By Kaaps Loche.
Most of the news and chat around Rugby League will be around the sad injury of Alex McKinnon and the repercussions of the incident. That’s popular water cooler talk and something The Gurgler doesn’t do well. Although we commend the presentation and performance of Newcastle in respect. Also welcome is the one minute applause, which will hopefully replace the one minute silence which is always ruined by some f***wit who can’t help themselves.
A subject who do like talking about is Rugby Union. Not really, but can’t help but laugh at the Andrew Fifita situation. He announces move to Bulldogs for one of the biggest wages in the NRL, cops a bit of stick, which fans of your club, and people who think you’re greedy have a right to give you a bit of curry for. But to bring out the ultimate insult that you should have gone to Rugby Union is going way too far. The Bulldogs thought the same too, how dare you, you’d rather play union than with us? Hows about kiss our collective arse and here’s your proposed contract back.
Will any other league team see past the insult and look to hire him except for the Sharks. The Sharks funnily enough are one of the least financial clubs in the NRL, but have every chance of keeping him as Rugby is broke, Maybe is the lure of repacking scrum after scrum and having another penalty explained to you is so great he could do it for free.
The Steve “Marvellous” Mavin Trophy for BEST OF LAST WEEKEND
3pts – Newcastle
2pts – Wayne Bennett
1pt – Second Half Points Fests
Minus 3pts – late withdrawals from games creating havoc for the Supercoach fans.
Minus 1pt- Souths and North Qld’s round 2-4 after promising start.
THE STATS THAT SORT OF MATTER – brought to you by anyone who knows boats.
The Channel 9 Cup – Checking your team’s value for Ch9 dollar.
| TEAM | GAMES | POINTS | F/A | PT/GAME |
| MANLY | 3 | 6 | 14 | 2.00 |
| NEWCASTLE | 1 | 2 | 30 | 2.00 |
| BRISBANE | 4 | 6 | 22 | 1.50 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 3 | 4 | 19 | 1.33 |
| ST GEORGE | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1.00 |
| SOUTHS | 3 | 2 | 9 | 0.67 |
| ROOSTERS | 3 | 2 | -24 | 0.67 |
| COWBOYS | 1 | 0 | -4 | 0.00 |
| PARRAMATTA | 1 | 0 | -4 | 0.00 |
| BULLDOGS | 1 | 0 | -6 | 0.00 |
| GOLD COAST | 1 | 0 | -30 | 0.00 |
| SHARKS | 1 | 0 | -30 | 0.00 |
THE PENALTY COUNTS – Which Ref gives the most & How does your team fare?
| REF | TOTAL | AVG (H) | AVG (A) |
| G.BADGER | 69 | 11.0 | 6.3 |
| A.SHORTALL | 68 | 8.0 | 9.0 |
| B.SUTTOR | 67 | 10.8 | 6.0 |
| M.CECCHIN | 66 | 7.8 | 8.8 |
| G.SUTTON | 64 | 9.3 | 6.8 |
| A.GEE | 61 | 7.8 | 7.5 |
| A.KLEIN | 61 | 7.8 | 7.5 |
| A.DEVCICH | 60 | 6.8 | 8.3 |
| C.JAMES | 58 | 8.0 | 6.5 |
| H.PERENARA | 58 | 6.5 | 8.0 |
| G.ADKINS | 57 | 7.8 | 6.5 |
| J.MAXWELL | 57 | 7.8 | 6.5 |
| G.REYNOLDS | 57 | 6.5 | 7.8 |
| S.HAYNE | 56 | 7.8 | 6.3 |
| B.CUMMINS | 54 | 6.5 | 7.0 |
| G.MORRIS | 28 | 10.5 | 5.0 |
| L.PHILLIPS | 18 | 12.0 | 6.0 |
| D.MUNRO | 15 | 7.0 | 8.0 |
| TEAM | HOME FOR AV | HOME AGNST AV | AWAY FOR AV | AWAY AGNST AV |
| CANBERRA | 15.0 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 6.0 |
| MELBOURNE | 13.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.0 |
| SOUTHS | 11.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| WESTS TIGERS | 10.0 | 11.0 | 6.3 | 8.0 |
| ST GEORGE | 8.5 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| MANLY | 8.3 | 6.3 | 11.0 | 2.0 |
| PARRAMATTA | 8.0 | 8.5 | 4.5 | 10.5 |
| BULLDOGS | 7.7 | 8.3 | 3.0 | 8.0 |
| GOLD COAST | 7.5 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 11.0 |
| BRONCOS | 7.0 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 6.5 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 9.0 |
| NORTH QLD | 6.5 | 6.5 | 8.5 | 6.0 |
| ROOSTERS | 6.5 | 8.0 | 4.5 | 11.0 |
| SHARKS | 6.5 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| PENRITH | 6.0 | 4.0 | 9.5 | 8.5 |
| NEWCASTLE | 5.5 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 9.5 |
THE COMPLETE COMPLETION STATS
| TEAM | AV COMPLETION RATE |
| CANBERRA | 82.84% |
| MELBOURNE | 79.25% |
| BRISBANE | 79.08% |
| BULLDOGS | 76.06% |
| ST GEORGE | 75.95% |
| WESTS TIGERS | 75.70% |
| NZ | 75.11% |
| MANLY | 74.94% |
| PENRITH | 74.38% |
| COMP AVERAGE | 74.19% |
| PARRAMATTA | 73.84% |
| NEWCASTLE | 72.69% |
| NORTH QLD | 71.60% |
| GOLD COAST | 70.51% |
| SHARKS | 68.07% |
| SOUTHS | 67.70% |
| ROOSTERS | 66.98% |
