as if by alchemy

Merit Makers,

It was pretty obvious to all and sundry from the off that Richmond had decided to throw the game for the draft picks.
And why wouldn’t they? Nothing in the rules at present that says they can’t.
They knew that no one in their right mind would want to do anything to spoil Micky O’s party, and as a result there would be no steward’s inquiry.
Never even pretended to try to cover it up, not even Cuz, who has form trying to cover things up.
Not that Cuz really had to try very hard to play badly – the Iceman is a sad shadow of his former self who won’t be winning the Brownlow again in the near or distant future.
No one ever expected Magic to put in a blinder, just a speccy mark, a couple of goals; that’ll do to pick up AFL Life Membership.
Yelled at a few kiddies to get on with their jobs, and among them Pup Hanebery impressed for the first time [not that he’s had many games] and suggested he could have a future in the big league.
Nobody was more pleased that Magic got to his 300th than his Ol’ Mate Never Played A Bad Game Since I Found Nirvana Kirk and his kinsman the Goodes Train.
If fact, The Train was probably best on ground just to prove the point
At half time, there was a touching pre-recorded television interview that Cap’n Kirk had conducted with Magic in front of the SCG Members Stand where they went through old times and Michael paid tribute to his mum as the biggest influence on his football career and how he wanted to help indigenous kiddies in retirement etc.
At the end of the piece, Kirk gave the Great Man a big bear hug and said “you are better than a brother”, before looking down the barrel of the camera and saying “well, there you have it, Michael ‘Magic’ O’Loughlin, champion footballer, and an even better person”.
Kirk almost flattened Micky with running bear hug on the full time siren.
As my eldest remarked “isn’t that nice” – heartwarming to see that football actually does engender long-term heart-felt friendships -- when “most of it seems to be faked most of the time”.
Wonder if Magic appeared in a specially tailored gold lame suit after the game at the Swans Club in The Cross, or if the Bamfords conspired to give him the three Brownlow points anyway for career long originality?
After being written off as a finals hope a few weeks ago, the one point loss to the Saints certainly cruelling any realistic chance; and yet there remains a mathematical possibility with some pundits still talking up Sydney’s chances of squeezing into number eight [then to be massacred in the first week of the finals].
What chance against the faltering Cats at the Western Paddock Satdee night?
Won’t be any pretending there.
Tickets to the cheap seats are in hand.

RICHMOND: 3.3, 5.5, 7.6, 10.8 (68). Goals: King 3, Deledio, Polo, Rance, Vickery, Cousins, White, Morton
SYDNEY: 4.6, 9.10, 17.10, 18.15 (123). Goals: Goodes 4, White 2, Jack 2, O'Loughlin 2, Moore 2, J Bolton, Kirk, McVeigh, Ablett, Barlow, O'Dwyer.
Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 32,216.

Never did see a frame of the Tigers game as it was played simultaneously as the Magic Memorial.
But by all accounts it was a tradesman like affair, with Balmain bulldozing over the top of the hapless Roosters in the second stanza after trailing 8-6 at half time.
Match descriptions best left to those who were directly involved:
SC Sheens: “We made hard work of it that’s for sure. Overall, my blokes needed to pull the whip on themselves, and they did.”
Best Leb In The Game: “It wasn’t pretty. I don’t think we can be happy with the way we played.”
That said, the try to the Human Wrecking Ball, Tuiaki, was noted among seasoned observers at the ground as one of the season’s best.
Latched onto a perfect cut out pass from That Big Pom Ellis at pace, found his way forward obstructed, put the ball on the toe for a deft chip kick through the defence, ran out over the sideline, then regained the field of play, re-gathered the ball, and scored.
And Farah potted his third field goal in as many matches, this time at the appropriate moment, to put the question beyond doubt.
You can imagine everyone’s surprise come Monday morning when the abacus had totted up the figures to find the Mighty Tiges, as if by alchemy, in 7th place on the ladder!
Five wins on the trot and a bye officially qualifies as a late season purple patch, and if the die-hards are to be believed, it’s already verging on indigo.

SYDNEY ROOSTERS 10. Tries: Sa, Kenny-Dowall. Goals: Fitzgibbon (1).
WESTS TIGERS 17. Tries: Ryan (2), Tuiaki. Goals: Marshall (2). Field Goals: Farah (1).
At Sydney Football Stadium.
Crowd: 16,427.

the importance of being Pup

Canine fanciers,

The importance of MJ Clarke’s knock at Leeds can’t be overestimated.
In fact, when he got out to a lazy shot to a sub-standard delivery, found myself exclaiming, “well bugger me, Pup’s just gone and won the Ashes single-handedly”.
Never mind that he didn’t reach triple figures, by then the England bowlers were toast -- well and truly cremated, put through the grinding machine, and turned into a fine dust.
Sure, all credit to the North Kiddie on another ton, but North is a collector of runs, rather than a scorer of runs, who was expertly managed by Clarke with tip top strike rotation in a 150-run partnership.
You have to remember when Pup arrived at the crease at 4/151, nothing was certain, and after losing the toss on day one, he never expected to be batting anyway.
Would have much rather continued to graze on lamingtons in the pavilion.
On day two, Pup dispatched anything a millimetre outside middle down the leg side with a cracking leg drive, or stylishly pulled away the rubbish to the boundary.
Never troubled for Best in Show.
Carrying a dose of Shagger’s Side Strain would have reminded him he was alive after every stroke, and getting donged on the head is always a good wake up call during an innings, too!
Probably said to himself as he rubbed his forehead “mmm, better keep watching the ball”.
Forget those who will tell you it was a more balanced Strayan bowling attack that won the match – you still need the runs, and plenty of them, on the board.
Of course there are calls for a witch hunt to determine which selector[s] voted against playing Clark No-E from day one at Cardiff, but the Pom batting line up at Headingley always looked terribly terribly weak on paper, with a very very long tail, and so it turned out to be in reality.
No Freddie. No KP. No cigar, Engerland.
It’s as simple as that.