Season 35 General Discussion

Rob achieved something extremely rare with his win.
This is the first time since S23 that I haven't won the league I was in. The date was 27 Dec 2014 - that was before Tryasta had even started playing BR.

Wow! An absolutely astonishing result by @robelix and his Hercufleas! I for one know how difficult it is to beat sparky at his ground. Congratulations, rob!!

Now, in the final, anything can happen!

One of my mot satisfying wins for a long long time.
Finally...the boys are clicking....though still one more game to go....this win won’t mean much unless I can back it up one more time...

Hard luck with the injuries sparky...the game was still in the balance but a bit of a blowout near the end.

See you Saturday donkeyman...I haven’t held a league one title since season 4....

And I have never held one..

Woaw, guys. Congrats on your semifinals.

ivelostmysparky wrote:This is the first time since S23 that I haven't won the league I was in. The date was 27 Dec 2014 - that was before Tryasta had even started playing BR.

The new blood is pushing hard, sparky, and one thing I admire in @robelix is his always-positive spirit. When many managers have left, some like Sparker are in cruise mode and even Batman has lift the foot off the pedal, rob keeps trying. You will need to find the way to come back.

robelix wrote:and....nobody beats the Hercuflean's 21 times in a row!

I agree with @tryasta, and I believe the above quote says it all. What a never-say-die attitude!



which does not mean I will not enjoy pinching 'fleas come Saturday.    

donkeysaint wrote:And I have never held one..

yes, I imagine you will be desperate too....but it has been a tough 31 seasons of near failures!

yikes...is that like 10 years?

ivelostmysparky wrote:

SmellyStuff wrote:When do I need to invest my stars in youths? Is it this upcoming season?

Yes next season is scouting season.
Don't scout in R1. R2D1 and R2D1 are the two optimal days.

Cheers. What was the consensus regarding star distributions? 6x50? 5x60? I know I'm not going to do my 3x100 again...

5x60 and 6x50 should be very similar. I don't think there is a great difference there.

If you are only looking to train 1 player of this U20 generation use 3x100*. Otherwise, 6x50* however you could go 2x70* for the first two scouts, then 4x45* for the last 4.

3x70 then 2x60 could be a good spread? I have 270 stars now, and by R5 that should have become 330.

Soon now..


I would like to point out that the Hurcufleas has lost the last five games against the Katipos, and has never won at the Web..

What a game we will have!

League One Final
Katipos vs. Hurcufleas

oh it is gonna be on

donkeysaint wrote:3x70 then 2x60 could be a good spread? I have 270 stars now, and by R5 that should have become 330.

Could be. Depends on how many "bites at the cherry" you think you need. My academy has a history of mediocrity so I like 6x prospects rather than 5 or 4. I do think putting a few more stars in the R2D1 & R2D2 scouts is a good idea.

donkeysaint wrote:
What a game we will have!

League One Final
Katipos vs. Hurcufleas

Not sure who I want to win.
Long time between drinks for Rob so would be nice to see him drink from the trophy, yet a Div 1 win for Donkey would go nicely with the WCC silver. Perhaps the game going to extra time to determine the winner would be the spice the game deserves?

What a fantastic game! It is early Saturday morning here in Sweden, and I got up at 05.30 to watch the second half.

And what a half! The score went back and forth, with Rob leading it for large parts. But with only minutes left, I get ahead with a penalty, and straight after that with a try.

My first league one title, absolutely amazing! And a huge thanks to @robelix for playing an excellent game away from home, fighting for it until the very end!

well done donkeyman! my team tackled their hearts out but couldn't hang in till the end...you played a massive game. the best team won, can't moan about injuries or tmo blunders...cant fault my tactics...you just controlled the game so effectively.

again, a massive congrats to you

What a wonderful game and such comradery between two fine members of the NZ BR community. Congratulations to donkey and commiserations to Rob.

you are pretty close to that number one world ranking spot donkeyman!

1. Puss In Boots 93.2903
2. Auckland Katipos R.F.C. 93.0114

im not sure how many points you can get from a Monday friendly spot....but a rematch tonight? if you win, you may take top spot off Puss In Boots?

oops...you already have a Monday match organised...bugger, you are not gonna get any points there...

Thanks for the offer, Rob!

I have actually arranged an anytime friendly double header for Tuesday and Wednesday against Puss In Boots. No ranking points exchange, but interesting nonetheless..

Puss vs. Katipos (29-37)

Katipos vs. Puss (63-19)

ivelostmysparky wrote:

donkeysaint wrote:3x70 then 2x60 could be a good spread? I have 270 stars now, and by R5 that should have become 330.

Could be. Depends on how many "bites at the cherry" you think you need. My academy has a history of mediocrity so I like 6x prospects rather than 5 or 4. I do think putting a few more stars in the R2D1 & R2D2 scouts is a good idea.

Some interesting metrics I just thought of:

The current NZ U20 players were scouted with a range of 20 to 100 stars. The average amount was 53.5.

The current top-5 CSR U20 players were scouted with 60, 50, 60, 50 and 70 stars.

The current top-5 TSP U20 players were scouted with 40, 70, 60, 60 and 60 stars.

That's useful. It means statistically having two players with 60 stars gives you a higher chance of ending with a good player than spending 120 in one player.

Could this be an idea? If you have X stars available at the start of the seasons, scout 6 players: R2D1 R2D2 R3D2 R4D2 R5D2 R6D2 and give (X+6*10)/6 stars each for better scouting results?

For example,
 - with 200 stars: 6 scouts with 43 stars each
 - with 300 stars: 6 scouts with 60 stars each

It somewhat changes the approach to scouting...

donkeysaint wrote:Thanks for the offer, Rob!

I have actually arranged an anytime friendly double header for Tuesday and Wednesday against Puss In Boots. No ranking points exchange, but interesting nonetheless..

Puss vs. Katipos (29-37)

Katipos vs. Puss (63-19)

Pretty decisive result..

To add to what Donkey said, pretty much every current NZ U20 player (28/30) was scouting with 70 or less stars anyway, and 25/30 were 60* or less.

Top 10 CSR players = 63* average, 60* median
Middle 10 CSR players = 46* average, 50* median
Bottom 10 CSR players = 52* average, 48* median (mainly due to Nimrod Hordern being 100*)

Top 5 CSR players = 58* average, 60* median
6th-10th = 68*, 70*
11th-15th = 56*, 60*
16th-20th = 35*, 40*
21st-25th = 54*, 45*
Bottom 5 = 50*, 50*

So players ranked 16th to 20th by CSR were actually scouted by relatively low stars but have decent CSR.


CSR        Stars
177267 60
164581 50
159044 60
155745 70
155440 50
154539 70
152540 70
151925 60
151099 40
145143 100
143094 50
139822 60
139723 60
139596 50
137478 60
133132 50
131364 20
129817 40
129273 20
129096 45
126708 36
126386 40
126107 50
126044 45
124391 100
122892 60
119928 50
117348 40
115538 45
112386 54

How does this compare to superior csr squads?

Also for the next season I will be aiming for kicking backs as both of mine turn 28 next season plus possibly a prop depending on how initial scouts go