Wednesday 17 July 2013

Do fast bowlers repel crowds no matter how much they win games?

Ever since I first studied first-class cricket, I have noticed a very strong correlation between large crowds, abundant slow spin bowling, and severe weakness in fast bowling. This is clearly seen in:
  1. Australia in the days of Clarrie Grimmett, Bill O‘Reilly and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith
  2. England in the period immediately after World War II
  3. India in the three decades from 1948 to 1977
Many people whom I talk to about this deny that spin bowlers attract crowds and fast bowlers repel them. Instead they argue that it is batsmen like Dennis Compton and Donald Bradman who attracted the crowds.

The trouble with this argument, of course, is that cricket-playing nations had had unusually exciting and skilled batsmen before the really large crowds developed. Whilst this may reflect the fact the cricket had not become popular enough, it may also reflect the fact that fast bowlers inherently repel crowds. What in fast bowling repels crowds is not however clear: intimidation was largely absent from fast bowling between the end of the “shooter era” in the 1870s and the “Bodyline” tour of 1932/1933, whilst long run-ups and slow over-rates only began in the 1950s. Even the notion that it is the restricted range of strokes that causes weakness in fast bowling to correlate with big crowds so well seems doubtful when one sees how many runs fast bowlers of the 1900s and 1910s often conceded. It is possible that the predictability or stereotyped strokes used to hit these fast bowlers vis-à-vis strokes against spin that explains why the correlation is so robust.

Many people who admit there may be truth is the notion that fast bowlers repel crowds more than they attract them (as figures almost unanimously suggest) feel that if the team with fast bowling is very strong (as is universally the case when pitches are fully covered) then fast bowling may still attract crowds. They often point to Lillee and Jeff Thomson in the middle 1970s as an example of this.

However, the article shown here from the Sydney Morning Herald during Australia’s 1984 tour of the West Indies severely questions the myth that fast bowlers attract crowds even in an era of “instant” cricket where the traditional spectator attraction of all-out attacking spin cannot be developed because it is much too expensive in “instant” forms of the sport.

In 1984, with a battery of four fast bowlers (Marshall, Garner, Holding, plus Milton Small, Courtney Walsh, Winston Davis and Wayne Daniel) the West Indies were completely dominating Test cricket. Yet, Peter McFarlane clearly shows that even at the peak of their power Lloyd’s West Indians were losing a great deal of money playing home Test Matches.

McFarlane attributed these losses to the fact that most grounds in the West Indies simply could not accommodate crowds of more than a few thousand, with the exception of Port-of-Spain and to a lesser extent Kingston and Bridgetown. He also said the low incomes of local supporters meant admission charges could rarely be paid. The question then is why the West Indies was not improving facilities to permit larger crowds at a lower price?? One might imagine British mass tourism would have provided a source of money, but McFarlane suggests English tourists did not produce the revenue it did in the 1990s when West Indians were losing interest in cricket in favour of basketball. McFarlane suggests the West Indies Cricket Board possessed more interest in taking the game to sub-marginal locations than to improve the most potentially profitable ones.

However, despite many other highly plausible reasons for poor crowds and low profitability of cricket in the 1980s Caribbean, that very same page (I did not copy it) of the Sydney Morning Herald actually shows the deliberate exclusion of spin bowling by policy and selection to have provided extremely boring cricket in Barbados. No specialist spin bowler had ever been played by the West Indies – being viewed as an expensive luxury with all the fast bowling available – since Gibbs’ retirement nine years beforehand. There is little doubt that the cleverness and variety of an all-out attacking spin bowler like a Mailey in Australia or Goddard, Doug Wright or Jack Walsh in 1946 and 1947 was uniquely entertaining to spectators – of course, most so when these bowlers were freely scored off when yet capable of getting them out with the very next ball.

The evidence provided from (SMH description of) the play in Barbados certainly leaves the possibility highly open that if spin bowling is deliberately excluded either by policy or selection crowds will always stay away no matter how successful the policy become, giving to those who lament the commercialisation of the game by things like 20/20 cricket a clear answer.

A forgotten failure from 1984

In the history of Australian sport, there is one famous case of lights failing during a match, caused by car hitting a power pole:

What surprised me is to find a case where lights had failed twelve years earlier in a rugby league game between Balmain and Eastern Suburbs. Unlike the St. Kilda versus Essendon game from 1996, after twenty-one minutes the players went back onto the SCG and played out the game:

It was, as often occurs during Sydney’s extremely erratic rainstorms, proposed to completely replay the game, even though that would have been hardly fair to a Balmain team that was leading by three tries to one and sixteen points to four.

In the end, despite a reasonable Rooster comeback, the final score was twenty points to twelve and the game was finished by 20:30 on the scheduled night.

Floodlight failures are by no means incredible rarities: there have been several in recent years in English soccer, including one involving the world’s second richest sporting team - Manchester United.

Monday 8 July 2013

Another case of biting ears - this time from union

Ever since my brother back in 1990 - or was it 1989 as I only know it was a Canterbury versus Eastern Suburbs match - I have laughed at the claim that the object of rugby football is to bite people’s ears off!

My brother gained that impression from seeing rugby forwards seem to run into each other without an effort to dodge, as I have previously noted - though it’s more sensible to think that dodging in the dense “traffic”of the centre of a rugby field is not as easy as he would like to believe! He thought that when they hit each other the player with the ball would try to get his teeth around the opponents ear as if they were involved in a genuine combat sport.

It’s strange then that my first instance of biting ears in rugby came in a scrum - and so does my second! This time it’s from rugby union at a time when that code was still officially strictly amateur, though dual internationals like Ricky Stuart admitted it was shamateur and that union players before the Super League war put paid to ideals of amateurism did get renumeration. The ear-biter here was South African front rower Johann le Roux against All Black hooker and captain Sean Fitzpatrick. After a scrum had broken up, the two remained on the ground when le Roux bit.

There was apparently a lot of complaint about the general play of the Springboks in the short period between the end of apartheid and the end of official amateurism in rugby union.

Nonetheless, my late father would have been much more surprised at biting ears in rugby union than in rugby league, which he viewed as much more a “game for thugs” than union, probably owing to the fact that rugby league was the game of the working classes and union that of the upper classes. Even my brother when a child thought that rugby union was less violent and repetitive than league, though I found it much harder to understand because of the “loose mauls” which seemed senseless compared to the play-the-balls of league.

Vis-à-vis league, I (consequently) know almost nothing of the safety record of rugby union, but that does not mean I cannot say that many of the same principles must apply compared to genuinely violent sports like gridiron or ice hockey. It is possible that anger over the collapse of apartheid and the continuous protests that caused it may have affected the way South African rugby union teams played in the first half of the 1990s. It is also possible that anger at not being able to play for so long due to apartheid-related boycotts instilled a sense of determination to the point of aggression in these Springbok teams. I have not read anything to assess these arguments, regardless of their plausibility.

Sunday 7 July 2013

Rugby games where loser kicked a field goal

For a long time, rugby games where the loser scores an odd number of points have been if interest to me.

There are two reasons for this. The first is their relative rarity, because a team will not deliberately kick a one-point field goal unless it is ahead or (when tries were still worth three points) to level the scores. The second is that, as a person irresistibly lured to statistics, games where the losing club scores an odd number of points tend to produce the best Pick The Score dividends, since it takes a lot of skill to predict a team kicking a field goal and then being overtaken by opposition tries or penalty goals. In some cases, in fact, there have been games where no punter has predicted the exact correct score: in these cases prizes remain paid to whoever was closest.

The table attahced gives all NSWRL/ARL/NRL games where a team not winning scored at least one field goal since the reduction to one point in 1971.

In no more than 132 games since 1983, or just over four per season, has the losing team scored an odd number of points, and not one in the separate Super League competition of 1997.

In a mere twenty-two matches since 1983, approximately three ever four seasons, have both teams scored an odd number of points. The most in one season has been three in 1986, when the defensive tactics of “Wozzaball” made field goals much more valuable than they have been in the era of 10-metre defensive lines, uncontested scrums and the 40/20 rule. There were in fact more field goals (22) scored by South Sydney alone in 1986 than by all fourteen teams combined in 2000 (20).

Before the so-called differential scrum penalty, there were also very few field goals: only fifteen in 1980, nineteen in 1979, eleven in 1977 and 1975, a mere ten field goals in 138 games during 1976 and seventeen in 1974.
Match #ClubsScoresPoints TotalsMatch Date
#1Newtown6 tries, 5 goals28Sunday, 23 May 1971
Canterbury4 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals18
#2Eastern Suburbs2 tries, 5 goals16Sunday, 27 June 1971
St. George3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal16
#3Canterbury3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal12Saturday, 8 April 1972
South Sydney6 tries, 4 goals26
#4Balmain1 try,  2 goals, 1 field goal8Tuesday, 25 April 1972
St. George3 tries, 3 goals, 2 field goals17
#5Penrith5 tries, 2 goals19Sunday, 16 July 1972
Newtown4 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19
#6Eastern Suburbs2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal11Sunday, 20 May 1973
St. George4 tries, 4 goals20
#7Newtown2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal11Sunday, 24 June 1973
Manly3 tries, 2 goals13
#8St. George4 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals18Sunday, 05 August 1973
Eastern Suburbs4 tries, 3 goals, 2 field goals20
#9Penrith2 tries, 3 goals, 2 field goals14Sunday, 11 August 1974
Manly5 tries, 7 goals29
#10Penrith2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 30 March 1975
Manly8 tries, 4 goals32
#11North Sydney1 try, 1 goal, 2 field goals7Sunday, 17 August 1975
Eastern Suburbs6 tries, 6 goals30
#12South Sydney1 goal, 2 field goals4Saturday, 10 May 1975
Eastern Suburbs1 try, 2 goals7
#13Eastern Suburbs2 tries, 5 goals16Sunday, 28 March 1976
Penrith2 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals12
#14Penrith5 tries, 4 goals23Sunday, 23 May 1976
St. George3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal12
#15Parramatta1 try, 2 goals7Saturday, 17 July 1976
Canterbury1 try, 1 goal, 2 field goals7
#16North Sydney1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal10Sunday, 27 March 1977
Canterbury2 tries, 2 goals10
#17South Sydney1 try, 3 goals9Sunday, 16 April 1978
Penrith1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal8
#18Newtown6 tries, 4 goals26Sunday, 9 July 1978
North Sydney3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal18
#19Penrith3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal18Sunday, 30 July 1978
St. George3 tries, 5 goals19
#20North Sydney3 tries, 8 goals, 1 field goal26Sunday, 13 August 1978
Western Suburbs4 tries, 7 goals, 1 field goal27
#21Newtown1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal12Sunday, 29 April 1979
Balmain4 tries, 2 goals16
#22Western Suburbs3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal14Sunday, 1 July 1979
South Sydney4 tries, 2 goals16
#23Balmain1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal8Sunday, 19 August 1979
Cronulla2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal11
#24Cronulla2 tries, 4 goals14Sunday, 22 July 1979
Canterbury1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal12
#25Western Suburbs4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 25 May 1980
Parramatta2 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal17
#26Newtown1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal12Saturday, 4 April 1981
Western Suburbs2 tries, 3 goals12
#27Parramatta2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 26 April 1981
North Sydney3 tries, 3 goals15
#28Newtown2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal9Saturday, 30 May 1981
North Sydney3 tries, 1 goal11
#29Canterbury1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal12Sunday, 31 May 1981
Cronulla3 tries, 5 goals19
#30Parramatta3 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal20Sunday, 30 August 1981
Manly4 tries, 4 goals20
#31Penrith1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal6Sunday, 30 August 1981
Balmain5 tries, 5 goals25
#32Canterbury1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal12Sunday, 4 July 1982
Newtown1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal12
#33Eastern Suburbs3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal12Sunday, 18 July 1982
South Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals12
#34Cronulla6 tries, 6 goals36Sunday, 6 March 1983
Eastern Suburbs4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal25
#35South Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 10 April 1983
Penrith7 tries, 4 goals36
#36Penrith3 tries, 3 goals18Sunday, 17 April 1983
Balmain2 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal17
#37South Sydney2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 8 May 1983
Canterbury6 tries, 5 goals34
#38Balmain3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 15 May 1983
Parramatta7 tries, 7 goals42
#39Eastern Suburbs5 tries, 4 goals28Sunday, 12 June 1983
Cronulla1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#40Balmain1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9Sunday, 10 July 1983
Manly3 tries, 2 goals16
#41Illawarra2 tries, 1 goal, 2 field goals12Sunday, 31 July 1983
North Sydney2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#42Parramatta2 tries, 3 goals14Sunday, 3 June 1984
Canterbury2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#43Western Suburbs1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7Sunday, 8 July 1984
St. George5 tries, 3 goals26
#44Penrith2 tries, 4 goals16Sunday, 28 April 1985
South Sydney1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11
#45St. George3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19Saturday, 4 May 1985
Balmain3 tries, 6 goals24
#46Penrith1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9Sunday, 19 May 1985
Western Suburbs3 tries, 3 goals18
#47Cronulla4 tries, 5 goals26Sunday, 2 June 1985
Manly2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#48Eastern Suburbs3 goals, 1 field goal7Monday, 1 July 1985
Canterbury2 tries, 3 goals14
#49Balmain2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 4 August 1985
St. George2 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal17
#50Manly2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 23 March 1986
St. George2 tries, 4 goals16
#51North Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 20 April 1986
South Sydney5 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal31
#52St. George1 try, 1 field goal5Saturday, 10 May 1986
Eastern Suburbs1 try, 3 goals10
#53North Sydney2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 18 May 1986
St. George4 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal27
#54Balmain3 goals, 1 field goal7Saturday, 24 May 1986
North Sydney3 tries, 2 goals16
#55St. George1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11Sunday, 25 May 1986
Canterbury2 tries, 3 goals14
#56Canberra5 goals10Saturday, 31 May 1986
St. George1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#57South Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 1 June 1986
Balmain5 tries, 5 goals30
#58Balmain2 tries, 3 goals14Sunday, 29 June 1986
Manly1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9
#59Penrith1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11Sunday, 27 July 1986
Manly2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#60Balmain2 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals14Tuesday, 2 September 1986
North Sydney1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#61Balmain5 tries, 8 goals36Saturday, 13 September 1986
South Sydney1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11
#62Western Suburbs1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11Sunday, 15 March 1987
Manly4 tries, 3 goals22
#63Western Suburbs2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11Sunday, 29 March 1987
South Sydney2 tries, 3 goals14
#64Canberra8 tries, 7 goals46Sunday, 19 April, 1987
Western Suburbs2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#65Cronulla3 tries, 3 goals18Monday, 20 April 1987
Manly2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#66Parramatta2 tries, 2 goals12Saturday, 9 May 1987
North Sydney1 try, 1 field goal5
#67Balmain3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal15Sunday, 14 June 1987
Canterbury2 tries, 5 goals18
#68Manly5 tries, 3 goals26Sunday, 21 June 1987
Western Suburbs4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal25
#69Canberra4 tries, 3 goals22Sunday, 21 June 1987
Illawarra2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15
#70Eastern Suburbs2 tries, 3 goals14Sunday, 21 June 1987
North Sydney1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal13
#71St. George2 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals14Monday, 29 June 1987
Eastern Suburbs1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#72Canberra4 tries, 3 goals22Sunday, 5 July 1987
St. George2 goals, 1 field goal5
#73Eastern Suburbs2 tries, 1 goal, 2 field goals12Sunday, 5 July 1987
Balmain2 tries, 2 goals12
#74North Sydney4 tries, 5 goals26Sunday, 19 July 1987
St. George4 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal23
#75Illawarra3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17Sunday, 16 August 1987
Manly5 tries, 4 goals28
#76Canterbury4 tries, 3 goals22Saturday, 26 March 1988
Canberra3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17
#77Eastern Suburbs2 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals14Friday, 22 April 1988
North Sydney2 tries, 3 goals14
#78South Sydney3 tries, 5 goals22Sunday, 1 May 1988
Balmain2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#79Cronulla3 tries, 3 goals18Sunday, 12 June 1988
Parramatta2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#80Balmain2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 19 June 1988
Canberra6 tries, 7 goals, 1 field goal39
#81St. George2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 26 March 1989
Eastern Suburbs3 tries, 1 goal14
#82North Sydney1 try, 1 field goal5Sunday, 2 July 1989
Canberra2 tries, 2 goals, 2 field goals14
#83Penrith1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11Saturday, 29 July 1989
Parramatta3 tries, 3 goals18
#84North Sydney1 field goal1Sunday, 20 August 1989
Newcastle3 tries, 1 goal14
#85Cronulla1 try, 2 goals8Saturday, 7 April 1990
Canberra1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#86Canberra4 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal27Sunday, 3 June 1990
Newcastle3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21
#87St. George1 try, 2 field goals6Sunday, 8 July 1990
Manly1 try, 3 goals10
#88Newcastle3 tries, 3 goals18Sunday, 8 July 1990
South Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#89Eastern Suburbs3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 29 July 1990
South Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#90Parramatta1 try, 3 goals, 2 field goals12Friday, 10 August 1990
Newcastle1 try, 3 goals, 2 field goals12
#91Eastern Suburbs3 tries, 2 goals16Sunday, 26 August 1990
Cronulla2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#92Western Suburbs2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 24 March 1991
North Sydney3 tries, 3 goals18
#93Parramatta2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Friday, 5 April 1991
Brisbane4 tries, 5 goals26
#94Balmain1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9Sunday, 7 April 1991
Eastern Suburbs3 tries, 3 goals18
#95Illawarra2 tries, 2 goals12Sunday, 14 April 1991
Balmain1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9
#96Newcastle3 goals, 1 field goal7Sunday, 14 April 1991
Eastern Suburbs1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#97Parramatta2 tries, 4 goals16Sunday, 12 May 1991
Balmain3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal15
#98South Sydney3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal15Sunday, 12 May 1991
Manly4 tries, 4 goals24
#99Manly1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 18 August 1991
Canberra3 tries, 1 goal14
#100South Sydney3 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal23Sunday, 18 August 1991
Cronulla6 tries, 3 goals30
#101Manly2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 12 April 1992
Newcastle3 tries, 2 goals16
#102St. George3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17Sunday, 26 April 1992
Balmain3 tries, 5 goals22
#103Canterbury2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11Sunday, 5 July 1992
Newcastle1 try, 4 goals12
#104Newcastle4 tries, 3 goals22Sunday, 30 August 1992
Canberra2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#105Newcastle3 tries, 3 goals18Sunday, 21 March 1993
Western Suburbs1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9
#106North Sydney3 tries, 5 goals22Saturday, 3 April 1993
Western Suburbs1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9
#107Illawarra1 try, 1 field goal5Friday, 21 May 1993
St. George1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9
#108Eastern Suburbs1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7Saturday, 22 May 1993
Balmain3 tries, 3 goals18
#109Canterbury3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17Sunday, 27 June 1993
North Sydney4 tries, 1 goal18
#110Penrith4 tries, 4 goals24Sunday, 4 July 1993
Newcastle2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#111Balmain2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 4 July 1993
Illawarra4 tries, 1 goal18
#112Western Suburbs1 try, 3 goals, 1 field goal11Sunday, 25 July 1993
Newcastle3 tries, 4 goals20
#113Gold Coast2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Sunday, 8 August 1993
South Sydney3 tries, 2 goals16
#114Newcastle1 try, 2 goals, 2 field goals10Sunday, 3 April 1994
Manly1 try, 4 goals, 1 field goal13
#115Manly5 tries, 4 goals28Sunday, 17 April 1994
South Sydney2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#116Manly2 tries, 6 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 8 May 1994
Brisbane2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#117Canberra5 tries, 4 goals28Sunday, 23 April 1995
Western Reds4 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal21
#118North Sydney1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9Friday, 19 May 1995
Brisbane3 tries, 3 goals18
#119St. George3 tries, 1 field goal13Friday, 16 June 1995
Newcastle4 tries, 4 goals24
#120Sydney Tigers2 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal19Sunday, 7 July 1996
St. George5 tries, 5 goals30
#121North Sydney4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal25Sunday, 14 July 1996
Sydney City5 tries, 5 goals30
#122Brisbane4 tries, 4 goals24Monday, 15 July 1996
Newcastle3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19
#123North Sydney2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Monday, 29 July 1996
Cronulla2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15
#124Balmain1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9Friday, 18 April 1997
North Sydney3 goals, 1 field goal7
#125Sydney City5 tries, 6 goals, 1 field goal33Saturday, 6 September 1997
North Sydney3 tries, 3 goals, 3 field goals21
#126Parramatta3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal15Sunday, 29 March 1998
North Queensland3 tries, 1 goal, 2 field goals16
#127Melbourne4 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal21Saturday, 27 June 1998
Auckland4 tries, 4 goals24
#128Penrith3 tries, 1 field goal13Saturday, 4 July 1998
Newcastle2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#129Western Suburbs3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17Sunday, 12 July 1998
Newcastle4 tries, 1 goal18
#130St. George2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15Sunday, 23 August 1998
Parramatta2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15
#131Melbourne5 tries, 3 goals26Friday, 26 March 1999
Canterbury3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17
#132Canberra3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 25 April 1999
Newcastle4 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal21
#133Penrith3 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal15Sunday, 16 May 1999
Newcastle4 tries, 2 goals20
#134North Sydney3 tries, 4 goals, 2 field goals22Sunday, 18 July 1999
Manly4 tries, 6 goals28
#135St. George Illawarra1 try, 2 goals, 1 field goal9Sunday, 12 March 2000
Wests Tigers2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15
#136Newcastle5 tries, 3 goals26Sunday, 23 April 2000
Parramatta3 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal23
#137Penrith5 tries, 6 goals32Sunday, 4 June 2000
Wests Tigers5 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal31
#138North Queensland2 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal17Saturday, 17 February 2001
Brisbane4 tries, 1 goal18
#139Sydney Roosters4 tries, 4 goals24Sunday, 11 March 2001
Canberra2 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal17
#140Sharks2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Saturday, 7 April 2001
Sydney Roosters4 tries, 3 goals22
#141Parramatta3 tries, 4 goals20Sunday 05 May 2002
North Queensland3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19
#142St. George Illawarra4 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 12 May 2002
Canberra4 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal21
#143Sharks6 tries, 5 goals34Saturday, 8 June 2002
St. George Illawarra2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#144Newcastle3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21Sunday, 28 July 2002
Bulldogs4 tries, 3 goals22
#145Penrith5 tries, 5 goals30Saturday 03 May 2003
Manly5 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal29
#146Brisbane3 tries, 6 goals, 1 field goal25Friday, 5 September 2003
St. George Illawarra4 tries, 5 goals26
#147Bulldogs3 tries, 2 goals16Sunday, 3 October 2003
Sydney Roosters2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#148Penrith7 tries, 6 goals40Sunday, 30 May 2004
Bulldogs5 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal29
#149Canberra5 tries, 4 goals, 2 field goals30Sunday, 25 July 2004
New Zealand5 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal29
#150Bulldogs3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21Saturday, 4 June 2005
South Sydney3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21
#151Brisbane5 tries, 4 goals28Sunday, 17 July 2005
Melbourne2 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal15
#152Bulldogs2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Saturday, 6 August 2005
Newcastle4 tries, 6 goals28
#153St. George Illawarra1 try, 1 goal, 2 field goals8Friday, 2 June 2006
Parramatta1 field goal1
#154Newcastle5 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal25Friday, 29 June 2007
South Sydney5 tries, 4 goals28
#155Newcastle3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17Saturday, 21 July 2007
Sydney Roosters4 tries, 2 goals20
#156Sydney Roosters5 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal31Sunday, 5 August 2007
New Zealand5 tries, 5 goals, 1 field goal31
#157Brisbane5 tries, 5 goals30Sunday, 26 August 2007
Canberra3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19
#158Parramatta4 tries, 3 goals, 2 field goals24Friday, 28 March 2008
Newcastle4 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal23
#159South Sydney4 tries, 4 goals24Monday, 23 June 2008
Gold Coast Titans4 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal23
#160Cronulla2 tries, 4 goals16Saturday, 19 July 2008
Newcastle2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#161Brisbane5 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal25Friday, 22 August 2008
Gold Coast Titans3 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal21
#162South Sydney4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal25Sunday, 24 August 2008
Canberra7 tries, 6 goals40
#163St. George Illawarra2 tries, 2 goals12Sunday, 3 May 2009
New Zealand2 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal11
#164Gold Coast Titans3 tries, 3 goals18Sunday, 24 May 2009
Manly3 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal17
#165Manly4 tries, 4 goals, 2 field goals26Saturday, 19 June 2010
South Sydney4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal25
#166North Queensland3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19Saturday, 26 June 2010
Cronulla4 tries, 1 goal, 2 field goals20
#167Canberra3 tries, 4 goals20Saturday, 24 July 2010
Cronulla2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#168Sydney Roosters7 tries, 6 goals40Friday, 11 March 2011
South Sydney5 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal29
#169Cronulla2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13Saturday, 09 April 2011
Manly3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19
#170Gold Coast Titans4 tries, 4 goals24Saturday, 30 April 2011
Sydney Roosters2 tries, 2 goals, 1 field goal13
#171Canterbury1 try, 1 goal, 2 field goals8Friday, 22 July 2011
Parramatta1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7
#172Canberra4 tries, 4 goals24Monday, 25 July 2011
St. George Illawarra4 tries, 1 goal, 1 field goal19
#173Sydney Roosters6 tries, 6 goals36Saturday, 20 August 2011
Cronulla4 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal25
#174Canberra3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19Saturday, 03 March 2012
Melbourne4 tries, 4 goals24
#175Cronulla3 tries, 4 goals20Saturday, 16 June 2012
New Zealand3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19
#176New Zealand3 tries, 3 goals, 1 field goal19Saturday, 21 July 2012
Newcastle4 tries, 4 goals24
#177Cronulla3 tries, 4 goals20Saturday, 18 August 2012
South Sydney1 try, 1 goal, 1 field goal7