It’s been about four years since I wrote the primer about using simulations. I haven’t called it the Stocky since early in 2018 and I use a completely different set of metrics as inputs, so it’s time to have a more up-to-date reference point. The purpose of simulations is to use the magic of random… Read More Primer – Sims
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
In fifth on the ladder, we find the formerly Eastern Suburbs and currently Sydney Roosters. A more than respectable 16-8 season was paired with a +141 points difference, which was noticeably better than their 14.8 Pythagorean wins would have suggested. Their defence, leaking 489 points, was worse than any other in the top six bar… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 Sydney Roosters
The Parramatta Eels finished the season in sixth place on the ladder before a graceful exit from the finals in the second week, at the hands of the Penrith Panthers. A 15-9 record came with a +109 points difference that was fairly reflective of their capability. A 457 points conceded was a respectable fourth best,… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 Parramatta Eels
The Newcastle Knights finished the 2021 season in seventh place with a perfectly respectable and completely uninteresting 12-12 record and a slightly more bizarre -143 points difference. Gone are the days we can heap scorn on this franchise. That’s two consecutive seventh places, after two consecutive eleventh places after three consecutive spoons. They’ve entered the… Read More A Shallow Dive into the 2021 Newcastle Knights
Pythago NRL 