There are four Wallaby form teams after Round 7.
The complete season form team
– Players chosen based on aggregate score across all rounds
– Players ONLY picked in the position they play the most
– Must have a recognised goal kicker and lineout caller
The recent form team
– Players chosen based on aggregate score across all rounds WEIGHTED by how recent they form was. Form at end of the season counts more than the beginning
– Players ONLY picked in the position they play the most
– Must have a recognised goal kicker AND lineout caller
The best players of the season team
– Players chosen based on aggregate score across all rounds
– Players may be picked in position they have EVER started in at Super or higher level
– Neither recognised Goal kicker or lineout caller are required
The team of the round
– Players chosen based on score in the latest round ONLY
The complete season form team
1 Scott Sio
2 Stephen Moore
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Lopeti Timani
5 Will Skelton
6 Sean McMahon
7 Michael Hooper
8 Scott Higginbotham (lineout caller)
9 Nic Stirzaker
10 Matt Toomua
11 Henry Speight
12 Christian Lealiifano (goal kicker)
13 Tevita Kuridrani
14 Joe Tomane
15 Israel Folau
The recent form team
1 Scott Sio
2 Stephen Moore
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Adam Coleman
5 Will Skelton
6 Sean McMahon
7 Michael Hooper
8 Scott Higginbotham (lineout caller)
9 Nic Stirzaker
10 Bernard Foley (goal kicker)
11 Nick Cummins
12 Mitch Inman
13 Samu Kerevi
14 Joe Tomane
15 Israel Folau
The best players of the season team
1 Scott Sio
2 Stephen Moore
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Lopeti Timani
5 Will Skelton
6 Sean McMahon
7 Michael Hooper
8 Scott Higginbotham
9 Nic Stirzaker
10 Matt Toomua
11 Israel Folau
12 Samu Kerevi
13 Tevita Kuridrani
14 Joe Tomane
15 Christian Lealiifano
The team of the round
1 James Slipper
2 Tolu Latu
3 Greg Holmes
4 Adam Coleman
5 Will Skelton
6 Luke Jones
7 Michael Hooper
8 Ben McCalman
9 Nick Phipps
10 Quade Cooper
11 James O’Connor
12 Mitch Inman
13 Samu Kerevi
14 Nick Cummins
15 Kurtley Beale
NOTE: I intentionally select players in any position they have played since I want to showcase which players scored the highest in the round.
It is very close on a number of positions which is great. Also eight of the top 10 players are forwards, which is even better.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Toomua would not be in the top 3. Pollard, Cruden and Barrett are all well ahead of him.
PeterK
Roar Guru
IMO Skelton has been in better form than Timani and Thrush. Fardy has not been in consistent form, Kaino a lot better , he has carried the blues. Conrad Smith , father time has caught up. He is missing a lot more tackles. Fekitoa ahead of him for. Kepu ahead of Kochs.
kibui b
Guest
Great line up Harry, Weber has been really good for the Chiefs, Pulu has probably played himself out of RWC contention. A little suprised you didn't have Kepu in there for 3, his all round game would trump Kochs rock solid set play. Good to see Whiteley in the side, very underrated, the top tackler with one missed, and a great motor. My side is: B. Smith, Nadolo, Fekitoa, De Allende, Savea, Toomua, A. Smith, Whiteley, Cane, Kaino, Timani, Skelton, Kepu, Moore, Sio.......Strauss, Edmonds, Koch, Whitelock, Vermuelen, White, Barrett, Folau. I know that Savea and Nadolo are both 11's, i just couldn't leave either of the big fellas out.
Harry Jones
Expert
Great series, PeterK. Sorry I can't contribute; it's so much more OZ-savvy than I am. My form team for all of Super Rugby, as of now is: Smith, Naholo, Smith, de Allende, Savea, Pollard, Smith, Kitshoff, Coles, Koch, Thrush, Timani, Fardy, Cane, Whiteley. With a bench of Folau, Barrett, Weber, Nyakane, Strauss, Sio, Whitelock, Vermeulen.
Lano
Guest
Thanks Peter. I'm going to have to read this again in the morning to get a full grip on the method! I think I have some questions.....clarifications....!! The conversion to a scale between -3 to + 3 looks like homogenisation but does it account for Heteroscedasticity? (Just pulling your chain!) I will consider more fully tomorrow. I suspect you are I a different time zone.
PeterK
Roar Guru
You may appreciate the mechanics. I convert the high scores to a positive mark ranging from 0.5 to 3. I convert the low scores to a negative mark ranging from -0.5 to -3. All the people submitting scores for players are averaged with no score for a player being a zero value. This way more people submitting scores for a particular team do not get an advantage. Also poor performances are subtracted from very good ones. For the complete season and best players of the season it is a simple summation of their average scores per round. The difference for the best players is a lineout caller and goal kicker do not have to be included. Also players can be moved around to any position they have played. The recent form team is interesting, I weight the score by the round it occurred in. This is to mimic how a lot of selectors / fans view things ie recent form is more important than form from 14 weeks ago. So round 15 scores are worth 15 times more than round 1 scores. The team of the round is just the average scores for the players that round. The reason some players stay for a long time in the best players is that they got a good score early and it takes a while for anyone to catch them since the position is not that contested. An example is Stirzaker finally overtaking Genia.
Lano
Roar Guru
Peter, this is a really interesting exercise. Love seeing the ebb and flow of the "recent form players" making it into the "The best players of the season team" as evidence, for example of say, Skelton's form. Just picking up your point above re contestability and consistency: Tracking the best players of the season team the following have appeared in all "The best players of the season team" - it's a a mix of backs and forwards - (for some reason havent got round 2). Backs: - Tomane - Kuridrani - Lealiifano - Toomua - Folau Forwards - Kepu - Sio - Timani Otherwise there have been very few no 8s (Higgers and McCalman) and 6s (McMahon and Cottrell). Open side and #9 are wide open with Genia selected majority of rounds.
ethan
Guest
It's interesting to see that the Rebels have more in the top 10 than the Brumbies, despite the Brumbies having more success. This suggests the Rebels are heavily reliant upon a few players, whereas the Brumbies have more depth, and different people step up each week. No Reds in the top 10 tells you exactly where they're at. The lack of a scrumhalf, flyhalf and winger in the top 10 suggests, as you say, no one has stood out consistently in those positions either. Nice work mate.
PeterK
Roar Guru
What stands out to me compared to other years I have done this is that forwards dominate the top spots. Additionally 2 props are in the top 10 where they normally reside down the bottom. This indicates an improvement however a lot of the matches have been between australian teams. Top 10 Sio Folau Higginbotham McMahon Timani Skelton Kepu McCalman Hooper Kuridrani 2 props, 2 no 8's, 2 locks, 1 blindside, 1 openside, 1 f/b and 1 centre. All the backline spots except f/b and centre are heavily contested mainly because no one has had consistent good performances. In the forwards except for the front row ie locks and backrow are heavily contested due to a number of good performances across the board.