'Yeah, but last year...'

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Morgan Hancock/ Photosport

The NRL has a beautifully simple and effective system for determining where you sit on the ladder. If you finish with more points on the board than the opposition in any given match you get two points. You finish behind, you get none. No bonus points for tries and touching-distance losses. Win, draw, or loss - two, one or zero.

The Warriors played the Storm in Melbourne last night. It was an excellent game of league. The Warriors lost 22-30. They got zero competition points.

Those who cover the Warriors - some of whom have probably had to justify, to themselves if no-one else, why they have spent so many hours covering a team that has been bobbing up and down in a sea of mediocrity for years - are still, with a third of the season gone, caught up in last-yearism.