After that last round of footy, when the dust settled, this tipster had brought home seven from eight tips in the NRL and six from seven in the ISC. Some of that had to be down to luck but it’s nice to finally get some. What’s more amazing is that I was let down in the NRL by the least likely contender: the Storm. Melbourne dropped what should have been a sitter of a game, probably because Cam Smith was out injured suspended, wrecking my perfect round.

Overall, tipping is starting to tick back to the 56-57% mark, which is about where you’d be in a normal season by the tipping the home teams. This time last year I was only on 48, so 50 is an improvement, despite the topsy turvy nature of the results so far. Normally, tipping improves over the course of the season, as crap teams become apparent and then stop trying once they’re out of contention.

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I did get held up earlier this week with a bit of not being well and working a lot (it’s amazing how often those two things go hand-in-hand). It nixed my ability to do this week’s recap (I did tweet it out though) but I managed to find time to do the tips. Suck on that, work!

Last week was pretty standard, with four or five right for various systems, in a week that some people seemed to struggle with. It might be that the Elo ratings are fairly well dialled in (unless you’re Norths losing to Mackay) or it could just be luck. This week brings a new set of challenges.

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Getting six from eight last week has got me back into some sort of contention. I’ve moved clear of the Jury and am closing in on Archimedes. Only two points separate us at this stage of the season that we will start referring to as “mid-season”.

Interestingly, the average error on the margin predictions has fallen a bit over the last few weeks, even as the jury slips to last place in the tipping of results. After round 7, the Jury was out by a collective average of 13.6 points per game. That number dropped to 13.3, 13.0 and now 12.9 after each round. Slight improvements as the form lines become clearer give hope for a more predictable future.

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Finding a form line on teams is proving to be a tricky task in 2018. This not only makes it difficult to tip but also to make jokes at the expense of teams. If a team is good one week and crap another, which do you make fun of?

Last week was pretty average in the NRL but very good in the ISC. 5 from 7 is as good as I’ve done this season. We – the Greeks and I – are still slightly over 50% now, so it’s not downright embarrassing but it still ain’t great. I keep hoping this week will be different but we will see.

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A fairly average week last week. The topsy turvy nature of the 2018 season continues to elude consistent and correct tipping, with most of us putting on four correct tips and Eratosthenes stretching themselves to take five. We’re all still just above 50%, which makes for great footy to watch on TV but a very frustrating tipping experience.

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While we had a fantastic round of games that were extremely enjoyable to watch, some of the upsets played absolute havoc with the tipping. The one I went out on a limb on, I got wrong and at least two, if not more, that I was confident in went nowhere. The Greeks didn’t do much better with only two tips separating us all and at least we did better than in the ISC tipping, where I have slipped below 50%. Embarrassing stuff, folks.

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Round 5 wasn’t too terrible for me but Archimedes was all over it. In a season where the results have gone a bit all over the place and some big teams can’t stick to a form guide, maybe it’s not surprising that the best of the jury is only on 57.5% and the worst only just better than a coin toss. A few more steadier rounds should see that tick upwards a bit.

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