Of course we are going to struggle with so many second choices in the 17. But Bongser is, as alluded passim, a glass three-quarters full sort of bloke and believes, like Lammy Snr, that the good times will roll again soon.
Positive No1: Despite losing four SL games out of five this season, we still have a positive points difference due to the tight margins by which we have been defeated plus the spanking doled out to a poor HFC team. (O/T KR fans liked Tony when he was there; they absolutely adore the newly dubbed “Agent Smith” now).
Positive No2: The fact that Umyla has grabbed his chance with both hands (should Tom be worried? - discuss). Two hat tricks on the bounce - albethey against non-worldbeating teams (the latter we lost against and we did our best to do the same against the former) - is surely impressive.
A little look at
https://www.superleague.co.uk/stats/player-stats shows the top three SL try scorers this season as:
Ash Handley (Leeds) - 7 tries from 6 games (average ergo 1.17 tries per match (tpm))
Matt Dufty (Warrington) 6 from 6 (1 tpm)
Liam Marshall (Wigan) 6 from 4 (1.5 tpm)
Ramble alert!
SL place Dufty above Marshall (both with 6 tries under their braces), not on tpm but on alphabetical order of surname! Who knows (and Bongser will not further research) how many other players are on 6 tries and miss out on the top three merely denomonatively?
Reminded of a good few PL seasons ago when the early pace-setters were The Gooners & Red Devils. Both had accrued the same number of points and shared the same goal difference. United had scored more goals but the official table placed Arsenal top. Cue all hell breaking loose from the far flung fans of the northern club. The FA said that, whilst goals scored would come into consideration at the end of the season should two or more clubs be tied on the first two criteria, until then alphabetical order was the third determiner. We all know the RFL are mad (and getting madder since “OMG” were introduced), but the FA were equally stupid then.
Perhaps the SL.co.uk graphics designer is a Wire fan!
Bongser digresses (it has been known!) Umyla has 5 tries in 3 SL games that’s 1.67 tpm and, on that last criterion, trumps all of the displayed top three. Yes, only three games and cricket batting averages (here he goes again) bear the proviso of the batter (how PC) having played X number of innings to qualify.
So let’s expand this. All SL sides have played one CCup match. Both Handley & Dufty played but didn’t score, taking their respective tpms to 1.00 & 0.86. Marshall scored two in Wigan’s tie taking him above the aforementioned pair to 8 tries (1.60). Hanley however scored three tries - now also on 8 but with a tpm of 2.00 - and Hanley is alphabetically before Marshall
Yes, Bongser is back. Expect more drivel soon. Happy Easter to all.
