PJTC HISTORY FILES

Taranto took a punt and I admire him for that.  But unfortunately his Reds tip couldn't stand up and he's taken a bad fall. He has my utmost respect tho, as he didn't settle for a place (as we've seen in the past) and he put up one of the strongest defences of a title that we've ever seen.  He can hold his head high and I'm sure we'll see him featuring yet again.  

It's now down to a fight for 2nd and all the other rankings I suppose.  Ruck'n Roll holds 2nd place and has nothing more to aim for, but he has 6 tipsters within the 12 point margin, so he's not safe yet.  Team Brumbie has moved into 3rd, after another Foreigner, Boof, completely botched his semi final chances by failing to tip.  Dodgy Deano still holds onto the lead in the Home Sprint, but has The Ohopian and Furrinher nipping at his heels.  It will be interesting to see if The Ohopian attempts to add the Home Sprint to her trophy cabinet.  

38 Wild Cards played this weekend.. the most ever played in one round in PJTC history.  The Bulls victory knocked out absolutely everyone from any chance of a Clean Sweep.  And my Mum has celebrated Mother's Day by pulling out to an 11 point lead over Taranto and looks more and more likely to be the first ever chick to win the Jacket.  Then again, this is where Taranto struck from in last year's Super 12, so it's going to be a nervous fortnight.  A few more names have thrown their names into the fight for a place... with Boof, Team Brumbie, Funkalot, and Bok Choy playing solid Wild Cards and moving into the Top Ten.  3 Tipsters succeeded in getting ZERO games correct.  And the Battle for the Blouse is really all over, with the untipping Indigo 26 points behind second to last (Fifi). 

Dodgy Deano has held onto his Home Sprint lead, but only by a point over Furrinher and The Ohopian. 

Good ol' Mum still holds the lead, and reliable ol' Taranto still trails by 5 points.  I don't know what terrible injury Ruck'n Roll suffered but sitting in 3rd and failing to tip calls for a hard long look at oneself!  Luckily the away teams were more fortunate than the home ones and he only fell 3 points off the pace.  Second placed Taranto is now 9 points ahead of 3rd, and it's another 6 points to Vornpuke in 4th.  I was very late closing down and getting the Tipsters' Tips up, technical hitches combined with the "real life" bug meant that I couldn't update the site till the end of the first game (of course Gladiator's lack of a "real life" meant that he spotted the opening and grabbed the opportunity to change his tip to the Chiefs at 8.30pm... very clever - but still a professional foul and a yellow card).

3 Clean Sweeps for the round... Pony Club Girl, Serpico, and Boyesee... very impressive.  Boyesee (the reigning Wearer of the Jacket) is the only tipster to have managed 3 Clean Sweeps in this comp.  That might be a record.... I'll look it up.  The 97 NPC champ Serpico was also playing his Wild Card and leapt up the ladder 48 places... maybe the form is returning?  Finally.    

Got the new ladder up now... and the latest Home Sprint ladder, currently being led by Dodgy Deano (who's wife we know nothing about - we know nothing about Dodgy himself either). 

We've still got a fight for the title on... Taranto has crept back up to trail The Ohopian by only 5 points and it looks like we've got a new contender, as Ruck'n Roll's Clean Sweep has pulled him to within 11 points of the lead.  I guess even Stench and Vornpuke are a chance, trailing by 18 and 20 respectively.  9 Clean Sweep's for the round, and I find that quite impressive in a round that scored an average of just over 12 lousy points.  6 Tipsters played WCs and came away with less than satisfactory results, except for 2 BOP tipsters who managed 17s.  With two dodgy rounds ahead tho, anything could happen.  I'm off to count some chickens.  

Got the new ladder up now... and the latest Home Sprint ladder, currently being led by Furrinher (who's wife is spending too much time with Woody Allen). 

What a shocker!  An average score of 8.7.  Quite possibly a brand new record low Wild Card score from Evil Lord, who managed just 3 bonus points for the round while playing his card.  43 tipsters picked only one (or less!) game correctly.  The 9 WCs played dragged their tipsters further into oblivion.  And it's looking more like a 1 horse race now as my "mother" has stretched her lead over Taranto to 9 points.  And Taranto has a 9 point lead over 3rd placed Stench.   The Badger's chances pretty much went up in smoke as he played his 2nd WC. 

My Mum recently did a tour of several of the family tipsters.  And none of us could get a reasonable explanation out of her as to how she's doing it.  Altho she seems relaxed, one of my aunties reported that she was seen reading the sports section of the Herald.

Analysis Special: 
I've done a bit of research and Round 9 of the 2001 Super 12 is officially the worst round in PJTC scoring history. (NB: this is post 1998 Super 12, the last S12 comp before wins were worth 4 points).  The second worst scoring round was in Round 4 of the 98 S12... five tipsters (13.8%) picked one game correctly and the average score for the round was 2.36 points (1 pt per win, no bonus points)... this equals 9.44 points under today's scoring system.  The third worst scoring round was in the 1999 Super 12... another Round 9.   That shocker had an average of 10.18 points. It had 5 tipsters (6.8%) pick 1 or less game correctly. This year's calamity had an average score of only 8.71 points. It had 43 tipsters (48.3%) pick 1 or less game correctly. 

At this stage in the 2000 Super 12, I was leading the comp (those were the days), on 185 points having played 2 WCs. I'd picked 35 games correctly. Taranto sat in 2nd on 182 points (32 wins). Sly-dog was looking ominous on 175 points with a WC in hand, (36 wins). Interestingly, The Ohopian sat in 3rd equal, on 180 points, (35 wins), and Furrinher was yet to make his move, with 2 WCs in hand, 147 points, (33 wins). As we know, Taranto came thru in the final and robbed Furrinher of certain victory. 

In Round 9 of the 99 S12 Deep Blue sat on top of the ladder, with 203 points, 2 WCs played, (36 wins). He had a 6 point lead over Ace, his nearest threat, and a 21 point lead over E, who went on to win the title.

In Round 9 of the 98 S12 Pipster was leading the way on 41 wins and having played no WC.  This comp introduced Wild Cards for the first time, altho only one per tipster.  After the 97 NPC had introduced 4 points for a win, and the close loss bonus point, we returned to 1 point for a win due to the limited nature of the software we were using.  And look who pops up again... Taranto... sitting in 2nd place on 40 wins.  Deep Blue also sat on 40 points but had played his WC.  In fact there were 14 tipsters within 5 games (20 pts in today's value), but only 4 of them still had their WC remaining.     

In the 97 Super 12, Simon Harper was leading the comp with 35 wins, with 5 tipsters sitting on 34 wins.  The WC didn't exist.  15 tipsters were within the 5-game margin... that's nearly three-quarters of the field.  It was a small field, but the quality was undoubtably the best we've seen and it took talent of immeasurable proportions to decide a champion!

This year, we have The Ohopian on 205 points with 40 wins!. There are only 4 tipsters within 21 points, and only one of them's a rookie, but if we take 16 points as the average 
WC score, we'll throw Bok Choy (with a WC in hand) in the mix as well. But there's still 3 full rounds of unpredictable muddle to go.  Remember that a semi final is worth 8 points and the final is worth 12.  Don't anyone panic just yet.

(Excuse me Pipster!  Are you still convinced the Sharks won't make the Top Four?!  Cos ever since I started tipping them I seem to be doing a hell of a lot better!)

Taranto has been caught!  By The Ohopian!  MY MOTHER!!  I thought she just had ambitions on grabbing Top Chick, but no... not enough.  She leaves the country and pulls off a Clean Sweep!  Hanging onto her spot at the top of the ladder and holding off the Wild Card challenge from Taranto.  She's now 6 points ahead of him, and they've both played their WCs, and he's still 12 points ahead of the nearest tipster also having played two WCs... that's Stench, and then Ruck'n Roll and Vornpuke... better give their names a mention as they may feature later on.   The only other threat seems to be from The Badger, another tipster who managed a Clean Sweep and sits 24 points behind The Ohopian with a WC in hand.  He has an 11 point lead over Bok Choy and Team Brumbie who also sit with a WC to play.  Aardvark and Moose also pulled off the Sweep, and Moose will be very proud of his 100% success in his preview.  

Round 8 was the first round of the Home Sprint but it'll be later in the week till we get that ladder up.  Obviously the 4 who pulled off Sweeps lead it.  The Home Sprint is run over the last 5 rounds of the Home and Away and the semis and finals.  There's $100 for whoever wins it.

This week we'll be kicking out those tipsters who haven't paid unless we get a bloody good note from their mothers.

That weekend was an utter tragedy.  It was always destined to fail when I found myself cooking dinner for my girlie on Friday night... during the game!  (Why is it that partners don't understand that there are only 4 important weekends a year?!)  So it was hardly surprising when I got the Brumbies tip wrong, not really unexpected when the car wouldn't start, kinda predictable when I accidentally stabbed myself with a pair of nail scissors, pretty damn run of the mill when I broke my leg in 18 places during some weekend social sport, and written all over the wall when I managed 50% of correct tips.  

19 Wild Cards were played, and one invalid one from Ice T, which we'll have to assume for his own safety was just an oversight.  We've red-carded tipsters for that offence in the past, but as he's just a rookie we just issued a warning.  And that's a warning everyone heard!  Only 2 Tipsters pulled off a Clean Sweep... Mrs Bee and Ale Water... and they're a married couple!  Now I know a few of you will assume that one of them just copied the other, but I can assure you they tip very independently.  In fact, I'm surprised they both had the same tips, based on previous form.  But it's a bit of a victory for the BOP tipsters, both of them from down that way... and now we have another BOP tipster on top of the ladder... The Ohopian... more than that, she might just be able to give Taranto a run for his money, as she's only trailing him by 2 points in the Pure Score.  What's more,  it's my mother??!  (I'll just add that to the weekend of torment). 

So, a quick summary of the ladder... The Ohopian leads everyone, with 2 WCs played, but only has a 12 point margin on Taranto, who still leads all the 1 x WC played.  He has a 12 point lead on the next highest placed 1xWC Tipster... The Badger... and a 32 point lead over Boof, who is the leading Tipster yet to play a WC.  

The Home Sprint will probably be starting this weekend... this is a comp for the "rest of us"... it doesn't take Wild Cards into account, and it's based on the last 5 rounds and the finals.  We'll also be kicking out those tipsters who haven't paid unless we get a bloody good note from their mothers.   

Sorry about the wait, hopefully the Hypothetical came in useful for those eager to see results.  Taranto still holds that commanding lead, still 12 points over the closest tipsters who have also played one Wild Card.  Although the number of chasers is dropping, only The Badger and The Ohopian maintaining his pace.  He's actually on top of the ladder, with equal points to Big Jim, who's played 2 WCs!  Ruck'n Roll and Team Brumbie may be future threats, as they follow him by  32 and 33 points with an extra Wild Card to play, but it's gonna take more than one good WC to do the job.  Something has to be done about this Taranto. 

No Clean Sweeps for the round, I think the Hurricane's unpredictable fortunes ruined any chance of those.  They have the bye in Round 9 if you're keen to keep them away from your Wild Card.  The average score was a pathetic 12 points, with 3 tipsters bravely punting Wild Cards.  Pretty soon we start up the Home Sprint, something for the stragglers to get passionate about... I think it's the last 4 or 5 rounds of the Home and Away rounds, and the finals.   

A total of 3 Yellow Cards usually means a heavy fine and we've had to ping 5 tipsters with a red, meaning an automatic deduction of 4 points from their score.  

We've got the Hypothetical Results working.  This is very useful if we're late at updating the ladder or if you just want to see results halfway through the weekend after a couple of games (altho I think you've still got to enter results for all the games).  It can also be useful for a lagging self-belief if you want to see "what could've been".  This page will be updated for each round after the tipping deadline.  Remember when using it that it is an unofficial ladder as there may still be Wild Cards to reject, yellow cards to add, and penalty deductions to be applied.

At last we've finally had a bit of a "decider"... the Chiefs vs Highlanders had the tipsters pretty evenly split, altho the Chiefs completely annihilated any chance of a close game.  It's been 3 weeks since the last away victory in this Super 12, it was the Brumbies then and it's them again now.   And I've got a terrible feeling that the Sharks aren't actually that bad, only just losing a mongrel 5 yellow-cards encounter with the Cats... but at least I've finally got a Sharks game correct.

Aptly named "Flame Boy" plummeted spectacularly to the ground in a ball of flames during the 5th round of the PJTC.  Like 47 others he'd latched onto a winning combination, tipping all home games, and dotting down for a Clean Sweep.  Not only this, but he trumped it with a perfectly placed Wild Card and was looking at 44 points for the round, until the video ref decided otherwise!  In a heartless display of ruthless efficiency, the Wild Card was rejected upon learning that his entry fee had not been paid and Maddog's laughter echoed through the corridors.   The bonus points were also deducted.  This is a tragedy of "Bullerian proportions" (Errol 2001), a monumental fumble, and will go down in the PJTC record books as a night never to be forgotten. 

Late Breaking News... 
4 more tipsters test positive!!  In one of the most controversial weekends in PJTC history, 4 more tipsters were stripped of their Clean Sweep bonus points as the tests came in... 4 more victims of the new Treasurer Maddog reign.  Deep Blue, BlueHunter, Beeip, and Ace suffered the embarassing decision, but none of them could be contacted for comment.   Journalists swooped on Maddog's office to find out if there was going to be any more shocking news after the Judiciary were due to sit tonight, but he would only chuckle in response to the questions.   

Another round of home wins and plenty of tipsters taking advantage of the predictable results... 48 of you bastards!  I have now developed an irrational hatred of the Sharks and will probably continue to tip against them for the rest of the season until I've adequately vented my frustration.  (The introduction of relegation may have to wait another comp.)  Taranto has now stretched his lead over the next 1xWC tipster to 12 points and only trails the 2xWC tipsters by a couple of points.  He's 32 points ahead of the nearest tipster yet to play a WC and basically he looks unbeatable.  He is currently undergoing a series of steroid tests.  This is eerily familiar to his performance in last year's Super 12, but hopefully some tipster will soon emerge from the shadows and make a fight of this.  Anyone intending to do so should contact Furrinher, as he claims he was "robbed" of the title last year and will have valuable advice to pass on.    

It was a bad round to play a Wild Card, for the 11 tipsters who did... average WC score was 14.82, nearly 2 points lower than the average so far.  The average score for this round was a sad 13.55, also nearly 2 points lower than current averages.  Interestingly enough, if you'd just picked all home games thus far, you'd have a Pure Score of 86 points, 5 more than Taranto... reminds me of the 97 Super 12... great comp that one!

The bottom of the ladder is developing a bit of consistency with the Duke of Malakof holding his own quite nicely, but a few others appear keen to join him.  You wouldn't want to have the promotion-relegation system introduced right now!  It was a tragic round to forget to tip... all home wins meant they only received 2 lousy points and a quick trip to the nether regions of the ladder.         

A few more tipsters have scampered from the field so we'll finalise prize details soon.  We've dished out heaps of Yellow Cards for those tipsters who haven't paid, and we've got our first example of a tipster (El Sina) missing out on the Clean Sweep bonus points due to lack of payment.  If you believe you have paid and it hasn't been registered please contact us.  All those who haven't paid before the Round 5 deadline will receive another Card and life will go steadily downhill from there.     

Taranto has shot out to an early favourite tag with the highest current Pure Score... this is the defending PJTC Super 12 champion, well and truly shaking that post-championship hangover.  Others of note are Abbo and The Badger (both rookies), Swuftie and Ruck'n Roll, and The Ohopian (chick - and my mother!).   

Maddog has done a runner on us and is the second Board member in as many weeks to be spotted in Sydney.  Until his return I'm not sure that we can confirm the eligibility of all the Wild Cards played so later in the week we may see a few bounced back to their rightful owners.        

Officially we were supposed to be Yellow Carding anyone who hadn't paid by the Round 3 deadline, but in another benevolent display of leniency we've decided to postpone that penalty till the beginning of Round 4.   Note though... if you haven't paid by the beginning of Round 4 you will receive your first Yellow Card!  As I get further down the ladder, I get less tolerant.