While this past Round 24 “Turn to Me” round was filled with intrigue and excitement with finals places on the line – the weekend also threw out some quirky statistics.
Queensland Rugby League stats guru Brad Tallon spotted a number of interesting occurrences from the round and shared them with his followers on Twitter.
One of them saw CQ Capras debutant Charlice Atoi lay claim to being the 4000th Cup player (since the inception of the Queensland statewide competition in 1996) – beating the Northern Pride’s Peter Hola onto the field by 42 seconds.
The Ipswich Jets also sparked his interest – outside of clinching a finals berth in the final half of the final game of the final round.
The 2015 premiers became the first team ever to score more goals than tries in a season.
They side finished the regular season with 91 tries and 94 goals after Marmin Barba slotted three conversions and two penalties goals in their win over the Norths Devils.
Their victory and subsequent place in the finals came at the expense of the 2017 title holders the PNG Hunters who fell in their final round game to the CQ Capras.
While disappointed to miss the cut; they are not alone in having trouble backing up the year after claiming the Intrust Super Cup title.
In fact – this year was the third time in a row the defending premiers haven’t made finals the following season.
Furthermore – it is the fourth time in five years; with the anomaly coming from the Northern Pride who backed up their 2014 victory with a place in the 2015 finals (finishing in sixth place).
However, they got knocked out in first week of finals after having 50 points put on them by eventual premiers Ipswich in a 54-26 loss.
Keep an eye on QRL.com.au on Thursday for more fun facts in the Weekly Preview!
*Statistics by Brad Tallon
