Tag Archives: norths devils

ISC Tips – Round 1, 2019

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Footy’s back, baby! You know, if you don’t count Super League (#COYW awwwoouuu). Anyway, the Intrust Super Cup returns for another year of gritty Queensland/somewhat international rugby league action.

I had intended to write a season preview for the QCup but I had a few problems with it. One was a lack of time, another was a lack of insight to offer. Then there was the preview from The Gurgler, which was pretty much a good reflection of my thinking. And I mean, exactly, because even the bits of the season preview I had written are reflected in their preview. It’s a little scary actually.

So I moved directly on to tipping. The format is a little different this year but I hope you enjoy the improved graphics and extra team metrics (you can read about PPG and Poseidon) in lieu of the jokey-analysis-words that I use to provide.

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A complete history of the Queensland Cup

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Last year, I did a series of graphs which told each NRL team’s history in the top flight since 1998. Despite expectations, it was pretty well received compared to the one I was expecting to generate a bit of interest.

Now that we have all of the Queensland Cup results, I thought I’d run the same exercise. I don’t expect all that much interest but I think it’s a shame that the Queensland Cup doesn’t garner more attention. The days of 30,000 attending the BRL grand final in the 1980s has been replaced by less than 10,000 turning up to the equivalent event in the 2010s, crushed under the homogenisation of rugby league culture in Brisbane and Queensland thanks to the twin-headed Orthrus* of the Maroons and the Broncos.

Part of the solution is to create some meaningful content about it and we’ll see more of it on this website this year. This post is the starting point, literally charting the competition’s history from its inception in 1996 through the turbulent early 00s period and into the relatively stability – dare I say, optimism – of the last ten years.

*It’s like Cerberus but with two heads.

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