Team Ratings for Round 4 The basic method is described on my Department home page. Here are the team ratings prior to this week’s games, along with the ratings at the start of the season. Performance So Far So far there have been 24 matches played, 14 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 58.3%. Here are the predictions for last week’s games. Predictions for Round 4 Here are the predictions for Round 4. The prediction is my estimated expected points difference with a positive...

Team Ratings for Round 5 The basic method is described on my Department home page. Here are the team ratings prior to this week’s games, along with the ratings at the start of the season. Performance So Far So far there have been 32 matches played, 20 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 62.5%. Here are the predictions for last week’s games. Predictions for Round 5 Here are the predictions for Round 5. The prediction is my estimated expected points difference with a positive...

Team Ratings for Round 1 The basic method is described on my Department home page. Here are the team ratings prior to this week’s games, along with the ratings at the start of the season. Predictions for Round 1 Here are the predictions for Round 1. The prediction is my estimated expected points difference with a positive margin being a win to the home team, and a negative margin a win to the away team.

Home Ground Advantage Determining home ground advantage for this new draw has been very difficult. In some cases it has been straightforward: Storm at home, Cowboys at home, Broncos at home, Warriors always away despite their being the nominal home team. But Knights versus Dragons at Bankwest Stadium? Raiders versus Sea Eagles at Campbelltown? I made the ground neutral for those. I gave home ground advantage to a team if the opponent was from interstate (not counting Raiders playing in...

(The Charlotte Observer) - Lenoir-Rhyne defensive back Kyle Dugger was drafted by the New England Patriots with the 37th overall pick in the NFL draft. Dugger, 6-feet, 217 pounds, won the Cliff Harris Award as the top defensive player among the nation’s small colleges last season. He’s the ninth player in Lenoir-Rhyne history to be drafted, the most recent being defensive end John Milem by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round in 2000. Dugger had 237 career tackles, 10 interceptions, 36...