This week's results
Salford 4 St Helens 30 - St Helens by 26
Castleford 16 Hull FC 48 - Hull FC by 32
Huddersfield 12 Leeds 36 - Leeds by 24
Wakefield 32 Wigan 0 - Wakefield by 32

This week's scores (If anyone thinks their score is wrong, please let me know on the forum or PM me and I will check it)

4 Rhinos69, Steamy, The Biffs Back, WF Rhino (Predictors of the week)
3 Biff Tannen, BRK, Carisma HFC, Ducknumber1, FoxyRhino, John Boy 13, Rhino-Mark, Rhino46, Rhinos_bish, Steve Slippery Morris, ThePrinter, Tigertot, Tvoc, Xykojen
2 Finglas, Him, Jamie101, Old Feller, Priestley, Rodhutch, Rotherhamrhino, Sarahgrhino, Taxi4stevesmith
1 Tad Rhino

[uFinal table[/u (the number in brackets represents the number of correct score predictions right which is a tie-break in case of 2 people having the same score)

129 (10) The Biffs Back
125 (10) Tvoc
125 (9) Jamie101
125 (7) Rhinos69
-------------------------------
125 (6) Steamy
123 Xykojen
121 Ducknumber1
120 Tad Rhino
119 BRK, FoxyRhino
118 Him
117 Broad Ings Warrior
116 John Boy 13, Priestley
115 Steve Slippery Morris, WF Rhino
114 ThePrinter
112 Finglas
111 Rhino-Mark
110 Taxi4stevesmith
108 Carisma HFC, Rodhutch, Sarahgrhino
107 Biff Tannen, Frosties., Rhinos_bish
106 Old Feller
105 Southstander.com
102 Rhino46
101 Deanos Rhinos, Tigertot
97 Highbury Rhino
92 Rotherhamrhino
91 Cuppabrew
78 Phil Clarke
69 Loiner81
40 Dave1612
24 William Eve
6 FGB
5 Mr. Zucchini Head

So the 2 Prediction Semi-finals are

The Biffs Back (1st) v Rhino69 (4th)
Tvoc (2nd) v Jamie101 (3rd)

A reminder of the rules for the play-offs

The usual scoring system will apply but in the event of 2 players scoring an equal amount of points, the tie-breaker will be the player with the smallest combined margin of error over the week's play-off games.

If this is also equal, the player who finished higher in the regular season will proceed in the competition.

The winner of the Prediction Competition Grand Final will win a Rhinos home shirt.

This week matches are

Castleford (CAS) v St Helens (STH)
Leeds (LEE) v Hull FC (HFC)

Please send your predictions to me by Private Message before the kick-off of the Castleford v St Helens game (7.45pm on Thursday)

Good luck

congratulations and good luck to all 4 of you.

Good luck to the top 4 and thanks to Foxy for running it again!!

An observation on the final five, the poster who predicted the correct winner most often is the one who missed out on the play-offs.

There could be a debate about whether you reward someone who got a bigger % of team predictions right but less exact predictions or vice versa.

I can't remember if it was myself or a previous organiser who came up with the tiebreak but it seems more sense to reward getting exact predictions right (I do see your point though).

IMO the skill is without a doubt in picking the winning team in each game
Where as the ones who get their predictions absolutely spot on are very lucky as there are far too many variables out of their control to actually get their predictions absolutely spot on

Steamy would have finished top of the pile without the spot on's being taken into consideration and is the most accurate predictor of 2017

Any poster that does well in this competition is always very lucky
What about a prize each season for the most accurate predictor and also a prize for the GF winning predictor?

In previous years we had to pay £10 to sponsor a Rhinos junior player in order to participate in this competition,I would be in favour of that

Thoughts Guys....

I'm not the one who supplies the prize (Southstander.com does) so it would be up to him to supply any other prizes.

If people think the tie-breaker needs changing so that the person with the least correct predictions goes through, then I am willing to change things next year but nobody has mentioned it in the 6 years I have been doing this.

How about the top 3 in the final league table progressing along with the poster with the most accurate weekly predictions disregarding any spot on predictions?

That in effect gives a reward to that predictor

That doesn't solve the problem of what you do if say you have a tie for third. I think simplicity is best (the prediction competition has been going for nearly 10 years as it is and I don't think change is necessary).

I agree with the comment above that stated the real skill is in getting the most correct winners and as such Steamy is this season's most accurate tipster over the league season yet he misses out on the Play-Offs.

Can't change anything for this season but going forward I would suggest that awarding two bonus points for a correct margin could and perhaps should be reduced to one. If such a system had been in place this year the top five would have been:

119 - The Biffs Back (10)
119 - Steamy (6)
118 - Rhinos69 (7)
116 - Jamie 101 (9)
------------------
115 - tvoc (10)

The number of correct margins could still determine position in cases where two or more posters are tied.

A simple tweak that would perhaps better reflect the accuracy of picking the winners. Some weeks I were truly terrible but because I lucked into a correct margin it gave the (somewhat false impression) I'd had a good week. Just a thought.

If you want to do it based on 'most correct outcomes' then it would make sense to do away with the score margins bit - score margins being part of the prediction protocol though it is then contradictory for correct outcomes to be the primary measuring factor. The scores are harder to predict than outcomes (aka more luck rather than judgement) but because they are harder to get right (whether by lucky guess, a vision in your sleep or studying the books for years beforehand) they should probably be rewarded extra points.

Would people rather a system like now of;

Lee 10
Wig 8
Draw
HFC 22

For instance or just;

Lee
Wig
Draw
HFC
?

Pm sent FoxyRhino.

Good luck to all.

Thanks for running the comp.

Pm sent to Foxy

All the best to the other 3 semi finalists

Predictions are all in now.

Forgot to mention in the rules that although we've never had a drawn play off game in SL, predictions will be judged against the score after 80 minutes.

The Biffs Back (1st) v Rhinos69 (4th)

The Biffs Back
CAS 8
LEE 2

Rhinos69
CAS 5
LEE 8

---------------------------------------------------------
Tvoc (2nd) v Jamie101 (3rd)

Tvoc
CAS 14
HFC 8

Jamie101
CAS 18
LEE 8

And just as I mention a drawn game... what do we get?

If my calculations are right:

Tvoc v Jamie101 comes down to which team wins tomorrow (another drawn game after 80 minutes will put Tvoc through)

A Leeds win by 4 or more will put Rhinos69 through to the final, any other result will put The Biffs Back through.

I will be offline on Friday night and most of Saturday so will post the official results either Saturday night or Sunday

Congrats to Jamie101 and good luck in the final. Congrats to The Biffs Back also - another correct margin. Lucky? I'm not so sure.

Thanks tvoc. Just wondered if a tiny part of you had split loyalties last night? I guess it is better that way than going out on points margin at least. I hadn't factored in what a draw would have meant but if Leeds winning would have knocked me out I would have still easily rathered that.

Second final in 4 years - hope at least no-one does a Ben Flower to scupper my chances like in 2014! Thanks to Foxy and to all and good luck Biff

Great effort mate. I view this comp like I view poker, if it was just down to luck you wouldn't get the same people there at the end when it counts. The Biffs Back is one tough cookie also, two worthy finalists.

Happy to say I've underestimated Leeds all season in this comp - I honestly wanted to be wrong on Friday whether it cost me or not. Thought Hull were unlucky in the 10-7, competed surprisingly well post Wembley on their last visit and they are overdue.