For my 300th post on pythagonrl.com, we’re down to brass tacks. The real deal. The big dance. None of that phoney baloney NRL. It’s time for Queensland rugby league. This year’s men’s Queensland Cup, the Hostplus Cup, kicks off at 3.30pm on Saturday, March 19 with the Brisbane Tigers facing the Tweed Seagulls and runs… Read More A Deep Dive into the 2022 Queensland Cup & QRLW
The men’s NRL returns on Thursday night, kicking off the season with Penrith, who I am told won last year’s grand final, playing Manly. This small market duel is an odd way to start the season but it seems they are actually quite good and no one wants to watch the Broncos lose by 50… Read More A Deep Dive into the 2022 NRL season
The 2021 NRLW season, like the Tokyo Olympics, bears of the name of the year it was meant to be contested, rather than the year it is actually going to be contested. The premiership will comence on February 27 with a triple header at Newcastle and wrap up with a grand final in mid-April. Let’s… Read More A Dive into the 2021* NRLW premiership
The new Super League season kicks off the major rugby leagues for 2022 on February 10 (Friday morning in Australia), ensuring there’s enough time to complete a massive schedule to maintain pie and pint revenues before crashing straight into the World Cup. For the first time, I have player data for Super League – or… Read More A Deep Dive into the 2022 Super League
The Global Rugby League Football Club Rankings are back, baby, and even a global pandemic couldn’t keep us down for long. We skipped the rankings in 2020 due to the coronavirus wiping out most minor league football for the year and it would not have been that fun or interesting to rank the 16 NRL… Read More Toulouse Olympique are the 13th best rugby league team in the world
Note: this won’t include everything that happened in the world of rugby league in 2021. There’s been a focus on senior men’s and women’s thirteens football and, to avoid this post being infinitely long and dull, that means there’s no juniors, schoolkids and minimal nines content. I’ve farmed a lot of content from the APRL… Read More The Year In Rugby League Football, 2021
The 2021 Penrith Panthers became the first non-Melbourne team to win 21 games of NRL in the one regular season. They were unable to match the win percentage and finishing position of last season’s efforts, in fact only coming a lowly second to the Storm. Penrith’s +390 points difference, third best of the NRL era… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 Penrith Panthers
The South Sydney Rabbitohs finished the season in third on the ladder, with a 20-4 record that would be worthy of recognition had not one, but two, other teams gone one better. With 775 points scored and 453 conceded, the Rabbitohs were only good for 17.6 Pythagorean wins, meaning the 20 actual wins accrued is… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 South Sydney Rabbitohs
The 2021 Melbourne Storm join the 2007 Melbourne Storm and, later, the 2021 Penrith Panthers in being the only teams to have achieved 21 wins in a NRL season. The 07 vintage is somewhat tainted by the demonstrated salary cap cheating but the most recent efforts from the Storm and Panthers are probably equally tainted… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 Melbourne Storm
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, one time historically bad team, finished the season 16-8 and rounded out the top four. With a points differential of +252, in a normal season, that would have possibly been enough for a minor premiership. They fell five wins short. In the finals, they were embarrassed by the Storm, then embarrased… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 Manly Sea Eagles
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