I am not an aggrieved Canberra Raiders supporter still upset about that ‘six again!’ call. This is science.
My scientific research began when I realised that the footy season is weird. We have a six-month long NRL season. Its main purpose is to determine seedings for a one-month long NRL finals tournament. That four-week tournament then determines the champion.
Last season, the difference between first and fourth on the NRL ladder was five wins. Over 24 matches, that is huge. But the actual difference between first and fourth ended up being home ground advantage for one finals match.
Six-months of graft and nothing to show for it other than a single crowd half-heartedly chanting “let’s go Storm!” at random intervals.
It doesn’t seem right.
So my hypothesis became this: there has to be a better way to determine the best team in the NRL.
And there is. I devised it. It’s called the NRL championship belt.
The method saw my research go all the way back to 1908. From dusty, brown-tinged archives – I still don’t know why my laptop was laying in the dirt – I discovered that on a Saturday afternoon in late April, the first two games of rugby league in Australia were played.
Easts defeated Newtown at Wentworth Park. At the same time, Souths defeated Norths at Birchgrove Oval.
In mid-May of that year, the two victorious teams faced off at the Royal Agricultural Society Showground for the first time. Easts won 13-12.
That makes Easts the first champions and inaugural holders of the NRL championship belt.
From there I traced the title lineage, like a boxing title, with one slight modification. To avoid title changes every other week, a team must beat the champions twice. The first time earns the right to challenge, and the second wins the title.
And after a journey of scientific discovery lasting approximately 111 years, I reached a startling result: the Canberra Raiders’ defeat of the Storm during the 2019 NRL finals earned them the NRL championship belt.
The Green Machine. The Faders. The Pine Lime Splices. The Viking Clappers. The Milk. The Real NRL Champions,
The other NRL champions will get the chance to claim the NRL championship belt in Round 11 of the 2020 NRL season. Except of course if the Penrith Panthers can beat the Raiders twice, in Round 5 and again in Round 10, before the Sydney Roosters get their opportunity. Of course.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Referees mistakes, not including matters of questionable judgement, are very rare. One that I recall was Souths v Easts on a very windy day the Souths 5/8 threw a long cut-out pass in a backward direction. The wind took it over the defence into the arms of the Souths right centre who was heading for a certain try when the referee blew the whistle and ruled a forward pass. In the rules of Rugby League they give such an example as a valid pass because it was thrown in the right direction before being carried forward. Easts were lucky in that game too.
Tom
Guest
14-8 don’t forget it
Ac
Guest
An aside how come the Roosters have few members? Would seem logical Souths east merge right ?
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Mark, you said Canberra had Easts in bad field position even after the reversed 6 again call but Canberra didn't know they were defending as they were preparing for attack in accordance with the referee's signal for 6 more. There was no-one rushing across to cover because the 2nd referee had no signal to tell Canberra they should be defending and who could only communicate with the first referee. Canberra were left out of the loop due to a system failure. Had that not occurred Canberra could've kicked a field goal and won the game and of course they would say they deserved to win.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Last year's grand final was the only one decided by a referee error. The examples you gave being referees on the take and referees making up for missing Price's dirty play were not referees making an error. In the 1985 grand final referee Kevin Roberts watched as Peter Kelly king hit Graeme Wynn from behind knocking him out. It was the best example of a coward's punch I've ever seen but Roberts penalised Wynn for a small indiscretion in the scrum. Maybe Roberts was on the take like Darcy Lawler because he also allowed Steve Mortimer to hit Wynn high later in the match. It's not Ok for a little guy to hit a big guy because the brain hitting the skull is where the damage is.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
What changed in the 2nd half was the speed of the PTB. The Dragons were slow playing the ball because Melbourne were allowed to slowly peel off the tackled player. Melbourne were fast playing the ball because the St-George-Illawarra were penalised if they didn't jump to their feet quickly.
elvis
Roar Rookie
So you are proposing something like the NZers have with their Ranfurly Shield in the Union? Canberra lost 9 games last year, shouldn't the first one of those teams to beat the Raiders again get the title?
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
We don't complain about the 1999 penalty try because it was fair enough, Jamie Ainscough was trying to stop a try but made a bad decision and was correctly penalised, so no complaints. In 1999 St-George-Illawarra had beaten Melbourne 3 times with a total score of 62-26 and at half time with the Dragons leading 14-2 it looked like the NRL grand final was going to be a non-event walkover like the AFL grand final the day before. Miraculously everything changed in the 2nd half and Melbourne came storming back to make a game of it and beat the AFL in TV ratings. I thought it was obvious to everyone and I got abused by fans from Brisbane and Newcastle because they couldn't mount an argument in the NRL's defence.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Yes I’ve heard dodgy refereeing helped Saints in 1963 much like Souths in 1955 but I don’t agree about the others. 1969 was a two horse race with Souths on 36 and Balmain on 34 with Manly and Saints way behind. Balmain had beaten Souths in the rounds and they lost the major semi 13-12 so I thought Balmain had a good chance of winning. They won easily with Souths whinging about Balmain faking injuries but Souths couldn’t score a try against Balmain’s good defence. I now recall that I missed the 1976 grad final where Parra bombed a certain try after beating Manly 3 times that year. In the 1977 grand final Ray Price broke Mark Shulman’s back by dropping his knees in a tackle. Gary Cook missed it but saw it on replay and in the gf replay allowed Reddy to slap Price around with only a few penalties. Shulman never played again and Ray Price got off lightly in comparison. I’ll talk about the 1999 grand final later but Easts were lucky to win thanks to the only referee error that has ever changed the result in a grand final.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Haha...yeah well interesting article and good premise anyway... thanks for the time you put into it
RobT
Roar Rookie
The internet is a serious place :laughing:
Simmo
Roar Rookie
Nice bait!
The Barry
Roar Guru
Do people really think you’re suggesting we take the NRL title off the Roosters and award it to the Raiders? That’s how a lot of these comments read... FMD
The Barry
Roar Guru
Cheers...yeah I can imagine it would be thousands of changes I thought it would probably be that dragons team. Still, that means they didn’t lose consecutive games to the same team for six years which is pretty damn impressive Surprised at some of the comments here...you must be slapping your forehead in frustration... :silly:
Watda
Guest
Science??? What do you think about climate change?
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
But the Roosters were the champions at the beginning of the year because they won the NRL the year before, which is how we actually decide who the champs are :stoked:
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
I just think the single challenge is more like the lineal champ in boxing. It would end up 1000’s of holders, but could help promote nothing games, holder against 16th. Holder gets bonus dollars. I think it would be important to teams to hold for long periods or go for longest.
RobT
Roar Rookie
Sorry, I ordered the Raiders a belt and everything. It has a spinning faceplate like John Cena’s in WWE.
Big Daddy
Guest
Rules like most thing do change. What was good in 1908 really doesn't work in 2020. I only see a name on the NRL trophy and it stays there. Every thing else means nothing.
Mark
Guest
I am a first past the post person in that I think the team that finishes on top after the home and away matches should be the champion. But we lost that argument in Australian sport over 100 years ago. In 1908 Souths and Easts finished equal after the 9 regular season matches. Souths had lost to Easts, Easts lost to Glebe. Both teams won their semis, and in the final Souths beat Easts. Much as it pains me to say so as a lifelong Rooster, Souths were the champions.In 2019 the Roosters and Raiders made their way to the Grand Final. During the season the Roosters won their 2 matches, but if the Raiders won the grand final that would not have mattered. As it turns out the Roosters won, after scoring a late try from a set that started 5 metres out from their own line. The Roosters are the (current) true NRL champions.