"a bloody point"

Choirmasters,

“A bloody point!” – the melancholy refrain heard for quite a while around these parts after the 2006 AFL Grand Final, when Sydney were beaten by a bunch of artificially beefed up eerily spaced out cokeheads by the smallest of margins.
Jeez, you can even go back to 1978, when a former mother-in-law was heard to chant the phrase in a dazed mantra-trance-like fashion while downing the contents of an entire bottle of sherry and then passing out after Sturt suffered a bloody point loss to Norwood in the SANFL Grand Final in the “Upset of The Century”.
The best performance of the season by far by the Swans, for the worst possible result.
Word on the street is that The Goodes Train took a few of the younger blokes aside at training mid-week and told them “we can beat this mob”, and goddamit, he was almost right.
Probably the only time this year if asked “who was yr best on ground?”, you could honestly reply “all played well”.
Went zone for zone with the Saints in the first half, but if anything, the match only reinforced the critical importance of the Championship Quarter and the fact that class and quality will always win out in the end.
After being in front by a goal after the first two quarters; having four goals to none kicked on you in the third really had the home side’s back pinned to the wall, and despite some heroics from The Train and Magic [in his 299th] the result somehow appeared inevitable.
The long random bomb at the dénouement that dribbled through next to a behind post for the win always loomed as the final outcome.
Ironic wasn’t it, that Along Came A Schneider came back to haunt Sydney by playing a crucial role after the long break with a couple of majors for the Saints?
Here’s a bloke the Swans let go for nothing for “not kicking enough goals, as stated in the contract, and having an attitude problem” who now finds himself as a regular member of a side that remains undefeated deep into the home and away season for the first time in living memory.
SC Roos, not by his own admission, pulled the wrong reign there.
Clearly remember watching the season opener between the Saints and the Swans on television back in March in the Viper’s Nest at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda during the Australian F1 GP and pronouncing “St Kilda will win the flag on that showing”.
Got a couple of backslaps from locals despite the silly Swans hat.
Nothing has changed my opinion.
And in the grand scheme of things, only five months down the track, the Swans have essentially been reduced to nothing more than a potential nuisance to a couple of sides looking to sweep their way through to the end of September.

SYDNEY: 3.4, 8.9, 8.12, 13.15 (93). Goals: White 3, Goodes 2, Ablett 2, Bird, Barlow, Jack, Mattner, McVeigh, O'Loughlin.
ST KILDA: 4.4, 7.8, 11.13, 13.16 (94). Goals: Riewoldt 2, Schneider 2, McQualter 2, Gwilt, McEvoy, Milne, King, Gram, Koschitzke, Dal Santo.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 27,805.

Noice to see the “bloody point” tables turned on those damnable Silvertails, for a change, in the other match of the weekend.
It was only individual brilliance that allowed the Mighty Tiges to get an 18-nil jump on the reigning premiers by half time, not the least of which was Our Benji skipping away to a 70 metre try without a hand being laid on him and displaying all the trademark skills on the way through.
But it was a very risky gamble of The Best Leb in the Game to pot the field goal with 19 minutes to go.
It more or less telegraphed to the opposing team “we reckon we’ve got enough points on the board, there’s the one point swing, now come and get us.”
Manly took up the invitation with gusto, bashing Balmain from pillar to post in the final quarter of the game of two halves, scoring a few tries and right at the final siren finding themselves about a metre from the home side’s goal, with the line wide open, and the game suddenly over.
As Benji candidly remarked on interview after the match “I’d completely run out of lungs after that. In truth, we were very lucky to win that one”
At last a couple of good players who we had forgotten we had, talking Christopher Hit Man Heighington and Keefy Wranger Galloway here, have finally emerged from long stints in the casualty ward, automatically adding some more steel to the defence, and extra grunt to the forward’s go forward.
Diehards have long memories, and some are foolishly talking up the prospect of a genuine late season purple patch, but SC Sheens, also on interview after the game, when questioned as to whether the pattern of events surrounding the recent winning streak could possibly be a harbinger of the 2005 Miracle Glory Year; complained of being a poor student of history suffering from short term memory loss:
“That year is gone. Last week is gone. This week’ll be gone tomorrow. We’ve just got to keep going. That’s the way we’ve got to think”.

WESTS TIGERS 19. Tries: Marshall, Ryan, Tuiaki. Goals: Marshall (3) Field Goals: Farah (1).
MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 18. Tries: Watmough (2), T.Williams. Goals: Orford (3).
At Sydney Football Stadium.
Crowd: 13,531.

bacon saving

Critics,

Kind of the captains to allow the match to drift along for just as long as it took for MJ Clarke to score his 12th test century.
Could go on & on & on about how Pup is the best thing since bottled scotch, but suffice to say here that he’s the sort of leader of men that you’d want in a fighting rearguard action, when the prospect of defeat would have represented nothing less than unmitigated disaster.
Sensibly took his time to do some serious bacon saving for the 10 other players in the side.
On song with 14 spanking boundaries; never mind that he was all over the shop like a mad woman’s breakfast, offering at least five chances!
Appears you get whatever gong they hand out as the man-of-the-match award these days for nothing going to hand.
Best on ground should have gone to Rain.
Worst on ground, by the length of the street, quietly presented to Rudi, who’s well overdue for a gold watch.
But that’s all history now, with Leeds the undoubted tipping point regards the ultimate fate of the Silly Little Urn this time around.
Seeing that the Chairman and the Three Wise Men have kept their thinking caps firmly under lock and key for the entirety of the tour so far, it’s time to smash the locks and plonk the headwear firmly on the selectors heads, while beating some sense into them with a couple of souvenir stumps.
Even Blindman Bucknor could see the current eleven can’t win it.
Young PJ Hughes to be reinstated to the top order, for mine, with FIGJAM Watson shuffled down the order to five; Mighty MEK to be relegated to 12th man duties [Sorry, Mr. Cricket. The magic has gone for the time being] and MJ Clarke to bat at four.
Manoosh, the better keeper of the two, retains his spot.
Clark No-E comes into the attack at the expense of Killer SIDS, and Bing Lee [regardless of fitness] replaces Joke Johnson.
Straya desperately needs NSW to open the bowling, as they’d be gilt-edged guaranteed to take more than half the 20 wickets needed to win a test match.
Don’t want to keep the cigar in the humidor for much longer.