Sportsbet asks: which Aussie star will be most popular in 2016?

SICK of betting on the same old sporting events, week in, week out?

Our mates at Sportsbet.com.au have your tonic.

The guns over at the online bookmaker have a bevy of novelty markets available in 2016.

And they want to know just who will be the most mentioned sports person of the year by the media.

Controversial young tennis star Nick Kyrgios is rightly the $4 favourite – even if he did not get another mention for the rest of the year, he has dominated the Aussie sporting scene already in 2016.

Kyrgios has done his best to stay on the media’s radar with his antics, answering the phone during a match and mouthing off at a chair umpire at the Australian Open, taking haters to task on social media and winning his first ATP tour title.

Last year he copped a 28-day suspension for lewd comments directed at Stanislas Wawrinka’s girlfriend, fined for swearing during a match and generally acting like a tool during matches.

But he is set for a massive season and, should he win a major and continue to court controversy, the $4 could be real value.

Close behind him is Rugby League legend Jonathan Thurston.

The four time Dally M award winner and reigning premier tends to be best on ground just about every week, so there are plenty of mentions there, but it is his philanthropic and charity work off the field that makes him such a darling of the media.

Thurston reckons his boys can win back to back NRL titles and you just know he will be up there in the Dally M again.

Another proponent of the league game is next in line at $6, although he plays a rather different sport now.

Some have hailed him the greatest Aussie sports story in history and former Parramatta Eel turned San Francisco 49er Jarryd Hayne is in line for plenty of media coverage in 2016.

The Niners are absolutely woeful, and that should mean that Hayne gets plenty of run in his second season in the scarlet and gold.

He’s been talked about for two years. First they said he couldn’t make it. Then he did. Then he played a game. Then he got dropped. Then he made it back.

Now it is his time to shine and he gets a fresh start under Chip Kelly after the Niners sacked the poor Jim Tomsula.

Australian cricket captain Steve Smith, at $7.50, has been a media darling with his boyish good looks and his fortune at occupying the most coveted role in Australian sport.

Whether it is Test cricket, the one dayers, or the shortest form of the game, T20, Smith is always at the forefront of Aussie coverage, due largely to the fact he is perhaps the Australians’ best player.

It helps that he is the spokesman for the side, but he will be none too pleased with the recent efforts of the Aussies in the T20 World Cup, after they were bundled out by the Indians.

Superstar hurdler Sally Pearson is the first woman to appear in the market, sharing the $7.50 quote with Smith.

The London gold medallist is the fourth fastest 100 metre hurdler in history and she is the darling of the Aussie athletics world and, in an Olympic year, she will take precedence more than any other Australian athlete competing in Rio.

The market is decided by the sporting person with the most mentions in the media, according to iSentia media monitoring across television, radio, press and the internet. Other sports people may be added to the market, and there is a small caveat – the bets will be void if the figures are not released before February next year.

Which nation will host the 2024 Olympic Games?

Speaking of the Olympics, Sportsbet.com.au is running a novelty market on which city will host the 2024 summer Olympics.

The French are the favourite at $1.83 for Paris, with Los Angeles rated a $2.50 chance, ahead of Rome at $7.50 and Budapest at a long $16.

And hey, if real sport isn’t your thing, you can always have a crack at the fantasy world of the WWE.

Yep, that’s right, Sportsbet has released markets on the scripted sport, loved by millions, with bouts at Wrestlemania 32 on Monday.

The legend Triple H ($4.20) returns to the ring to take on former Canadian professional footballer Roman Reigns ($1.17), with the latter a hot favourite to win the World Heavyweight Championship. But nothing is ever certain in this sport and we wouldn’t put it past Vince McMahon to script the mother of all upsets.

It gets more ridiculous in the hell in the cell match, with McMahon’s weasel son, Shane, somehow a $1.83 equal favourite with legendary old timer The Undertaker.

In a street fight, the towering monster is unbackable, but, again, this is the WWE.

MMA legend Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose are both $1.83 in their no holds barred street fight. If that were true, Ambrose, a career pro wrestler, would be a dead man at the hands of Lesnar, who had held multiple titles in the real stuff.

If you’re a bit patriotic and reckon you know which party will hold power after the next election, you can have a crack at the Coalition or the Labor Party.

Turnbull’s charges are red hot $1.20 favourites to retain government, with Shorten’s mob toughing it out at $4.50.

With an election just around the corner, putting a little money where your mouth is could make it a little more interesting than just the boring old sausage sizzle at your local school’s polling booth.

Visit sportsbet.com.au for more WWE markets and other fun novelties on sport, current affairs, entertainment and politics.

Most mentioned Aussie sports person market

Nick Kyrgios ($4)

Johnathan Thurston ($5.50)

Jarryd Hayne ($6)

Steve Smith ($7.50)

Sally Pearson ($7.50)

Bernard Tomic ($9)

Mick Fanning ($11)

Jason Day ($14)

Greg Inglis ($16)

Buddy Franklin ($19)

Lleyton Hewitt ($21)

Cate Campbell ($21)

Tim Cahill ($21)

Paul Gallen ($21)

Robert Allenby ($26)

Cameron McEvoy ($26)

Thanasi Kokkinakis ($31)

Michael Hooper ($31)

Quade Cooper ($34)

Matthew Dellavedova ($51)

Andrew Bogut ($51)

Mile Jedinak ($51)

Paddy Mills ($51)

Odds provided by Sportsbet.com.au