Octochamps compared to the average (You'd have to go back to 2010 just to find a Series with only two Octochamps, yes, that's how long it has been!), you're so wrong. Half of the finalists are returning contestants, Ronan having the second highest combined preliminary score in history, Cillian tying with Tom Stevenson in terms of achieving the highest ever score in a single game, and not to mention Adam and Graham sneaking in at the very end of the Series, ultimately denying a rematch between Ronan and Jonathan Seal! I can sense the competition is going to be there and it may turn out to be fiercer than expected, we shall see...

I'm not going to be sharing any predictions and will be writing a review of the episode each day as per the last nine Series, so if you have any feel free to post them here!

The poll will close on the day the First Quarter Final airs and you will be allowed to change your vote until then. Finally, if you happen to be reading this in the near future, apologies but you will not be able to vote.

[Steve Hyde]

I would be astonished if it isn't a Ronan-Cillian final, it's probably the biggest dropoff in class after the top two seeds since series 85

[Tom S]

It's definitely been an unusual series, but has made for interesting viewing, nonetheless! I don't know anything about the results, so my prediction is as follows...

Ronan v Andrew- Ronan to win. Andrew is a very capable player, and has had some nice letters spots during his run, but Ronan is a force of nature, so fully expect Ronan to win.
Cillian v Dave- Cillian to win, but reckon that Dave could give him the closest game that he's had so far.
Peter v Greg- This is a tough one to call- Peter is seeded higher, but Greg has a higher average score, so based on that, I think I'd go for Greg to win it. However, wouldn't be shocked at all if Peter does win, because his 6 small tactics may very well fox Greg, whose solid numbers have not been delivered in the most confident of fashions.
Graham v Adam- Adam to win. Although Graham did beat Adam in the prelims, I feel that Adam is the more rounded player. May favour Graham though if it ends up going to a crucial, though, because he has solved some tricky conundrums.
Ronan v Adam- Ronan to win, but expect Adam won't make it easy for him- expect some difficult numbers selections from Adam.
Cillian v Greg- Cillian to win- is a more rounded player than Greg, who is better than his seeding.
Ronan v Cillian- Ronan to win. Will probably go down as one of, if not the strongest grand final of all time, but feel like Ronan has the edge on the numbers. However, not discounting a Cillian win. Plus, even if Cillian doesn't win, he still managed to get the highest score of all time!

Retrospective good luck to all- have a select few that I'm rooting for, but will make for intriguing viewing!

[Adam Dexter]

Am I allowed to vote?

[Ryan Lam]

Am I allowed to vote?

Sure! If you want to vote for yourself by all means, go ahead (although tbf, you 100% would have known who won by now)

[Adam S Latchford]

Aware how good ronan is but you can't not back a Cappleman!

[Ryan Lam]

Congratulations to almost all of you! Ronan won and what a great Grand Final that was! Amazing and well done!