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No I didn't. Just like every other team (including Penrith) we weren't up every week, but that doesn't mean we were coasting.
A team's 'best' is an outlier; statistically insignificant. In any given game a team's performance is impacted by the form, fitness and availability of its own players, as well as the overall performance of the opposition. This is why only looking at a team's biggest win gives a false impression of its quality. The most granular (and statistically significant) measure is points differential over a full season, and in this area we were overshadowed by many teams. Four teams scored slightly more points than we did, but seven conceded fewer, and five of those conceded significantly fewer points. Over the largest sample of data (24 games) we were outplayed by five other teams, and Souths were about as good as we were. Only Canberra and the bottom eight sides performed worse.
The problem is that understanding would require most of these merkins to take an introductory statistics course, like what is required for uni merkins straight out of high school. Many others surely attended such a course, but it was so long ago that they've dumped it.
I compiled 25 years of data on For and Against and posted it on here. What Lucablight is suggesting is possible but what he doesn’t appear to understand is that even a cursory evaluation of that data indicates it’s unlikely.
You absolutely stated that the reason for some of our poor performances was because we were waiting for the finals after the 2 point loss to Penrith in 2021. Go back and check the tapes. I know you place a lot of weight on the opinion of Phil Gould and he was one who tipped us to make the grand final. Alot of “experts” did including Paul Gallen and Benji Marshall. We didn’t overachieve. We deserved to be there and it would have been a huge disappointment if we hadn’t made it.
I definitely said we looked like a team waiting for the finals, but that described plenty of teams. Nobody is up every week, and that doesn’t mean they’re coasting. It’s probably fair to say the Sharks and Cowboys were better motivated in more games than the other top eight sides, but the Cowboys were the second best team all year, and unlucky on the day against us.
It would've been but it also was a huge disappointment for plenty of teams that didn't make the grand final, as it is every year. You do realise only two teams can make it, despite plenty each year being good enough? If you've got five or six teams good enough to play in the grand final most of them will miss out. You don't need to be a mathemagician to figure that one out.
Or defence against them was an absolute stand out. I can’t remember a performance as good since the night that we belted the shit out of the bears in the 1998 finals.
That 98 win was still one of my favourites of all time.
Me too merkin. I jizzed into my bonds during the game.
Of course they were good enough. They proved it all year. If we played that game another nine times they might’ve won seven of them.
Sounds like they had an off day, like we have so often.
Moses had a shocker with the boot, Cows with an off day?? I’d argue and say that we didn’t play at our best either. Our scramble won us that game which was all about heart and desperation. They win 7/10??? Source???
Simply their performance over 24 rounds, including against us in Darwin. Even including finals they proved they were a better team than us last year. A 4-point loss doesn't change much. If Moses had an off day so did plenty of their guys.
