NRL 2019 Contenders update - 3 teams clearly ahead

And after 21 games played we have

3 Locks (clearly the best this season)

Storm
Roosters
Raiders

Then we have 3 Probables

Manly (lacking Attack)
Rabbits (lacking Attack)
Eels (lacking Defence)

The rest are filler.

NRL Season 2019 - Most improved teams

Season is slowly coming to a close unfortunately, so its interesting to see the improvement within teams over the last year. Some surprises really.

I am using z-scores again to determine improvement. z score calculation is (Win% for team - Average Win% for league)/ (SD of Win% for League)

Comparing 2018 Rd 20 z-scores to 2019. Results below:-

So as you can see, the Eels, Sea-Eagles, Raiders, Storm and Cowboys have all had superior improvement (SD >0.5). Eels especially have had a stellar improvement...The two coaches (Brad Arthur for the Eels) and Des Hassler (Manly) should be fighting it out for Coach of the Year.

On the negative side, the Rabbits, Panthers, Sharks, Broncos, Titans Warriors and Dragons have all gone backwards substantially.<-0 .5="" and="" arriors="" barely="" be="" being="" booted="" bothering="" by="" dragons="" especially....after="" finals="" head="" kearney="" last="" making="" mcgregor="" office="" p="" ragons="" scorer="" should="" stat="" the="" this="" to="" year.="" year="">