NZ National Competition : 2014 Season

The two Auckland teams finished in the top two places, just as they had done last year (for an overview of the teams, simply click here). The interesting thing was three were tied for first. Canterbury moved up two places on last years and Waicoa Bay finished 4th for the third consecutive year. Central climbed off the bottom to take 5th and Wellington fell three places to 6th. Northern returned to last place (7th) after a monumental 2013 when they were 6th.

2014	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
Counties Manukau Stingrays	6	5	0	1	310	64	246	12*
Akarana Falcons	6	5	0	1	288	104	184	12*
Canterbury Bulls	6	5	0	1	256	130	126	12
Waicoa Bay Stallions	6	3	0	3	144	212	-68	8
Central Vipers	6	2	0	4	148	210	-62	6
Wellington Orcas	6	1	0	5	148	244	-96	4
Northern Swords	6	0	0	6	64	394	-330	2

*Disqualified for fielding ineligible players. 

The big news was the two winners were disqualified, meaning Canterbury and Waicoa took their places in the final. It made a change for the usual all Auckland affair. Canterbury took the silverware with an emphatic and expected victory, 40-8.

To view the 2015 season, simply click here.
To see the 2013 season, just click here.

Queensland State Champs : 1996-2017 Contributors

Having done the Big Hitters article, where those who were winners were rewarded, I decided to do one that acknowledged the teams that have been there, year after year doing their best. Some may not have much but all contributed something by their existence. Therefore the Contributors list.

I have allocated pints for how well teams went but even those who were cellar dwellers get something in this chart. Aqua is the Brisbane area clubs, salmon the urban areas outside of Brisbane (but nearby), yellow Queensland country and green PNG.

	Club	Points	Adj
	Redcliffe	578
	Easts	403
	Burleigh	381
	Wynnum-Manly	352
	Norths	345
	Ipswich	313
	Souths Logan	304	202
	Souths		58
	Logan		44
	Northern (Cairns)	235
	Toowoomba	234
	Tweed Heads	227
	Central Queensland	170
	Sunshine Coast	136
	North Queensland	129
	Mackay	123
	Wests	119
	PNG	99
	Townsville	75
	Cairns (Cyclones)	43
	Pine Rivers	40
	Port Moresby	16
	Gold Coast	16
	Aspley	11
	Townsville (Stingers)	10
	Brothers-Valleys	5
	Bundaberg	5

For the start of the series (1996-99), simply click here.

The last one (2015-17), just click here. 

The Big Hitter summary is found by clicking here.

UK Elite Teams By Season : 2002

From 2001, the Huddersfield Giants were dropped from the top division, to be replaced by the Widnes Vikings. For this season, the Salford City reds were relegated. 12 teams made up the competition with six going into the playoffs.

The League: St Helens RLFC won the league with 46 points,tied with the Bradford Bulls also on 46. Wigan Warriors collected 39 points for 3rd, Leeds Rhinos on 34 points took 4th. Hull FC (32) and Castleford Tigers (30) made up the top six for the finals.

Challenge Cup: The quarter final results were Leigh Centurions 16-30 Wigan, Castleford 32-14 Doncaster Dragons, Halifax Blue Sox 20-26 St Helens and Leeds 46-10 Wakefield Trinity.

The semi finals Had wigan taking on castleford and prevailing 20-10. In the other fixture Saints were too good for Leeds, winning 42-16. The final was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in front of 62,000 fans. Wigan took the trophy 21-12.

The Finals: In the elimination games Leeds knocked out Hull FC 36-22 and Wiagan likewise Castleford 26-14. Next week the two victors moved on to another sudden death game, with Wigan overpowering Leeds 41-18. The other game that week offered the winner a ticket to the grand final, the offer was taken by Bradford when they just defeated Saints 28-26 away.

St Helens then had to play Wigan to see who would join Bradford at Old Trafford and they did enough with a 24-8 result over their arch rivals. Just over 61,000 witnessed a close encounter, Saints clinching it 19-18. Three tries and goals each but a Sean Long field goal the difference.

The drop goal decider (Pic SkySports)

Summary: Allocating points for the season leads to St Helens being the most successful, winning both the league and grand final. being a losing finalist in the cup stopped them from taking the treble. Wigan's collecting the silverware at the cup was the highlight for them. Leigh and Doncaster were two non-SL teams who collected points via their cup quarter final appearances.

	Rk	Team	Rnd	Fnl	CC	Total
	1	St Helens	20	20	16	56
	2	Wigan	16	12	20	48
	3	Bradford	18	16		34
	3	Leeds	14	8	12	34
	5	Castleford	11	4	12	27
	6	Hull FC	12	4		16
	7	Halifax	8		6	14
	8	Wakefield	6		6	12
	9	Widnes	10			10
	10	London	9			9
	11	Warrington	7			7
	12	Leigh			6	6
	12	Doncaster			6	6
	14	Salford	5			5
		Total	136	64	84	284

The 2001 season is reached by simply clicking here.

The 2003 season can be accessed by clicking here.

NZ National Competition : 2013 Season

Some of the names may not be well known so for an overview of the teams involves, simply click here.

Counties-Manukau won the league for the second year, with Akarana Falcons second for another year also. Below things were different. Wellington went from 5th to 3rd, Waicoa held their 4th spot, which the South Island was replaced by the main province there, Canterbury. Whether that was the cause of their dropping from 3rd to 5th I don't know. It may have happened anyway. At the bottom, the Northern and Central teams swapped places from 2012. Northern got their first win in four years when achieving that milestone.

2013	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
Counties Manukau Stingrays	6	6	0	0	294	118	176	14
Akarana Falcons	6	5	0	1	266	88	178	12
Wellington Orcas	6	4	0	2	204	110	94	10
Waicoa Bay Stallions	6	3	0	3	184	204	-20	8
Canterbury Bulls	6	2	0	4	212	168	44	6
Northern Swords	6	1	0	5	96	252	-156	4
Central Vipers	6	0	0	6	64	380	-316	2

As with last year, the second placed Akarana defeated the league winners Counties-Manukau in the final. This year it was 22-12.

To see the 2014 season, simply click here.
To review the 2012 season, please click here.

Queensland State Champs : 1996-2017 Big Hitters

In the final in the series, we look at the years that the competition has been run to see how the sides have fared. By allocating 6 points maximum for each league and grand final win, and then scoring the top four down from that we see who did best in winning terms. Please note that unless a team has finished in the top four league or finals, they don't appear here at all.

The most successful by far is the Brisbane club, the Redcliffe Dolphins. They have been there from the beginning and amassed 115 points, over twice the second team. It may surprise the Burleigh Bears are second, just missing the first year of competition.

Some clubs haven't been around for that many seasons, so to acknowledge them, the Avg column is added. Redcliffe tops that too, so a worthy place at the top. PNG Hunters come second, from Townsville and Northern Pride.

Teams		Tot	Avg	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	09	08
1	Redcliffe Dolphins	115	5.2	5	10				10	3			1
2	Burleigh Bears	54	2.6		9
3	Toowoomba	43	3.9
4	Northern Pride	43	4.3				12	8		5	7	7	4
5	Easts Tigers	40	1.8	3		1	6	6
6	Norths Devils	36	1.6						1		7
7	Wynnum Manly	35	1.6			1	5	1	9	6			1
8	Ipswich Jets	32	1.5			8	1	1	1				10
9	Souths Logan	30	1.4							2	8	8	9
9	North Queensland	24	4.0
11	Tweed Heads	24	1.6				1		4	10
12	PNG Hunters	18	4.5	12	1	5
12	Sunshine Coast	16	1.8	5	2						2	7
12	Townsville	13	4.3		3	10
15	Mackay Cutters	11	1.1					9			2
16	Wests Panthers	11	1.4
17	Pine River	4	1.3
18	Central Q'sland	4	0.2									4
	Total	545	18	25	25	25	25	25	25	26	26	26	25

Teams		07	06	05	04	03	02	01	00	99	98	97	96
1	Redcliffe Dolphins	7	8	3		9	12	6	12	10	3	9	7
2	Burleigh Bears			6	12	10	1	5	2	8		1
3	Toowoomba		10		1			12	6	2			12
4	Northern Pride
5	Easts Tigers		2		6		4	1	5			6
6	Norths Devils			4	4		2	1		5	12
7	Wynnum Manly				2	3						7
8	Ipswich Jets	2				3	6
9	Souths Logan												3
9	North Queensland	8	4	12
11	Tweed Heads	8	1
12	PNG Hunters
12	Sunshine Coast
12	Townsville
15	Mackay Cutters
16	Wests Panthers										6	2	3
17	Pine River										4
18	Central Q'sland
	Total	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25

Summary: I would have liked to have not had to divide the list but limited width of the page forced my hand. While we live in a world that celebrates success, the teams that turned up again and again without any success are to be commended too. Not everyone can win but all can compete. The Central Coast for example have been there every year with scarcely any success. The fact they keep turning up for another year is what sport is all about to me.  

For the 2015-17 review, please click here.

To start at the beginning (1996-99), just click here.

The Contributors summary is found by clicking here.