Qualifying Finals Preview

Well I ended the regular season in average form, claiming 4 from 8 and a total of 113/192 or 59%. Pretty rubbish really, but none of that matters anymore as we move into a new competition and the business end of the season.

The interesting thing about the top 8 since the inception of the current format in 1999 (with 8 teams) is that there is always an upset in the first week but the minor premiers have never been knocked off. 2nd place has been upstaged three times in those 8 years but the third placed team has been the one upset the most, losing 5 out of 8, as shown below.

2006 - Dragons (6) defeat Broncos (3); 2005 - Storm (6) defeat Broncos (3); 2004 - Storm (6) defeat Broncos (3) & Cowboys (7) defeat Bulldogs(2); 2003 - Storm (5) defeat Raiders (4) & Warriors (6) defeat Bulldogs (3); 2002 - Dragons (7) defeat Knights (2); 2001 - Dragons (7) defeat Bulldogs (2); 2000 - Eels (7) defeat Roosters (2); 1999 - Bulldogs (5) defeat Roosters (4); Dragons (6) defeat Storm (3).

What does all this mean? Probably that we