The Premier League is arguably the biggest football league in the world, and the shirts the teams wear can be quite iconic and famous. For good and bad reasons. So to complete our look at the season ahead, we offer up our view on the Best & Worst Premier League Kits for the 2022-23 season.
We select our favourite ten kits for the season ahead and give a few thoughts on why we think they’re great. Likewise for the grape kits, we give them a caning like they deserve.
If you don’t agree with our Best & Worst Premier League Kits 2022-23, then feel free to leave a comment.
So according to us Crystal Palace are on a winner this season with all three kits making our top ten, and why not, they look magnificent. The classic Crystal Palace lines given a freshen up, and they all work so well.
Along the same lines, Bournemouth’s home jersey makes our top ten.
There’s still room for classic lines on a shirt, and so the Man City away jersey gets a nod for its effort this season.
Couple of inclusions that look quite regular are Newcastle and Nottingham Forest. Newcastle’s looks great as you can’t see where it looked like a giant number four on the shirt anymore. And who doesn’t love a classic shirt like Forest’s, with the distinctive and simple logo.
These are the worst ten, and are all awful in the own special way.
The top / bottom three are truly terrible. Spur’s effort looks like a cheap wetsuit, Leeds looks like a painter’s shirt after a big shift, and Wolves will look like giant prawns in their third strip.
Some of the others look as awful as an RSL/Pub carpet. That drinking establishment carpet is designed like that to cover over the lifetime of spews. Which says a lot for some the kits.
Some like Leicester’s third kit is included because it is just dull.
While Southampton’s Home kit is in the bottom ten, because we can’t work out why you would ruin your team’s normal style of red and white stripes.
Welcome to the GurglerBet 2022-23 Premier League Betting Specials, where we bring you the best of Premier League betting for the big season ahead.
GurglerBet is the Official Betting Partner of The Gurgler website, and it does betting differently.
First of all GurglerBet is the Home of the Fifty Cent bet. That’s not a minimum limit, but a maximum limit. Making responsible betting at the heart of their wagering.
GurglerBet also offer markets that no one can or dares to offer and you can find them all here in the GurglerBet 2022-23 Premier League Betting Specials.
Please note: GurglerBet is not a real betting company, hence you will not be able to actually bet on any of these markets.
Here’s the big list of Premier League specials. One for every club. And most are betting markets you won’t get anywhere else.
ARSENAL
2022-23 SEASON MULTI @ $20
Finish Top 4
Top London Club
Jesus to Score on Easter Weekend
ASTON VILLA
PLAYER-MANAGER TIME @ $51
Steven Gerrard to come on as a substitute during a match this season due to injuries,
BOURNEMOUTH
EDDIE WHO? @ $2
Mid-season survey of all Premier League fans results in more than 50% of fans still think Eddie Howe is manager of Bournemouth
BRENTFORD
TONEY UP @ $20
Brentford striker to score 20 or more goals for the Bees this season.
BRIGHTON
POTTER POACH @ $6
That Graham Potter will be poached by another Premier League or big five European League team mid season.
CHELSEA
NOT SO STERLING @ $3
New recruit Raheem Sterling to receive a racist tweet from one of his own Chelsea supporters during the season.
CRYSTAL PALACE
INVISIBLE CRYSTAL @ $1.20
Crystal Palace to be the least talked about London team this season.
EVERTON
BLUES BLUES @ $4
Everton to be relegated on the last day of the season.
FULHAM
BOUNCE BACK @ $10
Fulham to win the 2023-24 Championship.
LEEDS UTD
MANAGER-GO-ROUND @ $6
Leeds to have the most amount of managers this season.
LEICESTER
IT’S RANIERI-ING MEN @ $20
Claudio Ranieri to return to Foxes to save them from relegation.
LIVERPOOL
YOU DO WIN FRIENDS WITH SALAH @ $15
Mo Salah to take more shots on goal this season than Wolves.
MANCHESTER CITY
BRAUT FORCE @ $14
Erling Braut Haaland to score 30 or more goals this season in all competitions.
MANCHESTER UTD
DO RON RUN @ $23
Cristiano Ronaldo to quit Man Utd mid game.
NEWCASTLE UTD
DO RUN RON @ $21
Newcastle to sign Cristiano Ronaldo mid season.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
CAN SEE THE TREES FROM THE WOOD @ $8
Nottingham Forest to stay up on the last day of the season with a goal from Jesse Lingard.
SOUTHAMPTON
@ $3
Southampton to do absolutely nothing interesting in 2022-23.
TOTTENHAM
CONTE STAND THE HEAT @ $6
Antonio Conte to leave Spurs during the World Cup break.
WEST HAM
ANTONI-OOH @ $6
Michail Antonio to bust a playing jersey during a goal celebration at any time n 2022-23.
WOLVES
NETO-NO-NO @ $1.05
Wolves’ Neto to be the most despised Premier League player for FPL fans after he features in a whopping amount of teams in GW1 for the Fantasy Football.
The new Premier League is almost here, and like any good or bad football based website we have an opinion on most things ahead. So our Ten 2022-23 Premier League Bold Season Predictions will have our biggest, boldest tips for the new season.
We have already used stats to predict the 2022-23 Premier League table at the end of the season which you can read below, so our Ten 2022-23 Premier League Bold Season Predictions is much more relying on gut feel than stats.
Ten Bold 2022-23 Premier League Season Predictions
VAR WILL RUIN A GAME BY GW2
It’s debatable whether the introduction of VAR has been a good thing for football. And VAR has been debated over and over and over again. Ruining a good chunk some great football podcasts.
VAR’s millimetre “perfect” decisions have frustrated and ruined a few games since it has come on board, and we are using our first bold prediction to declare that VAR will ruin a game as early as Gameweek 2.
And we’re looking at Brentford v Manchester United as the prime example of a game to be wrecked.
TWO OF THE THREE PROMOTED SIDES WILL STAY UP
It’s easy to pick on the promoted clubs, they haven’t had a great record recently, Norwich and Watford went down with barely a whimper. Brentford were threatening to join them before the inspired loan of Christian Eriksen.
This season we say the former Championship high flyers will go one step better and two of them will survive.
Which ones you may ask?
Well, we say Bournemouth will go down, and defying the recent yo-yo adventures, Fulham will stay up. Along with Nottingham Forest who will be the highest of the three promoted teams in 12th to 14th.
MARCO SILVA WILL QUIT FULHAM IN OCTOBER
Despite our assertions that Fulham will stay up, it still doesn’t mean Marco Silva won’t crack it at Fulham.
A slowish start thanks to an opening day flogging by Liverpool, combined with a quiet transfer window will see Silva lose patience and walk before he is fired.
Silver lining is the early managerial departure means they will get a tried and trusted manager in to see them to safety in 17th.
What’s Big Sam up to these days?
12 CLUBS WILL PART WAYS WITH THEIR MANAGER THIS SEASON
Fulham won’t be the only club this season with a change in manager, we’re calling 12 clubs will change the manager before the season ends.
We’re even brave enough to say at least four managers will leave in the World Cup period.
We’re predicting names like Brendan Rodgers and David Moyes will go at some stage, and perhaps even Antonio Conte if these aren’t perfect at Spurs.
Out of the non big six teams, we can only really see Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira being a safe manager. Graham Potter could be cherry picked by a bigger team, and even Eddie Howe could go if Newcastle’s new owners feel he isn’t up to their big name status.
WORLD CUP IN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER WILL RUIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE FOR A FEW MONTHS
A World Cup in the middle of the season is a novelty, much like the location of it Qatar, but we fear for the impact on the Premier League.
Instead of players complaining about a heavy end to the season, the Premier League players at the World Cup will have go through that only to return to the ridiculously over-crowded Christmas-New Year-January period.
And with Covid still lurking, who know how many players will be out over the subsequent months.
Those teams who avoid having players at the Qatar showpiece may be well rewarded as a result
NEWCASTLE WILL SNEAK INTO THE TOP FOUR IN SEPTEMBER
It wouldn’t be a bold predictions piece without us coming up with something that is so unlikely to happen that it will receive maximum scoff.
But why not Newcastle?
Every so often a team jump out of the blocks and hang around long enough to let people dream of being another Leicester. Maybe we’re wearing our rose tinted glasses from that memorable year when Ipswich Town were high flyers.
Newcastle may not be big six quality, but they aren’t far away from one of the best squads from outside that cohort, and it will only take a sluggish start from some of the big six teams to have Newcastle in the mix if they start well.
But they will need to take points away from their early fixtures with Liverpool and Manchester City, so for our bold top four predictions we can have to think that they can.
MAN CITY WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Erling Braut Haaland was one hell of a good transfer for Manchester City in the off season, and while there will always be doubt over a Bundesliga striker moving to the Premier League, one can’t ignore how good Haaland has been in the Champions League.
He has scored 27 goals in 25 games in Europe for sides nowhere as good as Manchester City.
So our bold prediction, which isn’t that bold on paper, but is on recent history, is that this is the season where Manchester City break through for the Champions League win.
MO SALAH / LUIS DIAZ WILL OUTSCORE HALF THE TEAMS THIS SEASON
Although Liverpool have lost Sadio Mane, our bold predictions is that it won’t affect Liverpool at all, in fact because that ever present tension between Mane and Salah has gone, the team will flourish and score.
So our bold prediction is that Diaz and Salah will combine for over 50 goals, meaning that based on 2021-22 Premier League standings would outscore ten teams total goals scored.
Will it win them the title? Maybe.
LEICESTER WILL BE IN THE BOTTOM THREE AT CHRISTMAS
Leicester have been a feel good story for many reasons over the past few seasons, stealing a Premier League title away from the big six, and causing general upset to the order since.
But our bold prediction for the Foxes is this is the season where the wheels fall off.
If Jamie Vardy stays fit, then people can rightly tell us to stick our prediction where the sun don’t shine, but Vardy isn’t very reliable when it comes to injuries. And without Vardy Leicester are not the same.
An over-arching vibe of bringing costs down could see one or two good players sold off too before the transfer window closes too.
And Brendan Rodgers does seem to have a use-by date at clubs. A perfect storm then for the Foxes to struggle.
For the record, despite our December doom and gloom, we still think they will stay up.
ALL BATTLES WILL COME DOWN TO THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON
Maybe through wishing more than predicting, but we envisage all battles for various league position punishments and rewards.
The title race will be like last season and decided in the second half of the final games of the season. 4th place will come down to the last day too. Europa League spots will go down to goal difference. And the relegation battle will see four teams vying for two spots on the final day, with second last vaulting to safety on the final afternoon in May.
IT’s a new season of the Premier League, but our weekly look into the EPL and tips return as ever. Our 2022-23 Premier League Week 1 Predictions + Stats Preview is a stat filled, barely interesting look at a bunch of Premier League stats and things.
Each week we provide a meandering look into the upcoming round of Premier League football, with not only our predictions for the upcoming Premier League fixtures, but offer up a wide range of H2H and in-season stats and barely interesting facts.
There’s so much to go through we can barely contain it to just one long page.
Here are our fearless predictions for the fixtures ahead, and tune in below for all the stats and barely interesting stats that go along with them.
Crystal Palace 1 Arsenal 2
Fulham 0 Liverpool 3
Bournemouth 0 Aston Villa 2
Leeds 0 Wolves 0
Newcastle 2 Nottingham Forest 1
Spurs 1 Southampton 0
Everton 0 Chelsea 2
Manchester United 2 Brighton 0
Leicester 1 Brentford 1
West Ham 0 Manchester City 2
21-22 Season Record – 50% – 191/380 – 40 Correct scores
Read on for the match by match full preview and stats.
2021-22 English Premier League – Season Summary Recap
Here is how the Premier League went down last season for interest in case you forgot. We will bring the new season when there’s enough games to bother.
Results colour coded. Goals stats. And a look at who each team is getting their points against.
2022-23 English Premier League Week 1 – Quick Stats
2021-22 – EACH TEAM’S FIRST SIX GAMES
CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST SIX GAMES
2021-22 – RECORD V PROMOTED SIDES
2022-23 Premier League Week 1 Predictions – Barely Interesting Stats
Here are the choicest cuts of barely interesting stats for the upcoming round of fixtures.
Arsenal (W1 D5 L2) have beaten Crystal Palace just once in their past eight meetings.
Arsenal and Crystal Palace have only met one before on a Friday – Boxing Day 1980 and it was a 2-2 draw.
Liverpool have won the past two games against Fulham on a Saturday by 4-0.
Bournemouth have beaten Aston Villa by 2-1 in the past three games.
Wolves (W3 D1) are undefeated in their last four trips to Leeds Utd.
Nottingham Forest were dead last in the Championship after six games last season.
Newcastle have never lost to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League (W5 D3 from 1992). And Newcastle have won all three Saturday Premier League fixtures at home v Forest.
Spurs (W3 D2) have never lost to Southampton in August.
Everton (W4 D2 L1) have lost just one of the last seven matches v Chelsea on a Saturday. Including the last two matches on a Saturday.
Manchester Utd have never lost to Brighton at home. The record is W13 D3. They have also won the last eight matches at home to Brighton.
Leicester (W9 D1) are undefeated in their last 10 games v Brentford and the last five in a row. Brentford’s last win v Leicester was in 1953.
Manchester City are undefeated in their last 14 games v West Ham going back to 2016 (W11 D3). And undefeated in the last eight games on a Sunday (W7 D1). West Ham have drawn the last two at home to City.
2022-23 Premier League Week 1 Predictions – Match by Match Stats Previews
Our big, beautiful full visual preview of each game is below.
More stats than you could probably ever want or need, for now.
Desperate as ever for content, Fox League will launch a new rugby league-themed sitcom this summer: New Coach.
A blatant rip-off of the hit Fox sitcom New Girl, New Coach focuses on a recently sacked NRL coach (who’s definitely not based on Michael ‘Madge’ Maguire) who moves into a Bondi loft while he waits for his next coaching gig and interacts with a number of colourful characters, played by Paul Kent, Braith Anasta, and Buzz Rothfield.
To legitimise the ‘link’ with New Girl, Zooey Deschanel was approached to reprise her role as Jess Day, but politely declined as she literatelly had a million better things to do, plus she fell asleep from boredom in the Zoom meeting after Kent kept banging on about his one first grade game for Parramatta 30 years ago.
The first 14-episode season of New Coach will air after the Rugby League World Cup Final, with the season finale in February rumoured to centre around the coach deciding whether to go to Super League or join the NRL360 panel.
Everyday News is a brand new general news/parody section of The Gurgler, and definitely not a lame rip-off of ‘The Betoota Advocate’. We swear.
The finals are fast approaching, and so NRL tipsters everywhere need more help than ever to pick a winner or eight. So here is our NRL Round 21 Tips Summary and Stats Preview with a guarantee of no jersey controversy this week.
Each week we offer up a quick preview glance for each match, a bunch of barely interesting stats, probably more than one could ever need or want.
We also offer up some alternative tips. These alternative tips are often based on a rugby league stat, and sometimes something completely absurd, and are aimed at those NRL tipsters who just can’t be bothered.
This week it’s based on form in the crucial month of August leading into the finals. Or not for some.
So enjoy the 2022 NRL Round 21 Tips Stats Preview + Alternative Tips where there’s something for everyone. Mostly.
2022 NRL Round 21 Tips – Alternative Tips – August Winning %
Short on inspiration already? Or looking for that edge to your tipping that no one else in your competition has? Well here are the Alternative NRL Tips for this round.
Since the finals are looming, and August is an important month, we have every team’s winning % in August since 1998, and the better the team has gone historically in August means the better they will go this weekend. Says us anyway.
Simples.
ALTERNATIVE TIPS 2022 PROGRESS – 61% – 92/152
2022 NRL Round 21 Predictions – Gurgler Tips
Can we beat our own Alternative NRL tips? Usually not, so again we’ll have to keep trying.
Broncos by 4
Storm by 20
Sea Eagles by 6
Rabbitohs by 26
Panthers by 2
Sharks by 12
Cowboys by 8
Tigers by 1
OUR TIPS – 66% – 101/152
2022 NRL Round 21 Weekly H2H Stats
Looking for a cheat sheet for the weekend’s upcoming games?
Here’s as much information that we could cram into one size fits all visual.
Here we take the best points of interest for each match coming up this weekend, and share them with you for no cost. Feel free to share with friends and family.
Roosters lead the Broncos 2-1 H2H at the SCG and have won the only Thursday game at the ground.
Brisbane have lost the past two Thursday clashes with the Roosters by a combined 95-4.
Broncos have won all three clashes against Sydney clubs on a Thursday this season and all three clubs were top eight sides.
Sydney Roosters have won their past seven clashes v Qld sides and 13 of their last 14.
Melbourne have beaten the Gold Coast seven times in a row heading into this weekend and won 11 of the last 12.
Melbourne have won 13 games in a row against Queensland sides on a Friday. Also 22 of their last 23 Friday games v Qld sides going back to 2011.
Melbourne Storm have also won their last 12 Friday games v all opposition.
Gold Coast have lost all 13 games against top eight sides this season. (Top Eight at time of game).
Manly last beat Parramatta on a Friday in 2008 – six games ago.
Parramatta have won both of their Friday clashes v top eight sides this season.
Manly have lost all but one game against top eight sides (at time of game) this season from nine matches. And all six Friday games this season.
Manly have lost eight straight on a Friday.
South Sydney have won 12 of their last 13 against the Warriors. They have also won eight of their last nine v Warriors on a Saturday.
South Sydney are unbeaten in three games at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
South Sydney have won 11 straight home games on a Saturday.
Penrith have lost just one Saturday game since Covid.
Penrith have lost no away games on a Saturday since 2020.
Canberra have scored either 22 or 30 in the last five games on a Saturday v Penrith.
Canberra have lost all three Saturday games v top eight sides this season.
Sharks have won four in a row v Dragons.
Bulldogs have won just two of 18 Saturday games since 2020.
Bulldogs would be in the top eight if the ladder was from the last two months.
Tigers and Newcastle have won just one Sunday game between them this season. Newcastle have lost their last six Sunday games and won just one of seven Sunday games this season. That was against the Tigers. Wests Tigers have lost all ten Sunday games.
Wests Tigers last beat a Sydney side at Campbelltown on a Sunday in 2013. Five losses in a row since.
2022 NRL Round 21 Barely Interesting Stats Extra
AUGUST FORM SINCE 1998
No surprise that the Storm top the list, but interesting for Bulldogs fans enjoying a good run of form at late, their August form is pretty good. Also no surprise that sunshine experts North Qld and the Gold Coast don’t enjoy the cold and windy month of August.
AUGUST FORM LAST 10 SEASONS
To go one step further than above, here’s the August form for just the last ten seasons.
REGIONAL QUEENSLAND FORM
In honour of the Bulldogs game in Bundaberg this weekend, we thought we’d have a look at each team’s record at Queensland Regional grounds, outside of the regular NRL grounds. These numbers were of course boosted by the second half of last season moving to Queensland due to Covid. Note: Redcliffe results are not included.
2022 NRL Round 21 NRL 2022 Season – Team Stats
We have taken the best of the NRL data and turned them into visuals you can use to enjoy your rugby league this weekend.
There’s run metres, kicking stats, errors, tackled and lack of tackles.
Plus we also have each team’s record against the top and bottom teams and home v away.
There’s so much you’ll need to stop halfway to catch your breath.
TEAM RECORD V TOP & BOTTOM EIGHT SIDES
Note – top / bottom eight is decided at time of match not current ladder.
TEAM RECORD – HOME & AWAY
Note – not the awful soap on Channel 7
RUNS AND TACKLES
Who are the Running Men?
BREAKS, OFFLOADS, POST CONTACT METRES
Here is the break down of who is breaking through to the other side.
KICKING STATS
Note: last graph is a 100% breakdown of kick types.
BAD BOYS
Want to know which team gives away the most penalties? Or makes the most errors? Or a report card with Sin Bins and Send Offs. It’s all yours below.
2022 NRL Season Prediction Results
Our tips jumped ahead of the alternative tips last week, so now onto bigger and better things.
ALTERNATIVE TIPS 6/8 First Round Form 4/8 More Dangerous Mascot 3/8 Best H2H 6/8 April Fools 7/8 Bad Boy Points (Penalties/Sin Bins etc) 5/8 Greens Votes 6/8 Marginal Seats 5/8 Covid Cases 6/8 May Record 3/8 Suncorp Stadium Record 4/8 ALP Voting 2/8 Green / Teal Colour Wheel 1/4 June Form since 1998 6/8 Post Origin I Form 5/8 Winter Form 5/8 Post Origin II Form 4/4 Kicking Kings 5/8 Post Origin III Form 3/8 Twitter Followers 6/8 Current Ladder
What a week of NRL action it was, star performances, hard working players giving it their all, and The Bunker ruining the <insert game here> match. But which players were the best of the best this week in the NRL? Let our NRL Round 20 Team of the Week explain.
We have taken some of the key stats and assign various scoring methods against them, all in the good intention of making the various types of stats even out across the position.
An explanation of what is included and points assigned is right at the bottom.
This may be all good in hindsight, but could also help the odd desperate Supercoach player, or down on his luck sports gambling investor.
It’s time to unveil the NRL Round 20 Team of the Week, so enjoy.
So we’ve used the stats for each position and picked the best starting 13 players from the most recent round, the stats and points assigned are explained at the end.
On top of the best starting 13, we include the best four interchange players of the week. Seeing who has provided maximum impact from the bench.
NRL Round 20 Key Player Stats
Want to see which players topped the key stats for Round 20 of the NRL?
Help yourself to the below.
A FEW THOUGHTS:
Dylan Edwards has passed 200 running metres in 13 games this season. James Tedesco is next best with 10 games.
Broncos’ Adam Reynolds and Billy Walters had seven Try Assists and Line Break Assists but they were still handsomely beaten by the Tigers.
Joseph is a good name to top the tackle breaks for the round with Manu and Tapine leading the ay with 13.
Alex Johnston has made at least one line break in his last nine games, and 19 in total in that run.
NRL 2022 Season Team of the Year So Far
So here is the Team of the Season so far based on the Stats we have compiled.
Hard to argue with a lot of them, although the centres would have been left field choices at the beginning of the season. But it has hardly been a classic season for centres.
NRL 2022 Player Top Season Stats
Here’s a season glance on the stats we used for the Team of the Week.
How the Team of the Week works
Want to know how we come up with the numbers to rank the players, the below table should explain hopefully.
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times, and now the Wooden Spooners have returned to cast their eye over the latest weekend of rugby league that was with the NRL Round 20 Results & Headlines.
Going beyond the scores, the NRL Round 20 Results & Headlines gives the extra insight in the NRL that only the Wooden Spooners can.
All reports are unconfirmed and please contact our Legal team or Buzz Rothfield aka Hans Moleman for complaints.
NRL ROUND 20 RESULTS HEADLINES
THANK F–K THAT GAME IS OVER SAYS 90% OF NEUTRAL NRL FANS
Sadly once again the NRL made the news for all the wrong reasons with the Rainbow stripes on the Manly jersey. In a poll of Gurgler readers this weekend 90% of rugby league fans said they were glad the game was over and didn’t care who won. 10% of the respondents told us to f—k ourselves. Which was slightly more pleasant than the whole Manly jersey saga.
CRAIG BELLAMY GOES TO INCREDIBLE LENGTHS FOR A FULLBACK AFTER LATEST INJURY
Melbourne Storm have had a bad run of injuries this season, and they are running out of fullbacks. The Wooden Spooners Melbourne rugby correspondent obtained the exclusive footage of the lengths that the Storm coach has gone to for a number one.
PARRAMATTA’S PLAN TO WIN 2022 PREMIERSHIP IS TO FINISH FOURTH
Given that Parramatta are the only team to beat Penrith more than once on their incredible run since the start of 2020, Parramatta brains trust have devised the perfect plan to win this season’s title – finish fourth so they play Parramatta in the first week of the finals. Wooden Spooners have learned that trainers will be required to carry calculators in latter rounds in case for and against becomes an issue in the tight top eight race.
NRL LOOKS TO CELEBRITY HAIRDRESSER STEFAN FOR GRADING ADVICE ON JAYDN SU’A HAIR PULL OF LUCIANO LEILUA
An unsavoury incident from the Dragons-Cowboys clash was Jaydn Su’A attempting to slow down Luciano Leilua by pulling his substantial ponytail.
Whilst the assault was penalised on field, the NRL were unable to decide what to do with the incident for further punishment.
According to the Wooden Spooners sources, the NRL secretly hired celebrity hairdresser Stefan to provide his expert hair knowledge.
Stefan alerted the NRL to how much salon effort would be required to return the hair to its fullest glory, and the NRL are considering the expert opinion and will notify Su’a on Tuesday of their verdict.
NRL THINKING OF HAVING PENALTY SHOOTOUTS INSTEAD OF GOLDEN POINT AFTER SHARKS v RABBITOHS MATCH
The Sharks-Rabbitohs game was an exciting golden point thriller as they call it in the business, with Nicho Hynes finally nailing a field goal to win the vital match.
But ever the thinking man of feathers, aka Peter V’landys, and trying to cash in on the very popular Premier League and World Cup Football in Qatar later in the year, he has thought of introducing a goal kicking penalty shootout to replace golden point.
The secret plans replicate the football version with five kicks followed by sudden death. The only variation is that the ball starts in the middle of the field on the 20 metre line and moves further out then further back with each subsequent attempt.
NEWS LTD REALLY DO HATE THE TIGERS
Unable to let go of the fact that the Tigers are now no longer the mathematical worst team in the competition, they assigned them second last and last as per the image above. Reports of a James Hooper lookalike figures walking away from the editing suite at News Ltd has been denied by the cleaner who had just started their shift.
WOODEN SPOONERS UNFAIR QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Q: Is David Fifita the new Dane Carlaw?
A: Yes, and No.
SOCIALS OF THE WEEK
Our NRL Social of the Week is from a Simpsons Related NRL Memes Facebook Pagelike it always is these days which is a must for those who love NRL, Simpsons and a laugh.
THE SHANE FLANAGAN NEW COACHING GIG-O-METER
With Shane Flanagan in the commentary box for Fox League in 2022, we can continue to expect subtle digs at teams who are struggling and that he can see a possible way in for.
So each week as part of the Wooden Spooner’s NRL Headlines, we’ll bring you the New Coaching Gig-O-Meter. This features which teams are hot for a new coach, or a team that was and is going cool.
With the news that the Wests Tigers are going back to the future with Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall, this means the year-long campaign to shove Shane Flanagan in as the Tigers coach is over.
Flanagan is running out of clubs, but that won’t stop the Fox League machine.
Two weeks ago it was a Dragon, last week it is a Knight. This week it could be anything.
We’re all going on a summer holiday, but not before we end the first half of the season with a detailed look at the latest F1 race. Our 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap Review & Summary will try and explain all you needed to know.
Our review covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend.
The 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a small serving of cynicism. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Results
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the Scene – George Russell surprised most by stealing pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix – his first. Ferraris were quick, as was Lando Norris as ever. Red Bull struggled in the conditions and championship leader Verstappen ended up 10th and his team mate Perez 11th. So a mixed up grid of sorts, which is always welcomed.
Conditions are windy, cold-ish and with a big chance of rain. The rain appears to be just about to hit as the race is about to start. Rain is spitting so track is slightly wet but everyone still on dry tyres. Woof. Anything could happen, and it probably will.
TOP 10 GRID – RUS SAI LEC NOR OCO ALO HAM BOT RIC VER
Lap 1 – Pole sitter George Russell gets away ok and leads into the first corner despite massive pressure from the Ferraris. Lewis Hamilton makes the best start of the leading cars go from 7th to 5th. Verstappen is up to 8th as well from 10th. Magnussen sneaks into the top ten. Bottas and Ricciardo drop places. But there doesn’t appear to be any troubles on the first lap.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR – the VSC is called out to clean up some debris on turn two. Apparently Lance Stroll is involved, that’s not a surprise. With Albon it looks like. Vettel is hit by someone too but continues. He has announced his retirement at the end of the season. Given he’s 16th here, he probably wouldn’t mind an early retirement here too.
ORDER – RUS SAI LEC NOR HAM OCO ALO VER PER MAG
Lap 5 – Where’s all this rain then? Jerks. Nothing much at all. Confirmation a few laps later that no rain is expected for 30 minutes. At the front George Russell is two second in front and looking confident. Further back Max Verstappen pulls off a great move on Fernando Alonso for 7th, he is just under 10 seconds from the lead. Plenty of time to win this.
Lap 7 – A Red Bull passes an Alpine x2 on lap seven. Verstappen on Ocon for 6th and Perez on Alonso for 8th. Beauty of Max’s move on Ocon means Lewis Hamilton is next up, as we start rubbing our hands together in anticipation of trouble. Perez gets past Ocon a lap or so later. Ricciardo moves into the top ten as Kevin Magnussen is called into the pits for a broken front wing.
ORDER RUS SAI LEC NOR HAM VER PER OCO ALO RIC
Lap 11 – Sky F1 temporarily forget most of the most outside the UK doesn’t give a flying f–k about the UK and bang on about English F1 drivers and English sport in general. No mention of The Ashes to no surprise. Or the Commonwealth Games.
Lap 12 – Lewis Hamilton overtakes Lando Norris into turn one. Max Verstappen overtakes Lando Norris into turn two. Sad for Norris fans and casual gamblers, but great for fans of Ham v Max from last season as they are now going to be battling for 4th. Perez gets by Norris the next lap to fully extend the middle finger to him and McLaren.
Lap 13 – Max Verstappen angry and swearing at his team regarding his car. That’s a worry. For him anyway,
ORDER – RUS SAI LEC HAM VER PER NOR OCO ALO RIC
Lap 15 – Lando Norris – used to dropping positions – pits and drops some more. His early pitstop is punished by a slowish pitstop and ending up behind Nicholas Latifi. Talking of Latifi, we have caned him this season, and rightly so, but hats off to his P1 in P3 on the Saturday.
Lap 17 – George Russell pits from the lead, and comes out of the pits in 6th and has to battle Fernando Alonso for a few corners on colder tyres. Helped by the fact that Max Vertappen pits too.
Lap 18 – Sainz pits from the inherited lead, a slow stop means he ends up behind George Russell, and Ocon for fun. Still Leclerc, Hamilton and Perez to pit. Perez conveniently pits on lap 19 as the previous sentence was being typed. Perez ends up in big traffic in 10th.
Lap 21 – Charles Leclerc stays out for the time being, racing against his team mate for second. He pits at the beginning of lap 22, this will be tight with Sainz. Leclerc comes out in front of Sainz with half a second to spare. He certainly proves he was the fastest Ferrari car. Eliminating the chance of Ferrari stuffing up the strategy for a change.
ORDER – RUS LEC SAI VER OCO HAM PER NOR BOT ZHO
Lap 24 – Daniel Ricciardo overtakes two Alpines in two corners. Ocon comes out of pits, determined to stay in front of team mate Alonso. But all he does is stuff up Alonso’s defence of Ricciardo and the McLaren gets by both Alpines. Lovely. Possibly a season highlight.
Lap 26 – Away from the battle for tenth, Leclerc has closed within a second of leader George Russell. And the gap is reducing. Russell wobbles out of turn one two laps later but somehow stays ahead of Leclerc. But is seems somewhat inevitable. But it’s a good battle in the meantime.
Lap 31 – Charles Leclerc dives into the lead into turn one around the outside and takes the lead from George Russell. What a move. Good driving from both, but Leclerc has the slightly faster car right now.
Lap 35 – Halfway point and the battle at the front has calmed down a bit. Leclerc looks the race winner without bad luck, driver error, or shit strategy from his team…..hang about, hasn’t most of that happened to Leclerc this season? Champagne and Ferrari flags back on ice for now then.
ORDER – LEC RUS SAI VER HAM PER NOR RIC STR OCO
Lap 39 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres but the worry is there are spots of rain.
Lap 40 – Charles Leclerc pits for tyres, as does George Russell. Ferrari give Leclerc hard tyres which looks a mistake, which would be consistent with Ferrari strategy this season. Russell takes Medium tyres but Verstappen trumps Russell and gets in front of the Mercedes. Verstappen is gifted a position as Perez is just ahead, which puts Verstappen on Leclerc’s tail.
Lap 41 – Max Verstappen overtakes Charles Leclerc going into turn one. Verstappen on better and warmer tyres makes it reasonably easy. Looks like Ferrari have stuffed Leclerc again.
Lap 42 – Max Verstappen spins!!!!! Towards the end of the lap he just drops it. He falls behind Leclerc and just stays ahead of George Russell into the next turn.
Lap 43 – The end result is Max Verstappen is back on Leclerc’s tail for third, and the Ferrari is still struggling on the wrong tyres. Ahead Sainz and Hamilton are yet to pit for a second time.
Lap 45 – Max Verstappen eases past Charles Leclerc into turn two after Leclerc defended well enough down the pit straight. Ferrari have really stuffed Leclerc again.
ORDER – SAI HAM VER LEC RUS PER RIC STR NOR VET
Lap 48 – Carlos Sainz pits from the lead and he drops to fifth. Hamilton, who took the lead from Sainz pits three laps later and remains behind Sainz.
Lap 49 – Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo collide at turn two. Both continue, the Canadian driver complains. And rightly so according to the stewards who punish the Australian. Well, not as much as this 2022 season is already punishing him.
Lap 54 – George Russell gets past Charles Leclerc for second place. Leclerc pits a lap later, which doubles down on the fact that the choice of hard tyres was stupid. And rain may be coming in two laps. Leclerc comes out behind Hamilton and Perez. Solid work. Clowns.
Lap 57 – Lewis Hamilton sets a fastest lap in fourth. He’s on a slightly different stop given the much later second pitstop. Maybe he can win. Maybe anyone can. Where’s that rain?
ORDER – VER RUS SAI HAM PER LEC NOR ALO OCO BOT
Lap 62 – Hamilton all over the back of Sainz’s Ferrari, a lap later he is ahead. Ferrari still suck. Hamilton is right on Russell’s tail, so expect an intra-team swap soon enough. May as well, as Lewis may have just enough to win this. But Russell is defending well for now.
Lap 65 – Hamilton gets past Russell for second, but the 10 second lead to Verstappen seems too far away for a race win. Although, for the sixteenth time today, there’s apparently rain within the next two laps.
Lap 68 – Just two laps to go and it is the first retirement of the race. Valtteri Bottas is the culprit. This “brings out” the Virtual Safety Car which effectively ends the race.
Last Lap – Not for the first time there are reports of rain, but it doesn’t come and Max Verstappen cruises to the finish after the Virtual Safety Car ends with a lap to go. Good day for Mercedes with second and third. Ferrari blew an opportunity to win, instead the gap in the Championship increases.
FINAL ORDER – VER HAM RUS SAI PER LEC NOR ALO OCO VET
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Results
RACE RATING
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 9 / 10
Charles Leclerc blows a big chance to close the gap in the Championship. Ferrari start second and third but somehow stuff up strategy again and allow Max Verstappen to win from tenth on the grid. The big season importance is that Ferrari are no longer able to be trusted with strategy, or anything lucky. With that gap in points, luck is needed for Ferrari, and they can’t make or steal their own luck.
ON TRACK ACTION – 9 / 10
Plenty of action, and most of it up the sharp end of the grid. Battles for all the top positions, and none of it with any trouble. Cars able to follow each other, but overtaking not too easy. Midfield battles ok too, with the occasional contact, What a world of F1 we live in these days.
ENDING 5 / 10
Promised rain never quite came, and the top six sorted themselves out a little earlier.
OVERALL RATING 23 / 30
An action packed race that could have been a full-on classic with a shower of rain that was promised so often but never came. Respect for the top drivers to race without running into each other. No respect for Ferrari.
2022 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Results
GREAT & GRAPE OF THE RACE
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
What a drive from 10th to the race win. On a day where you wouldn’t blame him and his team for damage limitation after an ordinary qualifying, he drove well and his team had the right strategy.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LEWIS HAMILTON – Solid second place from seventh on the grid and had some proper pace. With a little bit more time or a lot more rain could have really challenged Max for the win. He’ll take second if you think back a few races ago in Azerbaijan.
GEORGE RUSSELL – Deserves a spot here for that pole position lap alone. Raced well at the front and got the podium he deserved.
LANDO NORRIS – Best of the rest, and so strong throughout the weekend. Last of the unlapped cars.
THE GRAPE-EST – CHARLES LECLERC
Looked the race winner and was stuffed by his team’s terrible tyre and pit strategy. Leclerc ended up sixth, while his Championship rival takes a win from 10th,
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
CARLOS SAINZ – Not helped much by his team prioritising a shit strategy for his team mate.
DANIEL RICCIARDO – Finished 15th while his team mate ended up 7th. Penalised for a clash with Lance Stroll. Pulled off a stunning move on two Alpines at once. But went missing in the last part of the race.
YUKI TSUNODA – Spun while placed last just about sums that up.
2022 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated.
A heavily hyped mobile app has proved disappointing.
Based on the glitzy TikTok-style ads shown in other mobile games, Play + Earn promised that gamers could earn an abundance of gift cards for playing their favourite mobile game.
“It was ok at first, earning a few dollars here and there, but to get the big rewards you had to complete impossible missions on boring games,” said Peter. “It got to the point where I was playing these bloody games all day, which killed my battery. One Friday night I stayed up until 3am trying to complete a mission, and still missed out. That’s when I decided it wasn’t worth it, so I uninstalled the app and went to sleep. I thought about cashing out my gift cards, but I’d only earnt $5, so I didn’t bother.
“I have fond memories of marathon gaming sessions with my mates, but they were proper console games, not garbage mobile games that are lazy cash-ins of a thousand other games! They probably spent all their money on their fancy ad campaign and didn’t care about the actual app. Greedy bastards!”
Everyday News is a brand new general news/parody section of The Gurgler, and definitely not a lame rip-off of ‘The Betoota Advocate’. We swear.
