Hogg Premier League 2021

[Rik E Boy]

The Run Out Round 16

The big news this week is that Richo is safe from the drop after pounding Poon Illuminati in Round 15. Things are getting a bit dicey now for Poon who faces the mighty Mediocre at Best this week and they are probably the last team in the league you need to face when you are fighting for survival.

15. Roosters 20 points 97.68% (Watts, REBCats)

This relegation battle could be decided by percentage and the Roosters tough run home does them no favours at all. I reckon they drop both matches and they will be sweating on Hippy to break their duck against Poon or Sharks' percentage to remain below theirs. Going to be really tight.

16. Sharks 20 points 97.31% (Bloods, Watts)

Sharks have a tougher run than Roosters so percentage will be crucial. Bloods and Watts both generally outscore REBCats so Sharks will need to do some scoring of their own or they are down. Missed a big chance with the narrow loss to Q in Round 14.

17. Poon illuminati 20 points 97.28% (Mediocre, Hippy)

Look how tight that percentage is. In a cruel twist of fate I can see Poon getting rolled in the last round by Hippy but amazingly avoiding the drop! Losing against Hippy when they haven't won all year really appeals to my warped sense of humour but I can see this happening with Poon somehow surviving on percentage. While Sharks and Roosters are battling it out against top eight opposition, Poon will go through regardless on percentage. Poon missed out on the top eight one year by 0.01% and a similar margin in his favour may just enable his survival.

Poony to pull off the great escape!

REB Sez

15. Roosters 20
16. Poon 20
17. Sharks 20
18. Hippy 4

regards,

REB

[fish]

The Greene late OUT hurts but hopefully I can hang on against Captain Who?

[fish]

The Greene late OUT hurts but hopefully I can hang on against Captain Who?

Kelly injured on 75 = game over

[valleys07]

Sanctum continues his headscratcher of a season.

I was ripe for the plucking on Saturday night, projected for a 100 point loss. Grundy has a donkey and Heeney with a sound 2nd half, and I scrape over the line by 10 points.

[Rik E Boy]

Sanctum continues his headscratcher of a season.

I was ripe for the plucking on Saturday night, projected for a 100 point loss. Grundy has a donkey and Heeney with a sound 2nd half, and I scrape over the line by 10 points.

Used an invaluable trade to get rid of CCJ who is now GAWN to bring in Heeney hoping for about 80 a week from here. 1st Half TOYS OUT OF THE COT YOU USELESS *******.....2nd Half...ah, great coaching REB.

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Round 16

Mediocre at Best 2421
Poon Illuminati 2193

Richo Richo Man 2312
Hips Don't Lie 2136

Summer of George 2389
Has Been 2329

Captain Who? 2309
TEAM_FISH 2250

Hondo SCC 2296
Q Before You 2254

REBCats 2275
Ecky's Fevolas 2119

Delicious 2343
Inner Sanctum 2333

Roosters 2263
Watts & Motts 2248

Wycbloods 2373
Sharks 2229

Ladder

1 Ecky's Fevolas 13 3 0 35562 33784 105.26 52
2 TEAM_FISH 11 5 0 34726 34056 101.97 44
3 Delicious 10 5 1 34712 33440 103.80 42
4 Watts & Motts 10 6 0 34100 33391 102.12 40
5 Mediocre at Best 10 6 0 34766 34234 101.55 40
6 Q Before You 9 6 1 33908 34454 98.42 38
7 REBCats 9 7 0 33810 33018 102.40 36
8 Summer of George 9 7 0 34596 34046 101.62 36

9 Wycbloods 8 7 1 34408 33753 101.94 34
10 Inner Sanctum 8 8 0 35013 34535 101.38 32
11 Captain Who? 8 8 0 33279 33088 100.58 32
12 Hondo SCC 8 8 0 34583 34437 100.42 32
13 Richo Richo Man 7 8 1 33331 34091 97.77 30
14 Has Been 6 10 0 34401 34806 98.84 24
15 Roosters 6 10 0 33007 33723 97.88 24
16 Sharks 5 11 0 33344 34347 97.08 20
17 Poon Illuminati 5 11 0 33029 34118 96.81 20
18 Hips Don't Lie 0 16 0 31916 35170 90.75 0

The struggles of the top teams in the Premier League continued this weekend with FISH and Ecky both enduring hard luck stories in their round 16 clash. FISH was right in his contest but when Jelly limped off the Captain saluted and somehow kept their slim finals hopes alive. The captain is the team they cannot kill! Meanwhile my REBCats scored the biggest Bradbury of all time in our totally undeserved victory over Ecky. Ecky was stiffer than a teenager’s bedsheet last week. After I made the master move of taking the captaincy off Walsh to that jughead Grundy, COVID struck Ecky hard and he Mills AND Greene. This allowed the REBCats to coast to victory as Ecky slid on the ice. This is where I’d normally brag it up but what an embarrassing win for the REBCats.

Watts & Motts was another team that ran out of tickets this week as the Roosters ensured their Premier League survival with a ten point win. Watts beat the top sides but it was the Roosters crowing at the end of the day and they’ll be strutting around the chicken coop for another year next season.
Mediocre, Hondo and Wycbloods kept on rolling with another win with Hondo in particular refusing to lay down this season. Mediocre has really put the heat on foundation team Poon who need to win this week against winless Hippys in order to remain in the top flight. Nothing like a bit of pressure hey hambone?

Summer of George and Delicious managed to consolidate their top eight places and while the writing has been on the wall for some time for Has Been, it was a devastating loss for Sanctum who were defeated by 10 points just like Watts did. Richo managed yet another win to put some respectability on the scoreboard but Hippy is one loss away from an unwanted piece of Premier League history as they try to avoid a winless season…..over to you Poon!

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Round 17 Preview

Fixture – Tips in bold.
Poon Illuminati vs. Hips Don’t Lie
Summer of George vs. Mediocre at Best
TEAM_FISH vs. Richo Richo Man
Q Before You vs. Has Been
Ecky’s Fevolas vs. Captain Who?
Delicious vs. Hondo SCC
REBCats vs. Roosters
Wycbloods vs. Inner Sanctum
Watts & Motts vs. Sharks

Preview
In a cracking round to finish the Premier League season there is so much to play for with any many cases, so little to play with. Some of the top sides can afford to hold fire a bit this weekend while the rest of us slug it out just to get there, or in the case of some, their very survival in the league.

One of these crucial clashes is Mediocre up against George. George sailed through the middle section of the minor round but they now have to beat one of the inform teams to make the finals. Recent scoring patterns suggest that they won’t be able to do this and Mediocre is likely to finish just outside the top four as I reckon Watts and Delicious get up this week to join pacesetters FISH and Ecky with the double chance.

Another team who is almost there but not quite is the REBCats who are on a real roll now, somehow beating Ecky, or more accurately, pocketing the four points as COVID robbed the ladder leader of what looked like certain victory. The Cats have been spared much of the carnage and they should go on with the job and beat the Roosters this weekend. The draw was a handy one for Q who should hold his spot and the last spot in the eight will go to the winner of the Wycbloods vs. Inner Sanctum match.

Quite a few teams appear to be badly hampered by the recent COVID carnage. Wycbloods appears to be one of these and he’s going to find it hard work get over Sanctum this weekend. A real thriller has been bowled over by COVID here in what will be a disappointing end to what has been a promising Premier return by bloods. FISH looks wobbly and Hondo and Ecky also look effected. While FISH and Ecky can afford to cop the loss not so Hondo, a side that needed a percentage hit to scramble into the eight. That doesn’t look likely now.

Then there is the mighty battle of survival which has been something of a running joke between fellow foundation team Poon and myself for many years. I always thought it would be me that would get relegated instead of hambone but he has been stinking it up in recent weeks with some amusing panic moves that just haven’t paid off. This week he has no excuse as he plays against a side battling not to be the first side in Premier League history to end up with Burger Ring in the W column at the end of the season. I reckon Hippy has been having a real crack as well as his scores have been climbing steadily in recent weeks but that win just keeps eluding the poor bugger. As predicted in the run home I backed Hippy in this week and for Poon to survive which is bad news for my good mate Spiro as his Sharks look set to lose the battle.

Predicting the flag from here is impossible but I’d rate seven of the top eight a pretty good chance of taking it out.

REB's Top Eight
1. Ecky’s Fevolas
2. Delicious
3. Watts & Motts
4. TEAM_FISH
5. Mediocre at Best
6. REBCats
7. Q Before You
8. Inner Sanctum

This would be a strange one for FISH who was a clear second with daylight third. Playing Ecky first up is not what FISH would have expected. Lose that and you get Mediocre! Have fun with that one.

All the best boyos!

regards,

REB

[fish]

Round 17 Preview

Fixture – Tips in bold.
Poon Illuminati vs. Hips Don’t Lie
Summer of George vs. Mediocre at Best
TEAM_FISH vs. Richo Richo Man
Q Before You vs. Has Been
Ecky’s Fevolas vs. Captain Who?
Delicious vs. Hondo SCC
REBCats vs. Roosters
Wycbloods vs. Inner Sanctum
Watts & Motts vs. Sharks

Preview
In a cracking round to finish the Premier League season there is so much to play for with any many cases, so little to play with. Some of the top sides can afford to hold fire a bit this weekend while the rest of us slug it out just to get there, or in the case of some, their very survival in the league.

One of these crucial clashes is Mediocre up against George. George sailed through the middle section of the minor round but they now have to beat one of the inform teams to make the finals. Recent scoring patterns suggest that they won’t be able to do this and Mediocre is likely to finish just outside the top four as I reckon Watts and Delicious get up this week to join pacesetters FISH and Ecky with the double chance.

Another team who is almost there but not quite is the REBCats who are on a real roll now, somehow beating Ecky, or more accurately, pocketing the four points as COVID robbed the ladder leader of what looked like certain victory. The Cats have been spared much of the carnage and they should go on with the job and beat the Roosters this weekend. The draw was a handy one for Q who should hold his spot and the last spot in the eight will go to the winner of the Wycbloods vs. Inner Sanctum match.

Quite a few teams appear to be badly hampered by the recent COVID carnage. Wycbloods appears to be one of these and he’s going to find it hard work get over Sanctum this weekend. A real thriller has been bowled over by COVID here in what will be a disappointing end to what has been a promising Premier return by bloods. FISH looks wobbly and Hondo and Ecky also look effected. While FISH and Ecky can afford to cop the loss not so Hondo, a side that needed a percentage hit to scramble into the eight. That doesn’t look likely now.

Then there is the mighty battle of survival which has been something of a running joke between fellow foundation team Poon and myself for many years. I always thought it would be me that would get relegated instead of hambone but he has been stinking it up in recent weeks with some amusing panic moves that just haven’t paid off. This week he has no excuse as he plays against a side battling not to be the first side in Premier League history to end up with Burger Ring in the W column at the end of the season. I reckon Hippy has been having a real crack as well as his scores have been climbing steadily in recent weeks but that win just keeps eluding the poor bugger. As predicted in the run home I backed Hippy in this week and for Poon to survive which is bad news for my good mate Spiro as his Sharks look set to lose the battle.

Predicting the flag from here is impossible but I’d rate seven of the top eight a pretty good chance of taking it out.

REB's Top Eight
1. Ecky’s Fevolas
2. Delicious
3. Watts & Motts
4. TEAM_FISH
5. Mediocre at Best
6. REBCats
7. Q Before You
8. Inner Sanctum

This would be a strange one for FISH who was a clear second with daylight third. Playing Ecky first up is not what FISH would have expected. Lose that and you get Mediocre! Have fun with that one.

All the best boyos!

regards,

REB

Let's see what the Supercoach Gods dish up this week

[Rik E Boy]

****. Ten points ahead of Roosters pre-scaling. If I hang on, I've made the finals. Waiting for the judges' verdict!

regards,

REB

[pompy]

****. Ten points ahead of Roosters pre-scaling. If I hang on, I've made the finals. Waiting for the judges' verdict!

regards,

REB

You made it REB.

I made some silly calls, gave T Mitchell the C instead of McCrae and brought in Zorko when I was seriously considering Tom Hawkins.

At least it looks like I avoided relegation.

[Rik E Boy]

****. Ten points ahead of Roosters pre-scaling. If I hang on, I've made the finals. Waiting for the judges' verdict!

regards,

REB

You made it REB.

I made some silly calls, gave T Mitchell the C instead of McCrae and brought in Zorko when I was seriously considering Tom Hawkins.

At least it looks like I avoided relegation.

That was a classic clash. Thought I was no chance, to home easy, to oh ****! The Titchell call wasn't so silly at lemon time but thankfully he went missing in the last quarter. I made one trade Hawkins in for Dusty and that was the winner.

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Round 17

Hips Don't Lie 2336
Poon Illuminati 2295

Mediocre at Best 2464
Summer of George 2431

TEAM_FISH 2514
Richo Richo Man 2347

Q Before You 2455
Has Been 2322

Captain Who? 2388
Ecky's Fevolas 2325

Delicious 2457
Hondo SCC 2388

Wycbloods 2448
Inner Sanctum 2243

Sharks 2508
Watts & Motts 2263

REBCats 2480
Roosters 2471

Ladder
1 Ecky's Fevolas 13 4 0 37887 36172 104.74 52
2 TEAM_FISH 12 5 0 37240 36403 102.30 48
3 Delicious 11 5 1 37169 35828 103.74 46
4 Mediocre at Best 11 6 0 37230 36665 101.54 44
5 Q Before You 10 6 1 36363 36776 98.88 42
6 REBCats 10 7 0 36290 35489 102.26 40
7 Watts & Motts 9 7 1 36363 35899 101.29 38
8 Wycbloods 9 7 1 36856 35996 102.39 38

9 Summer of George 9 8 0 37027 36510 101.42 36
10 Captain Who? 9 8 0 35667 35413 100.72 36
11 Inner Sanctum 8 9 0 37256 36983 100.74 32
12 Hondo SCC 8 9 0 36971 36894 100.21 32
13 Richo Richo Man 7 9 1 35678 36605 97.47 30
14 Has Been 6 11 0 36723 37261 98.56 24
15 Roosters 6 11 0 35478 36203 98.00 24
16 Sharks 6 11 0 35852 36610 97.93 24
17 Poon Illuminati 5 12 0 35324 36454 96.90 20
18 Hips Don't Lie 1 16 0 34252 37465 91.42 4

When the dust cleared at the end of round 17 and the music finally stopped, the teams who got the last few seats included REBCats and Wycbloods by the barest of margins. Summer of George was particularly stiff. They fell a mere 31 points short of the hottest team in the league and had to rely on the second most inform combination to lose to a relegation battler as a second chance. Remarkably enough, that almost happened. REBCats managed to rack up an 8th straight win by the smallest of margins as their nine point win ended George's season in a see-sawing match and one of the most intense SuperCoach matchups I've ever had in the premier league.

It's getting to the stage now that just making the eight in Premier League is an achievement. Look at the calibre of some of the teams who missed out. George is a very solid player who has had a remarkably consistent career. Hondo is always a tough competitor. Inner Sanctum has been scoring brilliantly but could only land eight wins. Captain Who hasn't been scoring anywhere near the top sides but like REBCats and Watts have excelled in match play.

Congratulations to Ecky who has had such a fine season to date to take top spot. However, in recent weeks the Fevs just aren't scoring and they face a very tough final against Mediocre who has't lost since Adam was a lad. FISH has had a very good season also and they face a tough final against a finals hardened foe in Delicious, a side I have been somehow underrating all year. Q has also been a bit of a mystery. Brilliant at times and horrible at others their best is clearly good enough to win the flag. It's been a brilliant fighting effort by Wycbloods who deservedly made the finals after scoring well but dropping matches early. The masters of the low scoring win face off in a knockout final as the 11th and 12th highest scoring teams face off as the REBCats attempt to replicate last year's finals run at the expense of Watts & Motts.

Of the bottom six Has Been had their moments early while Richo found form late to climb the ladder. 2020 Grand finalist Roosters had a poor season this year but did enough to avoid relegation as did Sharks who started really well but fell away badly, only to score big when it mattered to stay up. For my mate hammo it's the end of an era. The inagural premiers have been in the Premier League for every season since 2007 but next year Poon has been relegated to Division I after Hips Don't Lie avoided the unwanted record of being the only Premier League side to fail to win a game. Hippy has been relegated before but like Arnie, he'll be back one suspects.

So it's on to finals gents. Good luck to all.

regards,

REB

[fish]

Feeling confident with six trades left and $280k in the bank*

*this may or may not be true

[Feenix]

Very lucky to get the win and sneak into the top 4. Thought I was done after my poor captains choice only to have Heeney save the day. Commiserations to Summer of George.

Finally get to trade Zac Williams out this week which feels like a double edged sword. That spud is on my never again list.

[Rik E Boy]

Very lucky to get the win and sneak into the top 4. Thought I was done after my poor captains choice only to have Heeney save the day. Commiserations to Summer of George.

Finally get to trade Zac Williams out this week which feels like a double edged sword. That spud is on my never again list.

Heart like a pea that bloke. As soon as he's hurt he doesn't get another touch. Will never get the heart icon on FanFooty.

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Im in real trouble against Watts. Steele, Guthrie, ****, even Sidebottom smashed it today. Reckon i might get done here. Dale went well but Tommahawk let me down a bit.

regqrds,

REB

[fish]

Im in real trouble against Watts. Steele, Guthrie, ****, even Sidebottom smashed it today. Reckon i might get done here. Dale went well but Tommahawk let me down a bit.

regqrds,

REB

I reckon I'm done against Delicious, unless Mitchell, Neale and Daniher go nuts. And Zorko and Lyons spud up

[Rik E Boy]

Catters through! You and me next week FISHy!

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Finals Week One

Qualifying Finals
Mediocre at Best 2549
Ecky's Fevolas 2420

Delicious 2503
TEAM_FISH 2350

Elimination Finals
REBCats 2479
Watts & Motts 2460

Q Before You 2711
Wycbloods 2627

Usually the big news in the first week of finals are on who has earnt the week off with a big Quallie win but this week was all about Q who really lived up to the team's name with a freakish 2711 that would have eclipsed the sun, let alone the luckless Wycbloods who despite scoring 2627 found themselves out on their arse and finishing the season in 8th spot. The season finished as it started for bloods who has scored well pretty much all year but only just fell into the eight and as fate would have it, right in the path of the Q tornado that was unleashed in the first week of the finals. It must be especially galling to see that REBCats and Watts couldn't even manage 2500 in their elim, and that if he didn't draw that match with Richo he might have been playing one of them instead. Don't get any lotto numbers from this bloke boys that is dead stiff.

Now, on to the nuffys with the double chance. Ecky and FISH have really lost the plot since the byes. Before the byes it was these two first and second and it was daylight third. However, in the second half of the season both of these teams are dropping matches and are a very real chance of both going out in straight sets. Mediocre got the job done in fine style and they'll be hoping the wheels fall off the Q bandwagon before the Grand Final as they handled the minor premier with ease. Ecky got his scoring game back on to some extent but Mediocre are not messing around and like the REBCats, are on an extended winning run which could see them with the flag at the end of it. FISH are all over the place. They tallied the lowest score of the finalists this week and managed a distant second to Delicious who I might have to start rating now that he has earnt the week off.

Ecky would be liking a matchup with the REBCats but unfortunately for him, he's drawn Q. I'm not sure (and I hope he can't) if he can keep racking up scores like that but as he has demonstrated, the ceiling is huge for Q Before You and he's entitled to favoritism in that match. REBCats have won nine straight now and are eyeing off ten with a match up against FISH. It will be a close won but REBCats keep finding ways to win matches they shouldn't be winning with the opposite happening with FISH. I'll be putting plenty of bait out next weekend.

Semi Finals
Ecky's Fevolas vs. Q Before You
TEAM_FISH vs. REBCats

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Saturday night and im in the brown stuff again. Went Danger into Walsh and both have failed. Reckon you get this one @fish.

regards,

REB