A few weeks ago the “water cooler” chat about the NRL was that all you needed was to really fire in the last few months, apparently it was largely pointless to be firing from day one.
Those spreading this theory were using the Eels of 2009 as well as a resurgent Bulldogs and Eels of this year as some sort of proof.
But as of today that theory looks like having the same value as the phrase “water cooler” does to the English language. In short, a pile of horse dung.
The Bulldogs are now destined to be enjoying Mad Monday at the same time as the Cowboys and Sharks, unless you enjoy mathematics as much as Isaac Newton did (as opposed to Issac Luke).
While 2010’s Hayne Plane looks like it could be stuck on the runway before it gets a chance to resemble 2009’s Hayne Train (what’s next the Hayne Stain?).
The fact is that the teams which banked wins early in the season are the ones in the best shape to see the finals and also ride-out any end of season speed bumps.
The Dragons and Panthers have both suffered a dip in form of recent weeks but losses now can be written off as wake up calls, while for other teams who started slowly they are season ending.
The Dragons form has also meant that they haven’t needed for Mark Gasnier to be performing miracles from day one of his return.
The Dragons stated publicly they had modest goals for Gasnier for this season and that has proved sensible because at the moment that is all that they have got.
The Sea Eagles solid start has meant they have never been out of touch despite suffering a bad run before resurrecting themselves in recent weeks.
But for the teams that miss out this year, like the Bulldogs, Raiders and probably one of the Rabbitohs and Warriors amongst others, it will be all about reflecting on seasons left unfulfilled as they let matches slip through their fingers at key moments.
“We’ll get them next week,” seemed to be the attitude of a few teams this year and it has probably proved fatal.
Let’s face it, any team which misses out on the finals this season can’t blame anyone but themselves seeing there has been a bonus spot this season with the exclusion of the Melbourne Storm.
It should hopefully also stop the yearly moaning of teams and fans who squeak in, then say that it is unfair on teams finishing in the bottom two to then face the top two sides in a sudden death match.
That people believe that teams who have made the finals, often with a worse than 50 percent win loss ratio, suddenly deserve the charity of getting to play a team they have the best chance of beating just defies logic in my opinion.
The rules of a season are simple, they are there to best reward consistent results. Win early, win often and win well.
Doesn’t seem that hard really.
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