League paper

Once every game of a week has finished playing out, the league paper for that week comes out. Nothing in it can get ahead of the game pages: a week with a game still being played has no paper yet. It covers the regular season, and older weeks stay on the page.

The front page and the game recaps are written from what happened. The recaps are the same ones on each game's own page, for up to four main games: the biggest upset, the meeting of the two best-ranked teams, the closest game and the biggest blowout.

The power rankings use the formula in the closed panel on the page: results, average margin, recent form and strength of schedule, with the club's strength rating filling in early in the season. The player of the week is the player on a winning team who added the most win chance in his game; a tie goes to the player whose team won by more.

Some weeks also have a few storylines: winning and losing streaks, the rookie race, players back from a long injury or a down season, rivalry trophy games, and from the middle of the season an awards watch, which shows who leads each race, not who has won. Weeks with nothing to report have none, and a story only comes back the next week if its numbers changed.

All guides

Every team gets a score from 0 to 100. Results count 45 percent win share (wins plus half of ties, over games played), 30 percent average margin (a 15-point average margin is the top), 15 percent form over the last three games (the newest counts most), and 10 percent strength of schedule.

Strength of schedule is the average win share of the teams a club has played, leaving out their games against that club. Beating good teams lifts it; a soft schedule holds it back.

Early in the season the club's own strength rating fills in for the games not yet played. It is the whole score before week one and fades as games are played (three quarters after one game, half after three).

Ties in score go to win share, then point differential. Only games that have finished playing out count, so a week still being played changes nothing.