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Rugby League World Cup 2026 - A small data visualisation project about the England Men's team
Oct. 21st, 2026 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99England Match 1:
Because of poor decisions by International Rugby League I couldn't watch the match anywhere so was listening to it on the radio. Truly, Robbie Hunter-Paul is an international treasure.
Not entirely sure why the English press were saying it was a shock, other than them never giving Tonga the credit they are due.
If they'd said the first Tongan try was a shock, that would be true, it was against the run of play but after that it was a lot more even.
I'm a Saints fan, spiritually, I prefer what McDermott was trying to get this England team to do rather than the kind of rugby Shaun Wane had them playing. On the other hand, Wane looked at the players he had and played them in a system that worked to their strengths. If you're going for quick and clever, why are you not playing Mikey Lewis (never mind Jake Connor who didn't even get picked)? George Williams and Harry Smith have their uses, but quick and clever isn't it.
I don't blame him for some of the errors because the England players appeared to develop poor decision making skills every time they got into the Tongan 20 meters, but there was some oomph lacking.
I don't know if McDermott's made that choice because he doesn't think this front row can bring the biff, and they're big units but they don't scare me the way say Burgesses plural, or Elliott Whitehead or James Graham did. (Challenge, go a whole thing without mentioning Jamie Graham, glorious failure).
So fine, you aren't doing wham bam rugby, you're running the ball instead, but then you have to involve the wingers, especially if one of them is Dom Young. And that seemed to be missing.
So England now have to rely on beating France and Lebanon and hoping the other results go their way. I'm going to be really upset about either England or PNG not making it, I fear.
Data visualisation project:
Much like the last World Cup, I'm doing a small data visualisation project to see if I can spot patterns in player selections and how the team performs.
Now one game doesn't give much data, so here is what I have so far.
England's point-scorers by name and time
( Under the cut )
Because there were only two tries for England, the chart of which players are on the pitch when England score is uninformative. The one for "who is on the pitch when England concede" looks like this.
You can see Thompson and Havard coming on and off, and Jez Litten being given the last 20 minutes.
The two equivalent bar charts for which players were present for point-scoring and point-conceding moments are below.
( Two barcharts under the cut )
The two matrix charts of who was together when England scored and conceded are below. There's not yet enough data for the equivalent network graphs.
( Under the cut )
Harvard and Walters were the players present for relatively fewer point-conceding moments, being in the darkest purple section for scoring but not for conceding (yes, I know I'm being nice about Wigan players. Yes, it feels wrong).
It'll be interesting to see what patterns develop over time.
Because of poor decisions by International Rugby League I couldn't watch the match anywhere so was listening to it on the radio. Truly, Robbie Hunter-Paul is an international treasure.
Not entirely sure why the English press were saying it was a shock, other than them never giving Tonga the credit they are due.
If they'd said the first Tongan try was a shock, that would be true, it was against the run of play but after that it was a lot more even.
I'm a Saints fan, spiritually, I prefer what McDermott was trying to get this England team to do rather than the kind of rugby Shaun Wane had them playing. On the other hand, Wane looked at the players he had and played them in a system that worked to their strengths. If you're going for quick and clever, why are you not playing Mikey Lewis (never mind Jake Connor who didn't even get picked)? George Williams and Harry Smith have their uses, but quick and clever isn't it.
I don't blame him for some of the errors because the England players appeared to develop poor decision making skills every time they got into the Tongan 20 meters, but there was some oomph lacking.
I don't know if McDermott's made that choice because he doesn't think this front row can bring the biff, and they're big units but they don't scare me the way say Burgesses plural, or Elliott Whitehead or James Graham did. (Challenge, go a whole thing without mentioning Jamie Graham, glorious failure).
So fine, you aren't doing wham bam rugby, you're running the ball instead, but then you have to involve the wingers, especially if one of them is Dom Young. And that seemed to be missing.
So England now have to rely on beating France and Lebanon and hoping the other results go their way. I'm going to be really upset about either England or PNG not making it, I fear.
Data visualisation project:
Much like the last World Cup, I'm doing a small data visualisation project to see if I can spot patterns in player selections and how the team performs.
Now one game doesn't give much data, so here is what I have so far.
England's point-scorers by name and time
( Under the cut )
Because there were only two tries for England, the chart of which players are on the pitch when England score is uninformative. The one for "who is on the pitch when England concede" looks like this.
You can see Thompson and Havard coming on and off, and Jez Litten being given the last 20 minutes.
The two equivalent bar charts for which players were present for point-scoring and point-conceding moments are below.
( Two barcharts under the cut )
The two matrix charts of who was together when England scored and conceded are below. There's not yet enough data for the equivalent network graphs.
( Under the cut )
Harvard and Walters were the players present for relatively fewer point-conceding moments, being in the darkest purple section for scoring but not for conceding (yes, I know I'm being nice about Wigan players. Yes, it feels wrong).
It'll be interesting to see what patterns develop over time.
Wednesday reading
Oct. 21st, 2026 05:32 pmqueen_ypolitaFinished since the last reading post
The Mysteries of Naples: Marta, or Faith, which I felt ended quite abruptly, but then again, long as it is, it's the first of three parts. The main characters are mainly rural poor in a world that's fundamentally arbitrary and not fair on them, or petty criminals who feel that's the only way to get on in the unfair world. Except Marta, of course, who's frequently described as a saint. While I'm somewhat curious to find out what happens to them next, I'm not sure I really want to see the next part out.
Currently reading
Started reading England: A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel. Still reading Shut Out.
Reading next
Not sure
The Mysteries of Naples: Marta, or Faith, which I felt ended quite abruptly, but then again, long as it is, it's the first of three parts. The main characters are mainly rural poor in a world that's fundamentally arbitrary and not fair on them, or petty criminals who feel that's the only way to get on in the unfair world. Except Marta, of course, who's frequently described as a saint. While I'm somewhat curious to find out what happens to them next, I'm not sure I really want to see the next part out.
Currently reading
Started reading England: A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel. Still reading Shut Out.
Reading next
Not sure
VisionQuest 1.3 + 1.4
Oct. 21st, 2026 04:02 pmselenakIn which everyone has daddy issues, except for Friday and Edith, who have survivor guilt issues instead. Also: the history of AI in the MCU gets a massive addendum.
( Spoilers don't have to pay royalties for Pinoccio songs because it's Disney )
( Spoilers don't have to pay royalties for Pinoccio songs because it's Disney )
Dear Yuletide Author
Oct. 18th, 2026 07:17 pmevandarDear Author,
Thank you so much for writing for me! I'm really excited to see what you come up with.
This letter contains a list of Likes and DNWs as well as a couple of prompts. If none of the prompts catch your eye, then write whatever you like. As long as it doesn't hit any of my DNWs, we're good.
( Read more... )
Thank you again for writing for me. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Thank you so much for writing for me! I'm really excited to see what you come up with.
This letter contains a list of Likes and DNWs as well as a couple of prompts. If none of the prompts catch your eye, then write whatever you like. As long as it doesn't hit any of my DNWs, we're good.
( Read more... )
Thank you again for writing for me. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Rugby League World Cup 2026 - Women's Group Stage Network Diagrams
Oct. 18th, 2026 04:37 pmredfiona99Here are the network diagrams for the group stages for the Women's Rugby League World Cup 2026.
First, let's look at the non-labelled version of the diagram.
( Under the cut )
Which teams are which?
France are completely on their own which doesn't bode well for them.
The other two teams sticking out at the bottom are England and Wales, which also doesn't bode brilliantly.
Of that top cluster of 5 teams, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea are the team sticking out slightly to the right.
The other thing I've noticed is that while, in the equivalent men's diagram there is a mixture of club teams that the players are from, in the women's most of the national teams have one club team that most players are from (Papua New Guinea are the only team where that's not really the case).
The community view also does something fun.
( Under the cut )
Normally, there's the same number of communities in this view as national teams, or maybe fewer when the teams are deeply enmeshed due to links through club teams. This time, the North Queensland Cowboys are an extra community, I think because they link 5 of the national teams.
Because of France being separate, it's really hard to identify the central team, particularly the central national team because of the way they are clustered. Club team is probably Sydney Roosters.
The Roosters are also the club team with the most representatives, alongside RC Lescure-Arthes XIII, with 12. They are followed by Gold Coast Titans, Wigan Warriors and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on 11, and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 10.
First, let's look at the non-labelled version of the diagram.
( Under the cut )
Which teams are which?
France are completely on their own which doesn't bode well for them.
The other two teams sticking out at the bottom are England and Wales, which also doesn't bode brilliantly.
Of that top cluster of 5 teams, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea are the team sticking out slightly to the right.
The other thing I've noticed is that while, in the equivalent men's diagram there is a mixture of club teams that the players are from, in the women's most of the national teams have one club team that most players are from (Papua New Guinea are the only team where that's not really the case).
The community view also does something fun.
( Under the cut )
Normally, there's the same number of communities in this view as national teams, or maybe fewer when the teams are deeply enmeshed due to links through club teams. This time, the North Queensland Cowboys are an extra community, I think because they link 5 of the national teams.
Because of France being separate, it's really hard to identify the central team, particularly the central national team because of the way they are clustered. Club team is probably Sydney Roosters.
The Roosters are also the club team with the most representatives, alongside RC Lescure-Arthes XIII, with 12. They are followed by Gold Coast Titans, Wigan Warriors and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on 11, and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 10.
The Diplomat Seasona 4
Oct. 18th, 2026 04:14 pmselenakIn which the show about diplomatic shenanigans and can't be with, can't be without marriages is back, and asks: how to we reflect what's going on in the real world, just, you know, with everyone in power being intelligent? What if we still had professionals in the US public service and everything wasn't a cresspit of corruption and malignant stupidity? The result, btw, is still a world which could be heading towards WW3, but, you know: at least no one voted for the orange menace and his equivalents in European parties. Also: this is still the best show since The Americans to make long term m/f relationships absolutely fascinating instead of relying on the will they/won't they came.
( Spoilers also love the cast, now joined by Jodi Whitaker, as much as ever and would still prefer living in that reality, dangerous as it is )
On a very different note: since a few days, the internet has decided it needs a rerun of the crazy behaviour back before The Odyssee was released and where there was endless fighting just based on two trailers. The latest cause, it seems, is the trailer for Gerta Gerwig's next movie, an adaptation of The Magician's Nephew, one of C.S. Lewis' later Narnia novels which is simultanously a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Now, I never read the Narnia novels as a child, I read them as an adult woman, and therefore have no childhood memories to hold sacred, or, conversely, to feel betrayed by. I liked them well enough when I did read them without considering them the non plus ultra of children's novels. Or fantasy. Or religious allegory, come to that. I thus lack either protectiveness or seething resentment (looking at you, Philip Pulllman). But much as the estimable Ms Gerwig is an interesting director, I was and am curious what she'll make of Narnia, and think it already a very good decision NOT to go for one of the first three novels which were adapted in recent viewer memory. The trailer looks like this:
Which had me go from mild interest to "this looks good, now I'm really looking forward to watching it!" Naturally, if you look at social media, you'd think Gerwig is Salman Rushdie just after he's published The Satanic Verses, only in an US evangelical context. Seriously, you'd think she had adapted the bible and this was some alternate Universe where Jesus Christ Superstar never happened, given some of the objections to the music used in the trailer. There will be undoubtedly much more of this until the movie is released, God (and Aslan) help us. In the meantime: the girl playing Polly is adorable in the trailer, and OMG, is that Daniel Craig as Uncle Andrew? It is. Given he also starred in the not very good Golden Compass (as Lord Asriel) in the early 2000s, this makes him the first actor to have starred in both a Narnia and a His Dark Material adaptation. Cheers!
( Spoilers also love the cast, now joined by Jodi Whitaker, as much as ever and would still prefer living in that reality, dangerous as it is )
On a very different note: since a few days, the internet has decided it needs a rerun of the crazy behaviour back before The Odyssee was released and where there was endless fighting just based on two trailers. The latest cause, it seems, is the trailer for Gerta Gerwig's next movie, an adaptation of The Magician's Nephew, one of C.S. Lewis' later Narnia novels which is simultanously a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Now, I never read the Narnia novels as a child, I read them as an adult woman, and therefore have no childhood memories to hold sacred, or, conversely, to feel betrayed by. I liked them well enough when I did read them without considering them the non plus ultra of children's novels. Or fantasy. Or religious allegory, come to that. I thus lack either protectiveness or seething resentment (looking at you, Philip Pulllman). But much as the estimable Ms Gerwig is an interesting director, I was and am curious what she'll make of Narnia, and think it already a very good decision NOT to go for one of the first three novels which were adapted in recent viewer memory. The trailer looks like this:
Which had me go from mild interest to "this looks good, now I'm really looking forward to watching it!" Naturally, if you look at social media, you'd think Gerwig is Salman Rushdie just after he's published The Satanic Verses, only in an US evangelical context. Seriously, you'd think she had adapted the bible and this was some alternate Universe where Jesus Christ Superstar never happened, given some of the objections to the music used in the trailer. There will be undoubtedly much more of this until the movie is released, God (and Aslan) help us. In the meantime: the girl playing Polly is adorable in the trailer, and OMG, is that Daniel Craig as Uncle Andrew? It is. Given he also starred in the not very good Golden Compass (as Lord Asriel) in the early 2000s, this makes him the first actor to have starred in both a Narnia and a His Dark Material adaptation. Cheers!
Dear Yuletide Writer 2026
Oct. 18th, 2026 02:40 pmlaurenthemselfDear Yuletide Writer,
Greetings and thank you for writing for me. You can get a taste for me as a fannish being on my AO3 works list and Tumblr.
DNWs: Rape and dub-con, incest, scat, watersports, body horror, anything triggering for trypophobia or thalassophobia, queerphobia of any stripe, modern AUs, hurt no comfort. No whump for Yuletide, please.
General Likes: Found families, soulmates/soulmate marks, fake dating, trapped together, hurt/comfort, slow build relationships. Bondage, cuddling, kissing, first times, collaring and ownership, gender non-conformity. Romantic comedies. I adore apocafic to an unnatural extent, even in the current state of the world (prefer no COVID-19 fic though; I like my apocalypses to be fictional). Queer stuff! All the queer stuff! I can't overemphasise how awesome queer stuff is!
Anything rated G right through to to E is fine by me. I don't care what POV you write, what tense you write, if it's a straight narrative, epistolatory, poetry, or whatever else.
( Fandom specific prompts and thoughts. )
Greetings and thank you for writing for me. You can get a taste for me as a fannish being on my AO3 works list and Tumblr.
DNWs: Rape and dub-con, incest, scat, watersports, body horror, anything triggering for trypophobia or thalassophobia, queerphobia of any stripe, modern AUs, hurt no comfort. No whump for Yuletide, please.
General Likes: Found families, soulmates/soulmate marks, fake dating, trapped together, hurt/comfort, slow build relationships. Bondage, cuddling, kissing, first times, collaring and ownership, gender non-conformity. Romantic comedies. I adore apocafic to an unnatural extent, even in the current state of the world (prefer no COVID-19 fic though; I like my apocalypses to be fictional). Queer stuff! All the queer stuff! I can't overemphasise how awesome queer stuff is!
Anything rated G right through to to E is fine by me. I don't care what POV you write, what tense you write, if it's a straight narrative, epistolatory, poetry, or whatever else.
( Fandom specific prompts and thoughts. )
Yuletide letter
Oct. 17th, 2026 06:01 pmceitfiannaThank you so much for writing for me. I love Yuletide, one of my favorite parts of winter. I know how heavy these fandoms can be so if there's any darkness, add some light too. My favorite sorts of stories are missing moments, character studies and that feel as if they fit within the world of the canon. This has been a long year so I'm looking forward to Yuletide.
I love all of these fandoms because of the depth of the worlds and the characters, I enjoy action and plot if it fits. When a writer can pull off a complex plot, I love it as that's something I'm not good at writing. If you choose to include sex and violence, I ask that if they're there; no rape/dubcon or torture. All of the ones I've asked for are from worlds with difficult aspects to them and I enjoy how the characters interact with and are changed by what's around them. Also even though I've only requested one or two characters, all of these canons revolve around large and complex casts, so please add others into the mix.
( Old Kingdom, October Daye, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance )
I love all of these fandoms because of the depth of the worlds and the characters, I enjoy action and plot if it fits. When a writer can pull off a complex plot, I love it as that's something I'm not good at writing. If you choose to include sex and violence, I ask that if they're there; no rape/dubcon or torture. All of the ones I've asked for are from worlds with difficult aspects to them and I enjoy how the characters interact with and are changed by what's around them. Also even though I've only requested one or two characters, all of these canons revolve around large and complex casts, so please add others into the mix.
( Old Kingdom, October Daye, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance )
Dowland day
Oct. 17th, 2026 09:38 pmqueen_ypolitaOn the train home from Brighton. I set out this morning to make it in time for the 1pm daytime concert and stayed for the earlier evening one at 6.30pm. On the programme, the last concert of the day started at 9pm, at a club, but I never considered going to it, even if I'd been planning to stay over.
The Dowland day had apparently come about with the festival asking for Dowland proposals and receiving so many great ones they had decided to make a day of it. The afternoon concert was night-themed, which perhaps was not the most obvious choice for a gorgeously sunny day, with tenor voice, lute and a viol group. They sounded lovely. The evening concert was lovely too, four singers, lute and viol, interspersed with readings of contemporary texts. The programme also included a piece by a contemporary composer.
In between concerts, I went to the seafront for a while and did some aimless wanderings in the shops around Orchard Square. And I successfully resisted buying any new books, although I made a note of a couple.
Trains to Brighton worked out fine, although there was a bit of extra stress at the start when I was surprised by the train not already being on the platform, and having no platform on the board. The app suggested there had been a train swap, which I guessed meant that it would depart on one of the platforms furthest out across the footbridge. So I started making my way that way and was proved correct. We were still on time at Gatwick. The journey planner had suggested I'd have 10 minutes to change, but with that train being behind schedule, it was more. Everything still worked out fine in Brighton, with only about 6 minutes to walk to St. Nicholas's church. The evening concert was there too, so no need to stress about speed walking to the station, especially with the earlier start and a shorter running time.
The Dowland day had apparently come about with the festival asking for Dowland proposals and receiving so many great ones they had decided to make a day of it. The afternoon concert was night-themed, which perhaps was not the most obvious choice for a gorgeously sunny day, with tenor voice, lute and a viol group. They sounded lovely. The evening concert was lovely too, four singers, lute and viol, interspersed with readings of contemporary texts. The programme also included a piece by a contemporary composer.
In between concerts, I went to the seafront for a while and did some aimless wanderings in the shops around Orchard Square. And I successfully resisted buying any new books, although I made a note of a couple.
Trains to Brighton worked out fine, although there was a bit of extra stress at the start when I was surprised by the train not already being on the platform, and having no platform on the board. The app suggested there had been a train swap, which I guessed meant that it would depart on one of the platforms furthest out across the footbridge. So I started making my way that way and was proved correct. We were still on time at Gatwick. The journey planner had suggested I'd have 10 minutes to change, but with that train being behind schedule, it was more. Everything still worked out fine in Brighton, with only about 6 minutes to walk to St. Nicholas's church. The evening concert was there too, so no need to stress about speed walking to the station, especially with the earlier start and a shorter running time.
Daphne du Maurier RPF: A new subgenre?
Oct. 15th, 2026 02:29 pmselenakJust like there seems to be hardly a novel with a fictionalized Jane Austen in the centre that can resist (mis)quoting the opening line from “Pride and Prejudice”, the two novels with a fictionalized Daphne du Maurier in an important role I’ve recently read have to go for “Last night, I dreamed….” In their opening paragraph. (Yours truly had the frivolous thought: if there ever is a novel (not written by himself) with a fictionalized Stephen King in a leading role, which line should it go for? He doesn’t have a single novel more associated with him than the rest, the way JA has P & P and Daphne du Maurier has “Rebecca”, after all.) (Frivolous thought No.2: when I wrote a Yuletide story with legendary novelist Mary Renault in a leading role years ago, I couldn’t resist using one of her lines as well, but at least I didn’t put it in the opening paragraph!)
Said novels are really different from each other otherwise, though, and interesting to read in a compare and contrast way. Both have their respective strengths and flaws and left me with a lot of “yes, but…” feelings by the time I had finished, not all inspired by how they handle Daphne du Maurier as a character on the one hand and engage with her fiction(s) on the other.
(Personal Du Maurier background: I’ve read and seen the different film adaptations of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, have read her last but one novel “The House on the Strand” and her Branwell Bronte biography, have not read or seen “Jamaica Inn” or “Don’t Look Now”, have seen Hitchcock’s “The Birds” which is based on a short story of hers but do know form the Hitchcock biography I read that the movie doesn’t have much to do with her tale. I did once in a bookstore browse through a biography about her but can’t claim to have properly read it. Just enough to know that, say, the letter by Daphne du Maurier to Ellen Doubleday quoted in “The Mischief Makers” and paraphrased into dialogue in “The Housekeeper” is actually the genuine article.)
(Personal J.M. Barrie and Lwellyn Davies family background, which is highly relevant for one of the novels: See this post.)
On to the novels:
( Rose Tremain: The Housekeeper: Danni the Woobie vs Daphne the Heartless )
As it happens, the damage fiction and reality intertwining can do and writerly responsibility can do are main themes for the other novel starring a fictionalized version of Daphne du Maurier, though it takes a very different angle, which brings me to:
( Elizabeth Gifford: The Mischief Makers: Daphne du Maurier vs J.M. Barrie )
Said novels are really different from each other otherwise, though, and interesting to read in a compare and contrast way. Both have their respective strengths and flaws and left me with a lot of “yes, but…” feelings by the time I had finished, not all inspired by how they handle Daphne du Maurier as a character on the one hand and engage with her fiction(s) on the other.
(Personal Du Maurier background: I’ve read and seen the different film adaptations of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, have read her last but one novel “The House on the Strand” and her Branwell Bronte biography, have not read or seen “Jamaica Inn” or “Don’t Look Now”, have seen Hitchcock’s “The Birds” which is based on a short story of hers but do know form the Hitchcock biography I read that the movie doesn’t have much to do with her tale. I did once in a bookstore browse through a biography about her but can’t claim to have properly read it. Just enough to know that, say, the letter by Daphne du Maurier to Ellen Doubleday quoted in “The Mischief Makers” and paraphrased into dialogue in “The Housekeeper” is actually the genuine article.)
(Personal J.M. Barrie and Lwellyn Davies family background, which is highly relevant for one of the novels: See this post.)
On to the novels:
( Rose Tremain: The Housekeeper: Danni the Woobie vs Daphne the Heartless )
As it happens, the damage fiction and reality intertwining can do and writerly responsibility can do are main themes for the other novel starring a fictionalized version of Daphne du Maurier, though it takes a very different angle, which brings me to:
( Elizabeth Gifford: The Mischief Makers: Daphne du Maurier vs J.M. Barrie )
Rugby League World Cup 2026 - Men's Group Stage Network Diagrams
Oct. 14th, 2026 09:03 pmredfiona99If you would like a nice, in-depth and reasonable preview of the World Cup, may I recommend this from the Maroon Observer.
Here I am all about pretty pictures and bemoaning there only being 2 Saints players at the World Cup and one of those spent most of the season injured.
What do the network diagrams look like?
The two teams that are sticking out are Papua New Guinea and France. Teams stick out if their players play for clubs who don't have a lot of other participants playing for other national teams. If the previous pattern that sticking out = weaker remains true, this means Tonga have been stuffed over by the draw and have a harder route to qualify for the semifinals. They would need to beat one of Samoa or England to qualify, while England and Samoa only have to beat Papua New Guinea and France. No diss on Papua New Guinea intended, because I really want them to do well.
I think Papua New Guinea are pulled out because so many of their players play for London Broncos who don't have any other representatives while the Cook Islands players are spread over more club teams so the weight of any individual team doesn't pull them out in the same way.
The club team with the most representatives are the New Zealand Warriors and the Sydney Roosters who both have 13. They are followed by the mysteriously un-city-ied Dolphins and Penrith Panthers on 12, and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, Melbourne Storm and Toulouse Olympique on 11.
Because 8 of the teams are clustered together, Fiji are the team in the geometric centre of the graph, while Tonga and Australia are probably the "gravitational" centre. Hull Kingston Rovers and South Sydney Rabbitohs are the club teams closest to the physical centre.
The other thing that strikes me is a suspicion that the NRL must be relatively evenly matched because the Australian squad aren't dominated by one club team, unlike the way say France are by Toulouse Olympique. (Until the first match, I promise not to comment on the excessive number of Wigan players in the England squad. Brian McDermott, you'd better have a good reason for not starting Jez Litten.)
The one upside to there only being ten teams is that it's relatively quick to make the diagrams so I hope to have the women's and, data permitting, the wheelchair teams graphs ready shortly.
Here I am all about pretty pictures and bemoaning there only being 2 Saints players at the World Cup and one of those spent most of the season injured.
What do the network diagrams look like?
The two teams that are sticking out are Papua New Guinea and France. Teams stick out if their players play for clubs who don't have a lot of other participants playing for other national teams. If the previous pattern that sticking out = weaker remains true, this means Tonga have been stuffed over by the draw and have a harder route to qualify for the semifinals. They would need to beat one of Samoa or England to qualify, while England and Samoa only have to beat Papua New Guinea and France. No diss on Papua New Guinea intended, because I really want them to do well.
I think Papua New Guinea are pulled out because so many of their players play for London Broncos who don't have any other representatives while the Cook Islands players are spread over more club teams so the weight of any individual team doesn't pull them out in the same way.
The club team with the most representatives are the New Zealand Warriors and the Sydney Roosters who both have 13. They are followed by the mysteriously un-city-ied Dolphins and Penrith Panthers on 12, and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, Melbourne Storm and Toulouse Olympique on 11.
Because 8 of the teams are clustered together, Fiji are the team in the geometric centre of the graph, while Tonga and Australia are probably the "gravitational" centre. Hull Kingston Rovers and South Sydney Rabbitohs are the club teams closest to the physical centre.
The other thing that strikes me is a suspicion that the NRL must be relatively evenly matched because the Australian squad aren't dominated by one club team, unlike the way say France are by Toulouse Olympique. (Until the first match, I promise not to comment on the excessive number of Wigan players in the England squad. Brian McDermott, you'd better have a good reason for not starting Jez Litten.)
The one upside to there only being ten teams is that it's relatively quick to make the diagrams so I hope to have the women's and, data permitting, the wheelchair teams graphs ready shortly.
Wednesday reading
Oct. 14th, 2026 05:53 pmqueen_ypolitaI don't feel I've read anything (or more properly, any books) recently but I did finish something today.
Finished since the last reading post
A Woman of No Importance, which was a very interesting and illuminating book about Virginia Hall. I remember listening to the podcast about the book, but the details of her life really hadn't stuck in my mind. Fascinating.
Currently reading
No progress on The Theory That Would Not Die. Still reading The Mysteries of Naples: Marta, or Faith, but I think I'm over half way. But it's still about 400 pages to go.
Also still reading Shut Out and still having major issues trying to keep the two protagonists apart in my head. I keep telling myself I don't really enjoy reading dual first-person romance novels so I shouldn't try, but I always eventually end up doing so, and this series has been particularly difficult for me in terms of telling the protagonists apart.
Reading next
Something, probably. Or probably try to make some more progress on The Mysteries of Naples before I pick anything else up.
Finished since the last reading post
A Woman of No Importance, which was a very interesting and illuminating book about Virginia Hall. I remember listening to the podcast about the book, but the details of her life really hadn't stuck in my mind. Fascinating.
Currently reading
No progress on The Theory That Would Not Die. Still reading The Mysteries of Naples: Marta, or Faith, but I think I'm over half way. But it's still about 400 pages to go.
Also still reading Shut Out and still having major issues trying to keep the two protagonists apart in my head. I keep telling myself I don't really enjoy reading dual first-person romance novels so I shouldn't try, but I always eventually end up doing so, and this series has been particularly difficult for me in terms of telling the protagonists apart.
Reading next
Something, probably. Or probably try to make some more progress on The Mysteries of Naples before I pick anything else up.