NRL Form - By Position

Watched the movie "Moneyball" the other day. What a top movie. Anything that can make statistics interesting to the masses can only be a good thing.
Which led me to ask whether it was possible to do the same thing for Rugby League. So using a few metrics, in both attack and defensive areas, from the official nrl.com.au website, I have come up with the "GoatGoodness" ranking for all players. Here are my top 5 in each position based on form in the 2012 NRL season (after 13 rounds, 10 game career minimum)

Fullbacks (numbers in brakets are career games)
1. Brent Morris (St George - 120)
2. Josh Hoffman (Brisbane - 54)
3. Anthony Minichiello (Roosters - 239)
4. Billy Slater (Melbourne - 215)
5. Jared Hayne (Parramatta - 136)

Wingers
1. Daniel Vidot (St George - 56)
2. Justin O'Neill (Melbourne - 31) -Bolter! *(under 50 games)
3. Blake Ferguson (Canberra - 77)
4. Jason Nightingale (St George - 122)
5. Ken Sio (Parramatta - 12) - Bolter!

Centres
1. Matt Prior (St George -87)
2. Justin Hodges (Brisbane - 192)
3. Michael Jennings (Penrith - 113)
4. Kane Linnett (Cowboys - 34 ) - Bolter!
5. Josh Morris (Bulldogs - 119)

5/8
1. Greg Bird (Titans - 158)
2. John Sutton (Souths - 167)
3. Josh Reynolds (Bulldogs - 23) - Bolter!
4. Travis Burns (Penrith - 124)
5. Gareth Widdop (Melbourne - 40) - Bolter!

Half
1. Daly Cherry-Evens (Manly - 40) - Bolter!
2. Mitchell Pearce (Roosters - 119)
3. Ray Thompson (Cowboys - 43) - Bolter!
4. Cooper Cronk (Melbourne - 196)
5. Jeff Robson (Sharks - 76)

Lock
1. Paul Gallen (Sharks - 206)
2. Ashley Harrison (Titans - 241)
3. Luke Lewis (Penrith - 206)
4. Dallas Johnson (Cowboys - 194)
5. Josh Papalii (Canberra - 26) - Bolter!

Second Row
1.Nate Miles (Titans - 141)
2. Anthony Watmough (Manly  - 227)
3. Chris Houston (Newcastle - 100)
4. Liam Fulton (Tigers - 126)
5. Nathan Hindmarsh (Parramatta - 317)

Props
1. James Tamou (Cowboys - 66)
2. Aaron Woods (Tigers - 36 ) - Bolter!
3. Tim Grant (Penrith - 80)
4. Keith Galloway (Tigers - 150)
5. Aiden Tolman (Bulldogs - 88)

Hooker
1. Issac Luke (Souths - 113)
2. Matt Ballin (Manly - 130)
3. Cameron Smith (Melbourne - 225)
4. Kevin Kingston (Penrith - 138)
5. Jake Friend (Roosters - 81)

Interchange
1. Corey Parker (Brisbane - 247)
2. Trent Merrin (St George - 63)
3. James Graham (Bulldogs - 13) - Bolter!
4. Shaun Fensom (Canberra - 50) - Bolter!
5. Matthew Scott (Cowboys - 131)

If I was a scout, I would be locking up the bolters pretty quickly. You are going to get quality cattle for a pretty reasonable price!

How do they figure our Australian TV ratings

From what I have learnt from the OzTAM website (the official supplier of TV Audience stats), this is how I believe it works. They use a sampling technique.

There are about 3000 peoplemeters out there (all states, all demographics) that record who is watching what (apparently they record tv watching every minute, every day). They then send that info back to the oztam head office who create an average audience for each channel for each minute. They then sum up the total for say “The apprentice” (sum those that watched Ch9 between 9:30 Pm to 10:30 PM for at least a minute divided by 60 minutes). So if 20 people watched for the full 60 minutes, the equation would be 20*60/60 = 20 people. If 10 watched for 20 minutes and 10 watched for 60 minutes, it would be ((10*20)+(10*60))/60 = 13.33 people. In that way they get the percentages right. They then extrapolate that (based on the demographic data) and apply it to all those in Australia who have a TV…It creates the figures that are then published.

Of course, because it is a sample, there is a sample variance (or error) which is conveniently left off the figures (dodgy).Apparently, they are going to start with Timeshift reporting soon, which tries to pick up people who have recorded shows via PVR’s to watch later…they are left off the figures at the moment. Will be a little more accurate.