Forget the Finals, Canberra are already the Real NRL Champions

When you think about it, the NRL finals are weird.

Teams play 24 matches across the regular season, and although there are flaws in this - not playing everyone twice, teams weakened by State of Origin, and so on - this method does provide a fairly good sense of who the best team for that year is.

That team is awarded the minor premiership...

...which is then completely dismissed as meaningless because of a four-week tournament known as "the NRL finals", where the minor premiers and 4th place have the same starting point even when they were five wins apart in the regular season.

And the winner of the last match in this one-month tournament is forever remembered as the champions, while the winner of the six-month tournament proceeding is largely forgotten.

There has to be a better way.

And there is... the Rugby League Championship Belt.

NRL Ladder Prediction 2019 - Revisited

Another regular season of NRL is done and it's time to review my NRL predictions! No other rugby league expert is this transparent and accountable!

Previous results are...

2015: 6/16

2016: 5/16

2017: 6/16

2018: 5/16

2019: ????

Hey, it's harder than it looks. I'm hoping for 2019 I can crack 7/16. Let's see...

Music Appreciation

We were doing a road trip and in conversation with the six-year-olds it somehow came up that the voice of Bluey's dad was once the lead singer in a popular band, and that Dad really, really liked this band.

This was all A Long Time Ago.

A Long Time Ago in our house is defined by circumstances such as:

• only having five TV channels, and not being able to pause any of them;
• telephones being attached to your house by a cord, except for the ones in a box on the street that need coins to work; and 
• watching movies on something called a VCR, or even a DVD.

The six-year-olds ask to hear Bluey's dad. I was happy to oblige.

NRL Grub Rankings - Official 2019 Update

NRL GRUB RANKINGS - OFFICIAL 2019 UPDATE

In 2015, I undertook months of painstaking research to produce easily the most comprehensive list of NRL grubs ever assembled.

The original countdown is here, here, and here (three parts).

'Grub' is, of course, the preferred insult to throw at an NRL player you don't like for a myriad of reasons, from legitimate grub behaviour like dirty play, to just being from the wrong state or playing for the wrong club.

(Note that in AFL, the word 'flog' is used similarly to 'grub', although flog is problematic due to its association with people who wanted to code their racism about Adam Goodes because they were horrible people AND also too cowardly to be openly racist.)

If you disagree that someone is a grub, or has committed a grub act, the strongest possible defense is to exclaim "it's not his go!". This leads to a stalemate, with no clear determination of the players grubbiness.

Which is why I developed the grub rankings, for footy related grub acts only.

But moving forward to 2019, about half of the original 43 grubs have retired - this includes some first ballot hall-of-fame caliber grubs like Greg Bird, Mick Ennis, Nate Myles and Justin Hodges. Which means it's time for an update to the Official NRL Grub Rankings...

The Art Gallery IV (Under The Sea)

I've shared my kids drawings a few times before.

I recently enjoyed this one by J, which he explained was "different sea creatures":

Let's examine it a bit closer, starting at the top left and going clockwise...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 20

This is a late release of the second quarter best quotes for 2019!!

My Homework for the School Holidays

MY HOMEWORK FOR THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

(Or: What I have learned from two terms)

BY ROBERT TUCK

The twins R and J are officially halfway through their first school year now. Here they are in their classroom:

Some of the earlier school highlights are HERE.

As a parent, there has been an adjustment from childcare or preschool. Some differences are obvious - it costs less, there are fewer hours, they wear a uniform, and so on. 

But the important differences are more subtle.

One of the main changes in transition to primary school is information supply.