In Australia one of the big Winter Sports is the National Rugby League. The season itself doesn’t start for nearly a month but at this time of year teams are preparing and training hard. There are usually some good Trial Matches played where early season form can be gleaned as new players at new clubs work on their combinations. Last year there was a new Pre-Season Challenge launched which puts some structure around these Trial Matches and throws up a Prize. This competition starts tomorrow.
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The Pre-Season Challenge is basically just 2 rounds of matches over the next 2 weeks. It’s hard to determine a “Winner” with just 2 rounds so they allocate a bunch of Bonus Points for various things in the matches to try to encourage creative play (which also adds to the spectacle). Teams get 12 points for a Win, 6 points for a Draw and 0 points for a Loss...that’s pretty standard stuff. However if a team score 5+ Tries they get a Bonus Point. If a team makes 5+ Line Breaks then get a Bonus Point and if a team makes 10+ Offloads then they get a Bonus Point. That means a maximum score of 15 points from a match.
Last year the Manly Sea Eagles won the Pre-Season Challenge with 29 points after downing the much fancied Souths and Roosters. They are probably in a good position to be competitive again this year and it’s worth noting that the NRL Premiers – Penrith Panthers are NOT playing in this competition so it’ll be 16 teams with no Byes. Last year all 17 NRL Teams competed and St Helens were here from the UK to make up the numbers. Not this year since the World Club Challenge is being played in the UK this year on February 24.
I’m not making any tips for the NRL Pre-Season Challenge but I might have a flutter once I see how the teams run out as I did have a decent win on this event last year. For true fans of Rugby League this is primarily a good chance to have a look at how teams are shaping up for the Season Proper. Good Luck if you’re having a bet.