Another weekend of NRL action featuring some surprising results on the field and some not surprising results elsewhere. For now, we’ll let the stats do the talking and separate the Wheat/Chaff to present the NRL Round 17 Team of the Week & Player Stats.
First we have our Team of the Week, which takes some of the key player stats from the weekend and using various scoring methods come up with the best players in their positions from the latest round of the NRL.
Then there’s additional player stats from this weekend and some bite sized points of interest.
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 also include the best four interchange players of the week. Seeing who has provided maximum impact from the bench.
Plus when we can be bothered we throw in the players we thought were great but the stats did not with Gurgler’s Choice.
2024 NRL Team of the Season…so far
Here is the above but for all rounds.
2024 NRL Round 17 Player Stats
Want to see which players topped the key stats for the latest round of the NRL this weekend?
2024 NRL Season Player Stats…so far.
Same as the above stats, but this is for the 2024 season.
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.
Want more Player Stats? Neeeeed more NRL data and stuff? Why not try our friends at Nothing But League for bite sized pieces of NRL Stats and more every day.
Want more NRL information than just the draw, results or the current ladder? Then you are in the right place and the right time with the home of Stats and Stuff via our 2024 NRL Round 17 Results Stats Summary for the weekend that was.
Each week we compile and keep up to date a wide range of stats from the latest weekend of NRL action plus the best 2024 NRL Season Stats to help you to the top of the tipping competition, land a few responsible winners or even make your Supercoach team better. And now with a match by match summary full of all the stats you need and/or want.
It’s all stats, and never Slats.
NRL Round 17 Results
Fri – Bulldogs 15-14 Cronulla
Sat – Warriors 32-16 Brisbane
Sat – Newcastle 34-26 Parramatta
Sat – Melbourne 16-6 Canberra
Sun – St George Illawarra 26-6 Dolphins
Sun – Penrith 6-16 North Queensland
Sun – Roosters 40-6 Wests Tigers
NRL Round 17 Stats Season Summary
Some weekly and season stats and additional interesting visuals for the weekend that was and the season that is.
OVERALL LADDER AND FORM
WIN / LOSS RECORD BY HOME / OPPOSITION LADDER POSITION
Ladder position from previous round.
WIN / LOSS RECORD BY GEOGRAPHY / DAY / TIME
NRL Round 17 Stats Summary
Round 17 saw the last four games end with the losing team with the exact same score – 6 points.
Talking of six and losing, there have been six teams that have been in the wooden spoon position this season.
South Sydney are currently the best team for last six game form.
The early games saw a lot of winning streaks end. Cronulla’s six in a row v Bulldogs. Broncos seven in a row away on a Saturday. Parramatta six in a row v Newcastle.
It was the best home winning % since Round 5 this season.
NRL Round 17 Results and Stats Summary – H2H Match by Match Stats and Stuff
All the games with all the stats you could ever want or need with added barely interesting stats to go with. Giving you a comprehensive wrap up of all that went on in the NRL on the weekend.
Bulldogs are still the only team remaining with a 100% home record
The Bulldogs win broke a run of six straight losses v Cronulla.
Cronulla’s run of seven straight wins on a Friday ended against the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs won despite making nearly twice the missed tackles.
The last three times now the Warriors have conceded 60 points or more they won the following week.
The Broncos 332 Post Contact Metres was the second worst single team/round effort this season. Xavier “The Beast” Willison secured over a quarter of that total by himself.
The Broncos loss broke a run of seven straight wins on a Saturday away from home.
Broncos have now lost two games in a row on a Saturday, before that it was 11 straight wins.
Broncos haven’t won for the last six rounds and are third last on the ladder from the last six rounds.
Newcastle’s win broke a run of six straight wins for Parramatta over Newcastle.
Newcastle have won now the last four games in Newcastle v Parramatta on a Saturday.
Parramatta have won only one of their last nine games. But did hand back the wooden spoon to the Tigers.
Parramatta have now lost all seven away games this season.
The loss for Canberra broke a run of four games v Storm at AAMI Park on a Saturday.
Melbourne have won 12 of their last 13 home games. But only five of their last 13 home games on a Saturday.
It’s three losses in a row for Canberra now. That hasn’t happened since they finished off 2023 with a hat trick of losses.
It was the Dolphins’ first loss this season to Sydney clubs.
It is only the second time that the Dolphins have been kept scoreless in the second half. The other was Round 7 last season.
St George Illawarra have now won two of their last 12 Sunday games.
It was Penrith’s lowest home score since August 2022 when Melbourne beat them 16-0.
Penrith Stadium has the second lowest total points scored on average of the regular NRL home grounds.
It broke a run of nine straight home wins on a Sunday for Penrith.
North Queensland have won 11 of their last 14 v Sydney teams on a Sunday. And eight of their last ten away to Sydney teams on a Sunday.
Roosters have won the last eight games v Wests Tigers and 18 of the last 19.
Roosters have won ten in a row on a Sunday v Tigers too.
Tigers have had 12 players sent to the Sin Bin this season – three ahead of the next worse – Souths.
Wests Tigers have won one of their last 15 away games. Plus none of their last ten on a Sunday.
NRL Round 17 Bye Summary
A quick look into how each team is doing after the bye rounds this season.
The NRL still plugs away with The Bunker, Referees, State of Origin and off-field signings all competing for attention with the regular task of finding a winner in the NRL. Talking of attention, our 2024 NRL Round 18 Tips Predictions & Stats Preview has something to grab the attention of everyone and everything.
Each week we offer up a quick preview glance for each match, throw in a bunch of barely interesting stats, and mix in a pinch of opinion, some spicy tips and you have a rugby league soup with probably more than one could ever need or want. It’s all you can eat NRL stats.
2024 NRL Round 18 Tips – This Week’s Matches
Here are our tips for the week ahead. How did we get to here? By going through all the visuals and stats below.
Thu 7:50 pm – Parramatta v South Sydney
Fri 6:00 pm – Cronulla v Gold Coast
Fri 7:50 pm – Brisbane v Penrith
Sat 3:00 pm – Bulldogs v Warriors
Sat 5:30 pm – Wests Tigers v Melbourne
Sat 7:35 pm – North Queensland v Manly Warringah
Sun 2:00 pm – Roosters v St George Illawarra
Sun 4:05 pm – Canberra v Newcastle
2024 NRL Round 18 Tips – This Week’s Tips
South Sydney by 6
Cronulla by 18
Broncos by 6
Warriors by 2
Melbourne by 10
Manly by 8
Roosters by 20
Canberra by 4
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.
Plus our famed barely interesting stats all in the one place for this week of fewer games.
South Sydney have won seven of the last eight v Parramatta.
South Sydney have won both Thursday clashes v Parramatta too.
Parramatta have also lost their last four home games v Rabbitohs.
Parramatta have at least won their last two Thursday games.
South Sydney have lost all three Thursday games this season.
South Sydney have won four in a row and thanks to two byes lead the last six game form.
Cronulla have lost four of their last five games. Gold Coast have won more games than the Sharks over the same period.
Cronulla have won nine in a row v Gold Coast.
Cronulla have also won the only Friday game v Gold Coast.
Cronulla have won their last four home games on a Friday and 13 of the last 15.
Cronulla have won four games in a row on Friday v Queensland sides.
Gold Coast have lost nine in a row on a Friday and eight of their last nine away from home on a Friday.
Gold Coast have lost 13 of their last 15 away games v Sydney sides…but…the Titans have won seven of their last nine away games v Sydney teams on a Friday. This is their first Friday game for the season.
Gold Coast have lost all six games this year v teams from NSW.
Penrith have won seven of their last eight games v Brisbane.
But…Brisbane have won four of the last five games v Penrith on a Friday.
And…Brisbane have won six of the last seven games v Penrith at Suncorp Stadium on a Friday. But all of those games were before 2020.
Broncos have lost seven of their last nine at Suncorp Stadium on a Friday v Sydney teams.
Broncos have lost four of their last five at home to Sydney teams on any day.
Penrith have won only three of their last six games.
Penrith have also lost their last two games v Qld opposition on a Friday.
Penrith have also lost three of their last five away games on a Friday.
Penrith have won 13 of their last 15 at Suncorp Stadium since 2020.
Bulldogs are still the only team with a 100% record this season at home.
Warriors have won six straight v Bulldogs.
The Warriors have an impressive W12 L2 record v Bulldogs on a Saturday including all three Saturday clashes at the Olympic Stadium.
The only loss for the Bulldogs at the Sydney Olympic Stadium this season was against the Rabbitohs on Good Friday as the away team.
Warriors have won their last three at the Sydney Olympic Stadium.
Melbourne have won six in a row v Tigers and four in a row on a Saturday.
Tigers have won three in a row at Leichhardt and all of those games were on a Saturday.
Since 2020 Melbourne have won eight of their last nine on a Saturday away to Sydney clubs.
North Queensland have lost their last four home games v Manly. Three of those games have been on a Saturday.
North Queensland have also lost four of their last five at home on a Saturday.
Manly have won just one game away from home this season.
Manly have won four games away from home on a Saturday of their last 16 matches…but…they have won six straight away games v Qld opposition on a Saturday.
Roosters have won 13 of the last 14 games v Dragons not in April. They did lose the most recent game in that run last season though.
But they have also won ten straight v Dragons at the Sydney Football Stadium outside of Anzac Day clashes.
Roosters have also won five in a row v Dragons on a Sunday.
Roosters have won only five of their last 13 matches on a Sunday.
Dragons have won only one of their last nine away games on a Sunday.
Dragons have won only three of their last 13 at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Canberra have lost four of their last six home games v Newcastle.
Canberra have only won one of their last four home games v anyone.
Canberra have lost five of their last six on a Sunday v teams from NSW.
Newcastle have lost four out of their last six on a Sunday.
2024 NRL Round 18 Helpful Betting Stuff
Here’s a few betting things to enhance your tipping.
SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JUNE 30: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, leads Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 30, 2024 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Andy Hone/LAT Images)
The second race of the triple header has been run and won by George Russell who took advantage of a late race clash for the lead between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Talking of The Clash and Rocking the Casbah, here is our 2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2024 Austrian Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the 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 – Saturday’s Sprint Race saw Max Verstappen take out the win, but it wasn’t without pressure from McLarens who are a clear second best right now. Lando Norris even had the audacity to overtake Max Verstappen for the lead only to throw it away not long after and lost second place to teammate Oscar Piastri in the process. That’s how they finished. Mercedes and Ferraris filled positions 4 to 7 with Sergio grabbing the final sprint point, in an otherwise pointless effort.
Onto Race Day and it is hot and windy. Which probably doesn’t suit any car in particular, except maybe the car that is out a mile in front. That car might be Max Verstappen who took another pole position from Lando Norris and should have been Oscar Piastri up there too, but he had his time harshly deleted for track limits, despite being on the corner with the new gravel traps. Piastri starts from seventh, which is disappointing, but still better than Perez. Guanyu Zhou starts from pitlane.
Note to organisers of other races, Austria does national anthems best. An electric guitar-heavy version followed up by Queen’s We Will Rock You. Standard set for 2024 and beyond.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM LEC PIA PER HUL OCO
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen flies from pole and leads into the uphill turn one and finds enough time to chop Lando Norris. This drops him closer to the Mercedes behind while Max disappears. Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc appear to touch at turn one, and they race each other for most of the first lap and the Ferrari pits for a broken front wing but no damage for Piastri. The Australian looks more at fault than Leclerc. The rest of the field behave themselves. Daniel Ricciardo loses a place at the start, continuing his record of not gaining a place at the start this season.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS HAM SAI PER PIA OCO HUL MAG
Lap 3 – The Mercedes battle it out and Hamilton takes third position at turn three, only for George Russell to take the place back a corner later. Maybe it was sabotage. Maybe George Russell is better.
Lap 6 – Replays time as the cameras show Sergio Perez running Oscar Piastri off the track but not sure what the stewards have thought of that yet. What the replays have missed is Carlos Sainz getting in front of Lewis Hamilton. We presume a correction from the stewards enquiry from earlier in the race. Sainz v Hamilton continue to battle it out for fourth place for the next few laps.
Lap 9 – Front runners check and Max Verstappen leads by 3.3 seconds to Lando Norris who himself has almost three seconds to play with to George Russell. Sainz remains in front of Hamilton and Perez is now behind Oscar Piastri.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM PIA PER HUL OCO GAS
Lap 11 – Bored of being stuck in the midfield train starting at 8th placed Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo pit for tyres. Hulkenberg pits a lap later with Fernando Alonso. They all rejoin around the same spot, and ahead of Charles Leclerc who had to pit on lap one due to the touch with Piastri. A few laps later Williams’ Alex Albon overtakes the Ferrari, underlining the awful day out for Leclerc.
Lap 15 – The Haas drivers are continuing their battle for 14th/15th. This will be for the last of the points positions by race end, so worth fighting for.
Lap 22 – The front runners start their pitstops with Piastri inheriting the lead for a little while as he pits last of the group. He rejoins in 6th after eventually stopping for tyres.
Lap 25 – Lewis Hamilton receives a five second penalty for crossing the white line when heading into the pits. It’s harsh but fair. Double the fun for Alonso who receives a ten second slot for an incident with Guanyu Zhou. It won’t cost Alonso any points as he wasn’t getting any before the penalty.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM PIA PER HUL MAG RIC
Lap 29 – In welcome news for anyone who wants a non Red Bull win, the radio reveals gearbox troubles for Max Verstappen.
Lap 30 – TV Cameras show Charles Leclerc, who we had forgotten was in the race. May as well have, as he is still only 18th.
Lap 37 – More fun between the Alpines, as recently re-signed for 2025 Pierre Gasly is ran off the track by the recently told you’re-not-here-next-season Esteban Ocon at turn three. For 11th place. The battle continues for a little longer and ends in Gasly’s favour. Surely Ocon isn’t stupid enough to cause an accident here. He’s still got potential drives elsewhere for 2025 as it stands.
Lap 43 – The closest gap in the top seven is Oscar Piastri chasing Lewis Hamilton as is one and a half seconds away. Further ahead Max Verstappen leads by 6.5 seconds, Lando Norris leads Russell by 10 seconds. Further down the field and the midfield cars have started their second pit stops.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM PIA PER OCO TSU STR
Lap 46 – George Russell in the first of the front runners to make a second stop. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is really struggling on his tyres. But it’s not affecting his lead, which has increased since we last shared it above.
Lap 49 – Oscar Piastri overtakes Lewis Hamilton into turn three with a neat move. The McLarens are doing better on their tyres than others, or based on radio recordings their drivers just moan less.
Lap 52 – Max Verstappen and Lando Norris pit for a second time, and Oscar Piastri does so as well. The Red Bull pitstop is nearly four seconds slower than Lando Norris, so the McLaren of Norris is only three seconds behind, plus Verstappen locks up going into turn four and looks ragged. Game on at this point.
Lap 54 – Lando Norris closes to within a second and DRS is now available to him. He is right on the Red Bull’s tail as they approach some backmarkers to lap.
Lap 55 – Lando Norris thinks about a big dive down the inside of Max Verstappen into turn three but pulls out late. Norris complains about Verstappen moving under braking, but he should expect that. Lapped cars temporarily halt the action.
Lap 58 – Lando Norris is back within DRS range and again the McLaren thinks about a move but retreats. Probably wise. You can’t afford a half-hearted move against Max. But……Lando Norris receives the Black and White flag for track limits. Any more and he’ll receive a penalty.
Lap 59 – Lando Norris dives up the inside of turn three but runs wide and has to hand back the position. Problem is, it’s another off track excursion and could see him punished as per the black and white flag warning. The battle continues. But the Stewards are looking into Norris’ off track limits.
Lap 62 – Norris has the fastest car right now but can’t get in front. He probably needs to do it quickly if he can as he will probably get a time penalty for track limits. Further back his teammate is right on Sainz’s tail.
Lap 63 – Lando Norris gets in front of Max Verstappen at turn three and pushes Max wide. But Verstappen sticks his foot on the throttle and simply powers back past Norris and re-takes the lead.
Lap 64 – CONTACT!!!! Norris tries to go around the outside of Verstappen at turn three and they collide. It’s not massive but Verstappen has the right rear puncture and Norris has a broken front wing at least. And a puncture. And, and Norris receives a five second penalty for track limits as well. Norris drives probably too fast with a broken car. Unbelievable. So much action. George Russell takes the lead. Replays show that Max Verstappen moves to the left as Norris tries to go around the outside. So blame is slightly at the door of Red Bull. Pitstop drops Max Verstappen to fifth but Norris retires with too much damage. But…Max Verstappen gets a ten second penalty for the accident.
Lap 65 – Oscar Piastri drives around the outside of Carlos Sainz and takes what is now second place. Piastri is only three seconds behind George Russell. A debut race win is there for the taking.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED AND ENDS
ORDER – RUS PIA SAI HAM VER HUL PER MAG RIC GAS
Lap 68 – Just over three laps to go and George Russell in 2.6 seconds ahead of Piastri, so that debut win will have to wait for now you’d think. Some big points coming the way of Haas in 6th and 8th, and some cheer for Daniel Ricciardo in 9th.
Lap 70 – Two laps left and the gap between Russell and Piastri is two seconds. Closer but still not enough.
FINAL LAP – George Russell crosses the line to win the Austrian Grand Prix, a little bit lucky but was quick enough and in the right place to take advantage. Oscar Piastri tried hard and was under two seconds behind when the race ended. Carlos Sainz rounds out the podium. Max Verstappen finishes fifth on the road and keeps the place despite the penalty. Nico Hulkenberg keeps Sergio Perez behind him and seals sixth.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – RUS PIA SAI HAM VER HUL PER MAG RIC GAS
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. 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.
THE GREAT-EST – GEORGE RUSSELL
A race win he was likely not expecting. But he continues to outshine his illustrious teammate and put himself in the right place to take advantage.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
OSCAR PIASTRI – Second place in the Sprint Race, second in the proper race, but it is a case of what could have been after he was penalised for track limits in qualifying. No doubt he would have been at least third and therefore had an easier race. As it was he impressed enough and grabbed second place after the Verstappen-Norris crash. But a case of what could have been if not for that qualifying penalty…..
NICO HULKENBERG – Sixth place is a great reward for The Hulk.
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – A convenient bunch of points as other drivers are whispered to be in Haas’ plans for 2025.
DANIEL RICCIARDO – Maybe not career savings, but possibly career extending. What looked like a Silverstone exit might be a summer break exit now with this 9th place. Ahead of his team mate in qualifying and race. But he needs more. We need more. Everyone except Jacques Villeneuve needs more.
THE GRAPE-EST – CHARLES LECLERC
Seventh in the Sprint race, sixth in qualifying, a small clash with Oscar Piastri at the first corner of the real race sees him drop to the back of the field, and he made little progress throughout the early stages but did improve to finish 11th. But that’s pretty weak in a car that’s miles better than the midfield. It was long ago he won the Monaco GP in dominant style and was second in the Championship. Now he’s a Perez levels.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
SERGIO PEREZ – Another underwhelming weekend. It’s easy to pick on him, but with his teammate cruising so far in front, Perez’s efforts in the second car are really wasting time. It will end up costing Red Bull the Constructors title. He ended up 17 seconds behind his team mate who had a crash, extra pitstop, slow second pit stop, and a ten second penalty.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Went from cruising to win, to a bad pitstop putting him under massive pressure, then being under massive attack (not the band) from Norris which ultimately leads to contact and he drops to fifth as a result. For this race it is a big loss of points, but the longer term view is he isn’t going to get things his way from here on. Blamed for the incident too.
LANDO NORRIS – Another weekend of lost opportunity. Should have won the Sprint Race and made a mistake which saw him lose second place to his team mate. Was fast in the second half of the race and pressured Verstappen for the lead, but ultimately made contact and retired from the race with damage.
FERNANDO ALONSO – Set fastest lap but must be wondering where all that Aston Martin pace has gone. Not to Lance Stroll either.
SAUBER – Slow as.
LOGAN SARGEANT – Spent most of the race in last position and is lucky the Mercedes protege Antonelli isn’t going better in F2.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, 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.
ON TRACK ACTION – 8 / 10
There’s enough racing and overtaking throughout the field to keep one awake. It’s a good track for it. But getting an on track genuine battle for first is something to treasure, and one that ends in a clash is too good.
ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5
The late race battle turns into contact and allows a surprise win for George Russell.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5
The season importance note here is that McLaren’s pace makes them at least the second fastest car, if not nudging Red Bull. With over half a season to go, there’s a great base for a welcome Championship challenge. Plus the clash between Norris and Verstappen might spice things up to go along with the closeness in teams.
ENDING 10 / 10
The battle for first was good enough, but then when they clashed it sealed the deal for a ten.
OVERALL RATING 27 / 30
The race of the season so far, but will the fallout lead to even better races to come. We hope so.
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
The hills will be alive this weekend with the sound of Formula 1 as the Austrian Grand Prix takes place this weekend. Talking of hills and music, our 2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Preview will give you a bit of everything without promising anything ahead of the upcoming big weekend of F1 that won’t be flat or sharp.
The Gurgler’s 2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Preview brings some thoughts on the race itself, a few bold predictions here and there, a more than a few barely interesting stats.
Essentially a quick summary of what a casual F1 fan needs in the shortest possible time for your convenience.
By I, User:HumanBodyPiloter5, created this SVG map as a derivative work based on the satellite image of the Spielberg circuit released by w:en:Planet Labs under CC-BY-SA 4.0 in 2018 – Released under CC-BY-SA-4.0 by Planet Labs; image also available on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107010885
The track almost looks like a Kangaroo sitting down for a rest, if you squint your eyes, which makes sense given this track is one that jumps up and down with a lot of undulation.
It is a track where stuff usually happens, and hopefully with a few minor tweaks we can eliminate the track limits issue which has plagued previous races here, where we find out via Fax two days later who has got a penalty or not.
But there’s plenty on offer for such a short track – fast corners, difficult corners, genuine overtaking places. So it is a Grand Prix we look forward to.
2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Preview – Race Rating
The Gurgler does like to use some obscure drivers in our Race previews and report, so who better to use than Teo Fabi to determine a race rating system.
So before each race we give a rating out of ten for four key category that are loosely based on each letter of Teo Fabi’s surname. Don’t know who Teo Fabi is, you should.
FAST? 7/10 – It’s decently fast with only a couple of slow corners which are used for exchanging position. The last couple of corners are especially fun to watch.
ACTION? 9/10 – Always action. The Austrian GP always seems to have something happening, even at the front with late race moves for victory in the past. And there’s a sprint race too.
BIG HISTORY? – 6/10 – The track in its various forms and names has been around for a while, but on and off. The list of historic winners below shows some great names and World Champions have won here. Plus the occasional historic moment – like when the crowd booed Ferrari in the early 2000’s when Rubens Barichello, who had completely outclassed Michael Schumacher all weekend, was ordered to move over and let Schumacher win for the Championship. Barrichello waited until the final corner, he had a point, it was only Race 5.
INCLEMENT WEATHER? – 9/10The Weather Channel says strong 78% chance of Thunderstorms later in the day. What more do you need.
RACE RATING 78% – Stand by, it could be a wet race on a track that has action in the dry.
2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Preview – Stats
Want to know if your favourite driver for this weekend is a master of the track or the track is a master of them? Here then are some barely interesting facts and stats.
These visuals go back to 2000 to cover the current drivers, thanks to Fernando Alonso. The all time history goes back to 1950.
7th is the lowest grid slot for a win.
Valtteri Bottas has a good history here in a Mercedes, so maybe he gets a chance to push the Kick Sauber further up the grid.
Fernando Alonso is not strong at this track.
DRIVER GRID POSITION vs RACE RESULT – CURRENT DRIVERS
TEAM GRID POSITION vs RACE RESULT
HISTORIC DRIVER RESULTS – AUSTRIAN GP
HISTORIC DRIVER RESULTS – STYRIAN GP
The Austrian GP doubled up during Covid as the Styrian GP, so here are those extra results.
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane.
HISTORIC TEAM RESULTS
OVERALL GRID POSITION INTO RACE RESULT
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane. Results from 2000.
It might be the last race for a few drivers.
Max Verstappen will take pole and win easy.
McLaren will cover the rest of the podium.
Ferrari will struggle in qualifying which will lead to more intra team tension in the race as they go close to colliding at turn three on lap one.
Both Aston Martin out in Q1.
Both RBs in for Q3.
Logan Sargeant will end up in the gravel trap during the race.
Here are The Gurgler’s 2024 Spanish Grand Prix Ratings – our way of rating the performances of the track which usually disappoints but was a decent enough race this season. And we might even have a title race.
Our G-Power Rankings goes a little bit deeper than just points scored on the Sunday and has a slightly cooler name than most. We take on board Free Practice, Qualifying, performance in relation to teammate, fastest lap, and a few more stats that are attempting to highlight a driver outperforming the car and/or thrashing their teammate.
Plus, we have a range of stats and barely interesting facts from the 2024 F1 Season so far.
Here are the current overall standings for our Driver of the Year winner – the Martini Medal. Named in honour of one of F1’s most unsung heroes – Pierluigi Martini of Minardi fame.
We have the overall scores as they stand, plus a visual which shows the flow of each driver’s position throughout the season, plus a few points of interest below.
Here is the breakdown of the Driver of the Year points from the most recent race and the season so far. Remembering our ratings go across a whole weekend, so the race winner who may not have had a great qualifying or sprint race may not come out on top.
LATEST RACE RATINGS
DRIVER OF THE SEASON UPDATE
2024 Spanish Grand Prix Ratings – Teams
This is essentially using the same drivers stats but in reverse for the worst score, but taking out anything that is a H2H between the drivers.
And our annual award focuses on the other end of the grid, highlighting the worst team of the season.
Of course, the worst team of the season award needs to be named after the worst F1 team of all time. And if you want to fund out more about Andrea Moda, follow this link.
LATEST RACE RATINGS
BEST OF 2024 STATS AND DRIVER OF THE YEAR
Refer to the below to check out the teams progress in qualifying from 2023 and chart the progress of McLaren in particular. We split the Red Bulls because one driver often isn’t a fair indication of the car’s pace.
CURRENT TOP FOUR TEAMS GAP TO POLE FROM
QUALIFYING FROM ROUND 7
If you think Sergio Perez has underwhelmed recently you are right, he is towards the bottom when looking at qualifying from Round 7 onwards. It also shows Lando Norris on top for average grid position too, underlining the McLaren surge.
He’s down 8-2 in qualifying and 6-3 in the race, but he has closed the gap since Round 7 with the average grid position with one (but down) to Yuki Tsunoda, but the Australian is actually ahead for average % from pole (time-wise). But prior to that it is ugly, and as good as Yuki Tsunoda has been this season, it’s hardly form that is blowing anyone away, except for Jacques Villeneuve for other reasons. But let’s at some other stats.
It’s bad enough when your average qualifying position for the season is 13.2 (compared to Tsunoda 10.7) but then Ricciardo has bot yet managed to gain a place on the first lap in any race this season. Even excluding Japan where he never completed the first lap after reaching Tangletown with Albon, Ricciardo has lost places in five of the other nine races and made zero places in the others. Only Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris have failed to gain on lap one this season and they have the luxury of lofty grid positions and better cars.
In qualifying, when both drivers are part of the three session, Yuki Tsunoda leads 14-4. Fastest Lap is 5-3 to Tsunoda and Free Practice sessions are heavily weighted towards the Japanese driver.
Daniel Ricciardo is far from the worst driver in F1, and shouldn’t be the first driver sacked in 2024, that should be Logan Sargeant and/or Sergio Perez, but you know what you’re getting into with Red Bull, and his own arrival in F1 last season came via the ending of someone else’s career. So in this the most dangerous of sports, with the most dangerous of teams, you live by the sword and die by the sword, and Ricciardo has been too blunt so far in 2024.
DRIVER 2024 H2H RECORD
Beating your team mate in F1 is very important, which is why we keep an eye on the H2H stats through the season.
New for this week is the overall H2H. Which means the H2H from every session – FP and Qualifying, plus who set a faster Fastest Lap and two points for beating the team mate in the race. Note: both have to feature in same Q session for H2H point.
2024 F1 QUALIFYING STATS
Here our qualifying analysis covers just about everything we could find on qualifying.
QUALIFYING SUMMARY
QUALIFYING GRID SLOT TO % FROM POLE
QUALIFYING COMPARISON FROM 2023 SEASON to 2024 SEASON
QUALIFYING COMPARISON FROM 2023 SPANISH GP to 2024 SPANISH GP
QUALIFYING COMPARISON IN 2024 BY TRACK TYPE
NEW – TEAM AVERAGE GAP TO POLE BY ROUND
FIRST LAP POSITION + GRID TO RACE RESULT GAINS
Races can’t be won or lost at the first corner, well actually they can be lost at the first corner, and a good one can make all the difference. Unless you drive a Red Bull, then it doesn’t really matter.
So here are the stats on the lightning fast starters and the slow pokes.
FREE PRACTICE
Some say Free Practice is a giant waste of time, and they are probably right. Regardless here is the average position for each drivers in Free Practice this season. Each round an average of all the sessions.
FASTEST LAP
Fastest lap is only worth one point (inside the top ten) and is probably not that interesting, but still, have a visual for this season so far.
Current Race Power Rankings in Detail
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings – Points Explanation
Here’s how the points work this season. Essentially the perfect race (Win from Pole, Fastest Lap, thrash team mate, best in race etc) should amount to the perfect 100 points.
FIRST LAP GAINS +0.5pts per position gained -0.5pts per position lost.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS – 25pts to 1pt as per World Championship – Sprint Race Points added.
BEAT TEAM MATE (RACE) – 10pts (if both finish or other driver got self inflicted DNF)
FASTEST LAP – 5pts – 1pt for top five drivers.
GRID POSITION TO RACE POSITION – formula +/- relative finish to grid
BEST OF THE REST (RACE) – 5pts to 1pt – top five non Mercedes-Red Bull drivers
QUALIFYING – 20pts to 1pt – Grid Position 1 to 20.
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) – 5pts
BEST OF THE REST (QUALIFYING) – 5pts to 1pt – top five non Mercedes-Red Bull drivers
GREAT/GRAPE – 5pts Great 2pts Honourable Mention -2Pts Dishonourable Mention -5Pts Grape
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) Time Gap – Formula for % beaten team mate by
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) Position – 0.5 Pts for every position team mate is beaten by. 0 points for second car.
FREE PRACTICE HERO – 10Pts to 1Pt – Average Position across all three practice sessions.
WIN FROM POLE – Bonus 5 Points
WIN FROM POLE WITH FASTEST LAP – Bonus 10 Points
DNF Not Driver or Team Fault Minus 2 Points
DNF CAUSED BY DRIVER/TEAM INCOMPETENCE Minus 5 Points
SPRINT RACE POINTS – Points 8 to 1 as handed out in the sprint race.
SPRINT RACE CHANGE – 0.5 Points per change in end position to starting position.
SPRINT RACE QUAL – Points 8 to 1 as handed out in the order of qualifying 1st to 8th.
State of Origin Game Two – NSW v Queensland – – NSW 38 Queensland 18. The one-minute match report – giving you the bare minimum State of Origin round up in the bare minimum of time.
The NSW Blues have produced one of the best halves of rugby league seen at Origin level to dominate the second game of the series at the MCG winning 38-18 after leading 34-0 at half time.
It took ten minutes for the Blues to open the scoring through a fired-up Liam Martin, but that was after a relentless five or more minutes of constant pressure on the Queensland line. Then the floodgates opened as NSW turned on the magic to score another five tries to leave a breathless Queensland staring at defeat.
The two wingers Brian To’o and Zac Lomax helped themselves to two tries each between the 17th minute and half time, with the returning Latrell Mitchell scoring as well. Mitchell Moses was the conductor in a lot of the tries, and a lot of it was slick work from NSW, but Queensland made them look very good.
The second half saw Queensland win 18-4, and the Maroons did play better than their first half effort, but the Blues were also up 34-0 and cruising.
Jeremiah Nanai opened the Queensland scoring in the 53rd minute and five minutes later Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow continued his amazing try scoring record at Origin level with another one. A hint of comeback was extinguished in the 61st minute when Dyland Edwards score. Murray Taulagi scored the final try of the night in the 68th minute.
The second half boiled over after referee Ashley Klown lost a little bit of control, he eventually sent a player from each side to the bin after a big melee following a little post-mistake rough housing. The sin bins were harsh, and they could have sent a few more to the sin bins if it were NRL. The did settle down after the big melee. MAybe the sin bins worked.
Overall, it was as dominant performance as you will see from one side, and the Blues have certainly done that on occasion in recent seasons. But can they back it up with a worse record for Game Three and Game Two, and the match is being played in Brisbane. Plus Queensland’s rock solid history of winning the series after winning Game One.
There were so many great performances in State of Origin Game Two but Mitchell Moses would be top of the list. Not far behind were Angus Crichton and Cameron Murray, the Rabbitohs captain playing just one game before Origin selection. Liam Martin was feisty and good, and his Penrith half team mate continued his good run of form.
Brian To’o was also as hard working as ever, much like Dylan Edwards who made up for an error or two with his usual reliability.
For Queensland Tom Dearden impressed with his big efforts all over the ground. It might be unfair to say that no one else played good enough for mention, but it is probably true.
Courtesy of nrl.com
It’s 9 wins to 6 at neutral venues for NSW over Queensland but it is 7-1 for wins at a neutral ground when it is Game Two.
It’s 5-1 to NSW at the MCG now.
NSW lead the H2H 26-18 for Game Two wins.
NSW lead the H2H 21-7 for Game Two wins for games not in Qld.
Of NSW’s last nine wins at Origin, six of them have been Game Two.
NSW have outscored Queensland by 186 – 52 for Game Two since 2019.
The Blues have also won six of the last seven Game Twos.
For the 13 times that the State of Origin series has seen Qld win the first game and NSW win the second – the Game Three record is Qld 9 NSW 3 Draw 1.
18 points is the sixth most common number of points scored by the losing side (11 times), The most common is six points (21 Times).
It’s time for weekly Rugby League rant of The Gurgler’s angry man Buzz equivalent known only as the NRL Donkey, who provides his NRL Round 17 Expert Tips as well as offers an alternative, slightly unhinged view full of sass of the world of rugby league and beyond for another week.
The NRL Donkey’s NRL Round 17 Expert Tips and Weekly Rant
So Round 16 of the NRL last weekend saw the bottom team Gold Coast Titans, who hadn’t won a Saturday game at home for a million years, and who were the minority cheer squad at their own home ground, thrash a team who finished in the top four just the season before. Crazy, but did you notice the scoreline….66-6. Three sixes eh? Now I’m not saying that Beelzebub was involved, but it was certainly convenient as the only 66-6 win to any team in the post 1998 NRL history is a team where there’s a nightclub called Sin City in the town. Probably frequented by the players themselves or their groupies, and the occasional shifty person. But then again I am wondering what the Devil has put aside for me. For me. For meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Head banging guitar solo aside, is it also convenient that this crazy scoreline and result came in the same week as the Opposition leader Peter Dutton unveiled his team’s plans for Nuclear energy. We may have to get used to it too as the newspapers keep telling us that everyone hates Albo, despite pledges to fix Leichhardt Oval. Maybe out of spite Leichhardt Oval will also be added to the future Nuclear Power sites by Dutton and co. Which wouldn’t be nice and would really annoy the Greens.
Maybe before Sunday the Wests Tigers would have offered up Campbelltown for a nuclear power station, given the Tigers woeful record at their home ground, but after breaking their Campbelltown hoodoo, and their Canberra Raiders hoodoo, and their Sunday hoodoo in one afternoon with a most magnificent victory, we’d say they will pass now. As they should. Campbelltown doesn’t sound as fun to say as Tarong anyway.
Continuing on the power debate, this writer has said it many times before, in Letters to the Editor of many Quest Community newspapers and in a song as part of a failed bid to represent Georgia at the Eurovision song contest in 2021, that Rugby League itself could solve the Australian energy crisis.
Imagine installing a turbine inside the Melbourne Storm coaching box every week. It would provide instant power for up to 1.5 million hard-working Australians for a week on just one Melbourne Storm loss. Instead of H Bombs we call it the F-Bomb power. The side effect would be millions tuning into the NRL to watch the Storm games every weekend to see if they’re going to get cheaper power this week.
We could probably add Ricky Stuart into the mix by replacing some of the microphones at his press conferences with Wind Turbines. Throw in the hydro power from a Wayne Bennett death stare and somehow harnessing the negative energy at the NRL Bunker into clean energy and you have gone a long way to solving the energy crisis and getting Australia even closer to emission targets. So right now, I am calling for a high-level Think Tank featuring two representatives from each NRL club, at least four former NRL referees including Mogsheen Jagwat, plus a dozen of the best from the CSIRO, and for good measure we’d like to hear the thoughts of the ever-electric Warwick Capper too.
Talking of Warwick Capper, the former Gold Coast mayoral candidate brings us nicely back to the Gold Coast itself, where we hoped you have enjoyed your flight and take in all the wonderful things the Gold Coast has to offer. If Ripley’s Believe It Or Not was still around, and I’m not saying it isn’t, I just can’t be bothered googling it, the Titans 66-6 win would and should be played there on a continuous loop until the end of the season. By which time they’ve probably sacked another coach. Maybe they will install Mayor Tom Tate. Or another former Mayoral candidate. It’s the Gold Coast, anything can happen.
The NRL Donkey’s NRL Round 17 Expert Tips
BULLDOGS v CRONULLA
Looks like State of Origin period has stuffed two teams that wear light blue jerseys, as Cronulla have lost three of their last four as their late season choke arrives a few months early. I hope rugby league’s nicest man Nicho Hynes won’t be blamed for everything. Meanwhile Bulldogs are top four contenders and unbeaten at home this season.
Bulldogs by 10
WARRIORS v BRISBANE
So how will the Warriors react to being beaten 66-6 by the Gold Coast. Without star halfback Shaun Johnson. Although he played last weekend and that didn’t work out. Meanwhile the Broncos have one of the most expensive reserves list in NRL history with Reece Walsh, Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan all named outside the top 17. All I know is none of them better stop “The Beast” aka Xavier Willison making a deserved rare start.
Warriors by 12
NEWCASTLE v PARRAMATTA
Parramatta dropped to last despite picking up an easy two points for the bye last weekend. It’s Choose Your Own Adventure for Parramatta’s stats coming into this game. The Eels have won six in a row v Newcastle but have lost all six away games this season. Does history beat current, or do Parramatta just suck so who cares. Newcastle field their 30th different spine for the 2024 season with UK import making his debut at five eighth.
Newcastle by 2
MELBOURNE v CANBERRA
Canberra have a really, really good record in Melbourne v the Storm in recent seasons, winning the last four games there on a Saturday. The problem is they were really, really bad against the Tigers last weekend. Local glaziers are on stand by and The Seismology Research Centre (SRC) have put on extra staff to cope with demands if the Storm make it five losses. In fact given the combination of rugby league’s angriest coaches, if the NRL Bunker has a really bad day we might have to warn Western Australia to watch out for earthquakes too.
Melbourne by 6
DRAGONS v DOLPHINS
With South Sydney having the bye this weekend supercoach Wayne Bennett only needs to prepare one game this weekend. Coincidentally against another side Bennett has coached. Could he coach three teams at once, for sure. Meanwhile the Dragons inconsistency is down to either too much or not enough. Dolphins fans will be hoping the same Dargons team that got pantsed 38-blot earlier in the season is the one who shows up.
Dolphins by 8
PENRITH v NORTH QLD
Not sure why this game has zero appeal. But it does. Penrith grind out low scoring victory. Move on.
Penrith by 6
ROOSTERS v TIGERS
Like last weekend there’s a bunch of stats against the Tigers winning this weekend – Roosters have won the last seven games v Wests Tigers and 17 of the last 18 + Roosters have won nine in a row on a Sunday v Tigers too + It’s also 11 home games in a row v Tigers. With the combined margin of the last three being 146-24 + Wests Tigers have won one of their last 14 away games + none of their last nine on a Sunday. And again only a complete loon would tip them to win.
Another weekend of NRL action featuring a flogging that no one saw coming. But which players were the best of the best you ask? We’ll let the stats do the talking and separate the Wheat/Chaff to present the NRL Round 16 Team of the Week & Player Stats.
First we have our Team of the Week, which takes some of the key player stats from the weekend and using various scoring methods come up with the best players in their positions from the latest round of the NRL.
Then there’s additional player stats from this weekend and some bite sized points of interest.
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 also include the best four interchange players of the week. Seeing who has provided maximum impact from the bench.
Plus when we can be bothered we throw in the players we thought were great but the stats did not with Gurgler’s Choice.
2024 NRL Team of the Season…so far
Here is the above but for all rounds.
2024 NRL Round 16 Player Stats
Want to see which players topped the key stats for the latest round of the NRL this weekend?
2024 NRL Season Player Stats…so far.
Same as the above stats, but this is for the 2024 season.
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.
Want more Player Stats? Neeeeed more NRL data and stuff? Why not try our friends at Nothing But League for bite sized pieces of NRL Stats and more every day.
Want more NRL information than just the draw, results or the current ladder? Then you are in the right place and the right time with the home of Stats and Stuff via our 2024 NRL Round 16 Results Stats Summary for the weekend that was.
Each week we compile and keep up to date a wide range of stats from the latest weekend of NRL action plus the best 2024 NRL Season Stats to help you to the top of the tipping competition, land a few responsible winners or even make your Supercoach team better. And now with a match by match summary full of all the stats you need and/or want.
It’s all stats, and never Slats.
NRL Round 16 Results
Fri – Dolphins 24-30 Melbourne
Sat – Gold Coast 66-6 Warriors
Sat – Roosters 26-8 Bulldogs
Sat – South Sydney 14-0 Manly Warringah
Sun – Wests Tigers 48-24 Canberra
NRL Round 16 Stats Season Summary
Some weekly and season stats and additional interesting visuals for the weekend that was and the season that is.
OVERALL LADDER AND FORM
WIN / LOSS RECORD BY HOME / OPPOSITION LADDER POSITION
Ladder position from previous round.
WIN / LOSS RECORD BY GEOGRAPHY / DAY / TIME
NRL Round 16 Stats Summary
NRL Round 16 Stats Summary – H2H Match by Match Stats and Stuff
All the games with all the stats you could ever want or need with added barely interesting stats to go with. Giving you a comprehensive wrap up of all that went on in the NRL on the weekend.
Melbourne have won 11 of their 13 matches on a Friday at Suncorp Stadium.
The last four losses for the Dolphins have been by six points or less.
The Storm have won 25 of their last 27 games on a Friday v Qld opposition. Plus 14 of their last 15 away on a Friday v Qld opposition. Finally 35 of their last 39 v Qld sides on any day.
Dolphins have lost all four games at Suncorp Stadium on a Friday.
The Titans’ 66 points beats their previous best high score by 22 points.
It also beats the Titans’ previous best margin by 22 points.
It was the Titans’ first win on a Saturday for 14 games and the first home win on a Saturday for 11 games.
It was the third time since 2021 the Warriors have conceded 60 points or more.
Gold Coast have now won five of the last six against the Warriors.
The Bulldogs have just one win away from home this season. It’s actually one win away from their last 12 games.
Bulldogs have lost six of their last seven away to Sydney clubs on a Saturday. They didn’t pass eight points scored in all six of those losses. In fact those six scores don’t add up the total scored with their only win in that sequence.
That’s now five wins in a row for the Roosters at Gosford.
If you exclude Penrith, Roosters have won 21/24 v Sydney teams at home since 2020.
Souths have won eight of their last nine v Manly.
It is eight home wins in a row for Souths over Manly with the last loss coming in 2017. It’s five in a row at home on a Saturday v Manly with a last loss in 2009.
Manly’s away record this season is now W1 D1 L5.
Manly have won just two of their last 16 at the Sydney Olympic Stadium.
It was only the sixth time since 1998 that Manly have been kept scoreless.
South Sydney have kept a team scoreless six times since 2020.
The Tigers win broke a run of ten straight losses in Campbelltown.
The win was the Tiger’s second in 23 games on a Sunday.
Canberra have now lost five in a row away on a Sunday.
Wests Tigers have now conceded 24 points exactly in their last three Sunday games.
NRL Round 16 Bye Summary
A quick look into how each team is doing after the bye rounds this season.
