NRL Contenders after Rd 11 - Before Origin

Movements.

Well, there are only 2 LOCKS left after Rd 11, with the Roosters dropping to PROB status. Knights have moved up from MAYBE to PROB status.

LOCKS (all 3 characteristics)

RABBITS
MELBOURNE

PROBS (2 characteristics)

ROOSTERS
KNIGHTS!!!

MAYBE (1 characteristic)

SEA EAGLES

But its worse if I use my Z-score methodogy. Based on the z-score, only 3 teams can win it. RABBITS, STORM and ROOSTERS. The rest are gonnnnnnneeeeeeeeeee

NRL Contendors - After Rd 10

Raiders have dropped from a LOCK to MAYBE status.


Paramatta have dropped out of Contention.


So we have LOCKS


RABBITS
STORM
ROOSTERS


and MAYBES


RAIDERS
SEA - EAGLES
KNIGHTS.

NRL Contenders for Finals - Update after Round 9

Looking at the teams for the finals, we have a new entrant! Yes, the mighty Newcastle knights have shown up on the grid for the first time, due to their defence. Yes, their points per game has dropped under he magic 18 point mark, so they have entered "MAYBE" territory.


Other than that, the usual suspects are there. Storm and Raiders have been included in the LOCK selections, Eels and Manly have faded from PROBABLE into MAYBE.




LOCKS




1 ROOSTERS
2 RABBITS
3 STORM
4 RAIDERS




MAYBES




5 MANLY
6 EELS
7 KNIGHTS

Guitar Playing - Status Updates

Played my first clear E and A Major chords last night. Pretty happy!

Couple of tips I have noticed since playing for a week.

1. Trimming your nails really short on the fret hand helps a lot
2. I think building the hand strength/flexibility in the fret hand is really key to guitar playing
3. Need to tune the guitar every day.

So for those trying to learn, I had my first clear chords after playing every night (30 mins) for around 5 days. So don't be discouraged if you are muting the strings a lot initially. I think it takes a while to build that fret hand strength and flexibility., especially if you don't have a lot of natural strength in your left hand.

Guitar Playing - Beginning

I have standard to teach myself how to play the guitar, so I figured I would use my blog to chart my experiences in the case someone else can learn from my experiences.

Have spent the last 2 nights having a go. My aim is to eventually play "Play it again" by Luke Bryan. I have developed a love of country music from some where in the past 3 weeks. Bizarre

Anyway, I have dusted off my guitar which has been in storage for around 15 years. So not in tune.

I downloaded the Fender Tuning app which is remarkably good at tuning guitars. My guitar is now in tune. Would definitely recommend that as a tuning tool.

Also bought myself a guitar pick. $1. No dramas.

I have started learning my first 2 chords..the Open G chord and the Open C chord. I seem to get the G chord more than the C one, which seems a  stretch on my fingers. I don't think I have my fingering positions quite right as my C chord seems to muffle a couple of the strings.

I think I am using the pads on my fingers rather than the points. Will try that tonight to see if I can get a better sound.

Have also tried the Fender Play videos on Youtube. Not sure about them to be honest as I prefer the Fret diagrams and the Fender Play stuff doesn't see to spend a lot of time on them.

NRL Season 2019 - Contenders for finals

Well, its the end of Round 8 so we should be getting a look at who are the top contenders.

After doing some stats analysis on the past 10 seasons, averages and 95% confidence levels, I have come up with the following characteristics of finals teams (Money Ball like)

1. Win record >= 60.76%
2. For points being >=21.86/game
3. Against points being <=18.20/game

Only 3 teams qualify at this stage (so these are the Locked in teams)

Roosters
Rabbits
Eels

So those teams are guaranteed to make the finals for mine

Then we have the Probable Teams (who have 2 of the characteristics)

Raiders
Storm
Manly

The rest are going to struggle for mine, even if they make the finals. So based on that, I think the Eels and Souths are really good value at $5 to win the comp.