I dont get people love of Ray Warren….he is seriously the worst commentator going around and now that he has hit 70, its clear he has lost the ability cover a game as fast and dynamic as league.

I wonder what Graha, Hughes is doing nowadays…his voice was part of the golden later 80s era that made be fall in love with League,

They could do a lot better than the morons on Ch. 9.

The Green Machine theme song is the best thing ever! We all sing it when we win and its a rare thing in League.

Its been around 20 years or more and not going anywhere!

Good point andy, I will check the sums again for Souths, but they also play 4 out of their next 6 games against teams well outside the 8…however its good to know that their last month is really tough…

Thanks very much robbo.

I totally agree that Souths are keeping some attacking tricks up their sleeve. With their size, I think their forward pack will slowly start to develop a better offloading game. The straigh and hard (quick play the balls) approach has worked thus far, but we know that their opponents will step it up in the finals and Souths need more than just Reynolds kicking, Suttons running game and Inglis’ brilliance

I presume you havent slept liatrvlis? Because I cant understand a word you are saying?

I did not single out the Broncos because their run home is pretty average…I also didnt say much about Raiders, Knights, Panthers etc…

Thanks oikee…Totally agree that the Cowboys run home could work well for them, as we all know momentum is huge in the race home to the final 8 (Eels 2009, Raiders 2010 and 2012).

Titans certainly do have to play tough, though I think they have it in them. I think they are the team flying under the radar at present and have shown the can match it with the top teams this year (beat Manly, nearly beat Souths).

Mate you have had a shocker here…did you actually read the article? The point of this system is to assess one thing and one thing only (what is the difficult of the opponents that each team has to face for the remainder of the 2013 season).

I have other approaches that I use for assessing injury tolls, weather, referees, SOO etc…but I wouldnt share them with someone like you for the exact reason that you obviously come to places like the Roar to criticise only. I also dont plan on writing a 100 page thesis…it was a short article, one that others enjoyed.

I clearly say that
“3.This analysis excludes all kinds of other variables that are relevant to assessing the rest of the 2013 draw, such as the impact of the two remaining Origins and the injury tolls that each team have to deal with etc…”

Furthermore, the Titans have a home game coming up in NT…so their run home is even more difficult if you think that not playing in the Goldie is a negative.

Finally, why would playing Dogs be a massive issue in terms of State of Origin??? They have Morris and Reynolds involved only….other teams like Souths and TItans have been more effected by State of Origin).

If you are going to suggest someone refines their approach, it helps to have:
– read the article
– get your facts right; and
– dont come off like a snarly 13 year old

Hayne is in top form…has the author of this article seen Hayne play this year???

He will be instrumental in NSW win tonight, all over him for Man of the Match

While I agree with Ryan that using stats helps, I think a more recent time-frame is also needed to properly account for form etc…

In my opinion, only 2013 stats now matter (considering we have 11 weeks of data. People talking about try strike rates going back to 2009 are kidding themselves.

In 2009, Weyman was probably the form prop for NSW…now he wouldnt be in the top 10

I think you are right there Greg.

When the Raiders lose, the games are often very dour affairs that involve a lot of dropped ball, wrestling in the ruck and usually a few dodgy calls.

When the Raiders win, you often see length of the field tries, spectacular aerial grabs and some freakish finishes.

The Raiders are not just the dark horses, they are the new entertainers and with Campo pulling the strings, they are as unpredictable as any team in the NRL.

Now Ch. 9 need to come to the party and give the Raiders some damn free to air coverage so they can get 20,000 to games on a consistent basis.

The send off on Monday was not the wrong call…it was inconsistent with previous decisions not to use the send off, but that doesnt mean the Monday night send off was wrong.

Good read though, Checch yourself! hahaha

The Storm have played about half their games to a pretty average standard. Tigers, Warriors, Dragons (all of them average teams) were right in their matches against the Storm (in Melbourne!). The Storm were able to win those ones, but it was clear that if they placed a classy oponent they would be struggling….they also beat Bulldogs missing all their guns and Broncos without Hodges.

The Storm are anything but a shoo-in for 2013

I dont think its a junk article. I think it will be funny if the Storm season turns out as Daniel thinks and see what people are saying by Round 25 this year.

I think there will be some big changes with the top 4 by the time the season is over…and everyone will claim they saw it coming…at least this bloke had the guts to put some thoughts out there

Stewart and Morriss getting injured is the biggest blessing in disguise. Neither has been in great form in 2013.

With Hayne at fullback, and wingers like Uate, Taufua and Merritt to choose from, the Blues will have the players to outscore QLD (which is what you need to do to win in rugby league).

Furner will take a lot away from this win. I think it was Matty Johns that criticised the way Furner had Canberra playing, claiming they were trying to replicate the Storm’s game plan…which was always nonsense.

Furner places a lot of emphasis on completion rates, but which coach doesnt! You cant turn the ball over and win games consistently and Furner knows that his team has the talent if the forwards cut down their errors and dominate the ruck.

The burst of wins last year (about 10 from 11 towards the back end of the season) was because the Raiders finally bought into the game plan and stuck to it.

The signing of Fergo shows (amongst others, i.e. Papalli, Croker etc…) shows that this team is clicking and bonding (now that Duges is gone).

Raiders are the team to watch in 2013…capable of making the Grand Final in my opinion

streets ahead…haha, thats better!

Have to say this is a bit of a non-story. Its the Courier Mail beating up in interest in the game, from a throw away line from Thaiday.

Thaiday has said he has been more impressed, which could mean a few things:
– We all knew Sam Burgess was awesome, so Thaiday is just more impressed at the meteoric rise of George (as Martyn explains).
– George has scored a few barnstorming tries, which means he has been more impressive than Sam in that regard
– Thaiday had to say something interesting, so he pointed out that Geroge is probably on par with his brother this year.

I think you are wrong to say Sam is ‘light years’ ahead of George. No doubt Sam is the better all-round player, but I wouldnt throw around the term ‘light years’ when comparing the too. On my ratings, we are looking more at 9.3 for Sam Burgess and 8.9 for George Burgess…using numbers (with decimal points) is a far fairer and meaningful way to rate players (rather than glib and innacurate cliches).

Dont want to sound too harsh, as I really rate your style Curtis and enjoy your articles. Cheers

Top read mate, awesome article. Happy the only thing you hate abotu Raiders is our jersey…which I love because the Green Machine wouldnt be the same if we had any other colour! Strange as it may seem, but Raiders jerseys are pretty damn popular becuase they stand out so much

Goal line defence is pretty tricky with some of the ball runners that now exist. I agree some teams (Souths, Storm and Roosters) are miles ahead and others need to catch up, but if you can regather the ball by trying something…I just dont see why teams are so willing to boot it 40-50m and turn it over on a drop out every single time

And like I said, even if you do hold out every time, having back to back sets really does wear down the forwards

Yeah the bomb is a very effective, but potentially overused play. But now with players running through and taking out the fullback by pretending to go for the ball…its getting quite ugly and boring.

I actually think a caught bomb should potentially be a 30m tap, just to discourage excessive bombing…but that is a bit from left field to be honest

Cheers mate, yeah I agree with you and turbodewd…defintely a lot of room to vary the kick offs,

Good read, though you should not have included Ben Smith in that mentoring group…that bloke had one good season 4 years ago and it baffles me why he has been picked over and over…thankfully Stuart came to his senses and dropped Smith and Roberts this week.

And I am not even an Eels fan, but as a Rugby League lover, it was hurting my brain watching them play each week

I agree with the team that was picked Renegade, I would pick the same team (bar 2 changes)…the ones I outlined above (i.e. Cherry-Evans needed to be there in front of Gidley and Boyd is a fullback, who is struggling for form…crazy if he is guaranteed a wing spot for Australia! A whole host of wingers should have been in front of him (Taufua, Merritt)

5 months is a long time…I am willing to bet a lot of players will be in line for selection that we are currenctly not considering. Raiders had no reps playing (my team)…if they steam home on the back of Campese, Ferguson and Wighton exploding towards the end of the year, are they honestly not worth considering because they havent been there before?

And I dont think we should wait and see if we win the world cup before judging him…if we lose this world cup, it will be our longest run of not winning the world cup for decades…the Kiwis will be champions from 2008 – 2018!! A national disgrace…the stakes are high

hahaha, awesome comment…you are right, I hope!

Thanks mate, and yeah I do love how the The Roar allows us idiots to make bold claims…sometimes you end up with egg on your face and other times you are vidicated…I honestly hope I end up humiliated by Kangaroos winning the World Cup final by 50!

While I agree that being head coach of an NRL side is different to coaching a rep side, i dont agree the difference is so big that the Australian coach should never be an NRL coach. Coaching a footy side of the Kangaroos quality is not about the lead up speech, nor the bonding activities…there are others that do that. Being head coach of the Kangaroos is about strategy, reacting to the game, making the right bench moves etc…

And I definetely dont agree that a player on fire should be overlooked for someone like Darius Boyd simply because they have always been there…under that logic, the team would never change??

The Australian cricket team used to have this approach and it cost them dearly. They kept blokes like Mike Hussey playing Sheffield Shield for years, when they were easily the best man for the baggy green.

The Kiwis will be picking on form, so will the Poms…we dont have the luxury of leaving out th ebest players or the best coach…we should have learnt that from 2008