ESG&EC NRL Tipping Competition

The National Rugby League's (NRL) twenty-six week minor premiership commences on March 1.  The four-week Finals Series begins September 7 and concludes with the Grand Final on September 30.

You lodge ten selections on-line each and every round of the minor premiership. These picks are a mix of "Scratch" selections (where no starts are involved) and "FootyTAB" selections (where starts are taken into account).

The competition accepts the score at the conclusion of normal time, i.e. 80 minutes, as the result for regular season games.  Any result coming from "golden point" extra time is ignored.

Winning selections receive 2 points with 1 point given for a draw.  If none of your Scratch or FootyTAB selections lose (includes drawn games), you receive a bonus point in that category.  For picking the perfect round, all your selections winning (excludes drawn games), you receive a further bonus of 2 points.  On a regular weekend (10 selections), that's a total of 24 points.

Most weekends have two cut-off times.  These times are updated weekly on the Games & Starts page of our web site (www.esgec.org/nrl/nrlgamesstarts.htm) and are also included in the e-mail reminders you receive.  If there is no reminder/update provided, the default cut-off times are the round's opening game and Saturday's first game.  To have your selections accepted and eligible for all bonus points, they must be lodged on-line before the first cut-off time.  E-mail or phone can be used as an emergency option.

Tipsters can e-mail late selections up until the second cut-off time but they are penalised one Scratch game.  These nine picks (5 Scratch and 4 FootyTAB) can only be chosen from the remaining games (refer to "Late Lodging" for details).  Once the second cut-off time has passed, no further selections are accepted.  If you fail to lodge selections there is a set, sliding scale of points (refer to "Not Lodging" for details).

This season there are 3 weekends (Rds 11, 14 and 17) with just 5 games.  On those weekends, all selections must be in by the start of the first game and the usual mix of 6 Scratch and 4 FootyTAB winners will be changed to 5 and 5.

Prizemoney will be confirmed after Round 2 when entry has closed.  As a guide, with 101 starters last year's money was:

• Overall (Rounds 1-26) Placings  1st $2000, 2nd $1500 and 3rd $1000,
• Rounds 1-8, 9-17 & 18-26  Leading overall and FootyTAB tipster/s  $200 each segment,
• 3 FootyTAB Knockouts $150 each,
• Finals Series competition for 16 "lucky" tipsters  $400, and
• The first 4 tipsters missing out on overall prizemoney get free entry to the following year's competition (tipping for free in 2012 are Greg Chalmers, John O'Neil, John Tetzlaff and Joe Bugner).

On Saturday, a summary of all selections lodged by the first cut-off will be placed on the web site.

Results are posted shortly after the final game of the round.  Tipsters are listed on the results sheet by overall score, then score this round, then FootyTAB score this round and then by position from the previous week.

I trust that the information provided here will overcome any and all obstacles encountered during the season but if something unforeseen comes along I, Fatcat, am the sole arbiter of issues that occur during the course and conduct of this competition.

You make selections in either category from your choice of games.  The only restriction is that you cannot "box" a game to ensure a winning selection.

Most weekends, tipsters who miss the first cut-off can lodge late selections but they are restricted to:

1. nine selections (5 Scratch and 4 FootyTAB) chosen from the remaining games;
2. lodging by e-mail only;
3. maximum score of 19 points; and
4. tips must be with me before the second cut-off time.

Any late tips that include 10 picks will not be accepted either in part or in full.  The administrator adds a losing team to the 9 picks to make up the required 10 selections.

On the first two occasions you receive a maximum of 10 points (7 Scratch and 3 FootyTAB), the 3rd and 4th times a maximum of 8 points (5 and 3) and on the fifth time a maximum of 6 points (3 and 3).  If you fail to lodge selections a sixth time, you are eliminated from the competition.  This maximum will be reduced if:

1. there are less than 5 games (10 selections) available for the round e.g. if there are only 4 games (8 selections) the maximum would be 8 points; and/or
2. there are drawn games (lose a scratch point for each draw); and/or
3. the highest score recorded by anyone lodging selections was less than your set score.  Although this is extremely unlikely, you would get the same points as the top 'lodged' score.

Are accepted up until the start of Round 2, and will be given a maximum score of 10 points for Round 1 as per the "Not Lodging" conditions.  The Round 1 miss does not count towards their "not lodged" total.

The NSW TAB, under it's FootyTAB Pick the Winners banner, allocates starts to the lesser-fancied team in each game.  If you pick the Warriors with 3½ points start playing Newcastle, the Warriors can lose the game but they must be no worse than 3 points behind Newcastle at full-time to win as a FootyTAB selection.  If you pick Newcastle, they must win the game by at least 4 points to win as a FootyTAB selection.

Starts with your Round 2 picks and you need a minimum 2 winners from your 4 FootyTAB selections to stay alive.  After 5 weeks the minimum number of winners required will increase to 3.  If you fail to lodge selections you are eliminated.  If there is no outright winner a count back will determine one, and only one, from those who went to the final week.

Our lucky door prize for 16 tipsters.  Participants will be asked to list the order in which they believe the 8 teams will finish the Finals Series e.g. the Grand Finalists obviously finish first and second, the two teams eliminated in Week 3, 3rd and 4th, the two teams eliminated in Week 2, 5th and 6th, and the two teams eliminated in Week 1, 7th and 8th.

The team with the smaller losing margin each weekend will be given the higher finish.  If the two losing margins are the same, the team with the better ranking at the beginning of the FS will be given the higher finish.

Each position carries a points value – 1st=36 pts, 2nd=28 pts, 3rd=21 pts, 4th=15 pts, 5th=10 pts, 6th=6 pts, 7th=3 pts and 8th=1 pt.  If you nominate St.George to finish 4th, you cap their points at 15.  If they finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd, you still only get 15 pts.  If they finish worse than 4th, say 6th, you receive the points for 6th place.  If you nominate every team correctly, you would score 120 pts.

Based on your position in Round 1, you are teamed with other tipsters and also linked to an NRL club.  Tipsters in positions 1, 52, 53 and so on will be in team A, positions 2, 51 and 54 etc. in team B, through to team Z.

For your NRL club, people in positions 1, 17 and 33 and so on will be linked to Brisbane, positions 2, 18 and 34 to the Bulldogs and through the rest of the clubs in alphabetical order.

To participate in this end of season competition, you must have lodged selections in 5 of the last 6 weeks (Rounds 21-26).  The two means of entry, in order, are:

1. At the end of the regular season, the points from the three highest placed tipsters in each team are tallied and the three teams with the highest totals gain those three members a start in our Finals Series (if teams are tied, count back using only the two highest), and
2. The others (and you can only gain one entry) will come from the highest placed tipsters linked to the most successful FootyTAB club/s.

Will be used to decide ties in some of the minor competitions.  For the alphabetical teams, if teams are tied, tally top 2 tipsters only.  For the FootyTAB Knockout, take those with highest score from final week back to previous round – others eliminated.  Check for a high score amongst this group – others eliminated.  Continue until there is one winner.  If not possible, allow them to carry over into next competition.

The "full-time" score is the final score.  Post match decisions by the NRL do not change the final score of any game for the purposes of this competition.  If a game is:

1. deferred but played before the next round, your original selection stands;
2. not played at all, the game will be regarded as a draw for Scratch and FootyTAB selections;
3. called off before full-time but the NRL considers the game complete (e.g. the game is not replayed and competition points are awarded) this competition will accept the incomplete game score as the full-time score.