Old Age Pensioners,
To see on the unblinking eye the images of Michael O’Loughlin weeping uncontrollably as he walked off the hallowed turf of the Sydney Cricket Ground for the very last time as he vainly tried to hide his tears in the collar of his guernsey got me to thinking that there are actually people to which football matters.
It was achingly sad, and yet strangely reassuring that such an ornament to the game had decided to put himself up onto the gilt-edged mantelpiece to be admired forever.
No-one, and that means no-one in the last ten years or more has been more deserving than Magic of admittance to that very exclusive club of SCG Life Members, on the basis of his performances on the ground.
Here’s trusting that the trustees can see their way clear, or perhaps the honour is not bestowed on a black man?
Oh well. Go well ol’ boy; there will never be another Micky O.
Let’s just hope that he meets with brilliant success in his stated retirement aim of extending a helping hand to underprivileged aboriginal kiddies and encouraging more of the really destitute ones to give the game a go in the belief that the stellar heights are indeed attainable.
Did like the interview Magic gave to one of the Sunday fishwraps on the occasion of his 300th, in the ten questions your time starts now format.
Asked “what was the worst thing a coach has ever said to you?”
The great man replied “I had a coach in Adelaide once who once said to me ‘you will never play top grade league football in South Australia’. Funnily enough, I never did. I went straight to the AFL”.
Vale The Great Magic.
All power to his oars.
Jared Crouch looked as he always does, like some kind of muscled up short little tough guy who would not have looked out of place in a small ill-fitting dark suit with Hawaii Five-O sunglasses to match, and a Glock in the footy sock.
Played a heap of games simply on the strength of being Mr Reliable with the added advantage, despite his stature, of being able to scare the living shit out of opposition players as he was running at them full pelt with the aim of delivering a well timed rabbit punch to the nuts.
Will probably go into real estate.
And the sight of Leo Barry, the most unlikely of footballers ever to grace a playing field; not a single rippling muscle on his frame, pecs entirely missing in action, all gangly arms and legs, would give hope to even the most downtrodden.
He’s had the extraordinary luck of being able to ride the gravy train to innumerable free luncheons, trading on his miracle last-second leap to save the 2005 Grand Final.
Good luck to him, and may the toot! toot! continue ever onwards.
Perhaps a campaign should be mounted to rename the curiously titled Kippax-Carroll Dining Room in the Bradman Stand at the SCG the McLoughlin-Barry-Crouch Room.
The trustee’s have a track record in re-naming things at the ground, just ask Pat Hills and Doug Walters MBE.
SC Roos, after that season, would have taken a very low, almost underground, profile at Mad Monday.
Happy to leave all the having fun to BBB Hall.
SYDNEY: 3.4, 6.6, 11.7, 14.8 (92). Goals: O'Loughlin 4, White 3, Goodes 3, Thornton, Ablett, Kirk, Jack
BRISBANE: 3.5, 10.8, 13.9, 15.10 (100). Goals: Brown 3, Sherman 3, McGrath 2, Clark, Harding, Brennan, Austin, Stiller, Black, Polkinghorne
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 27,933.
SC Sheens will go to his grave wondering how on earth it was that Balmain let Scotty Prince go to the Gold Coast a season after the 2005 Grand Final.
At the time, he described the Prince defection, for not that much more money, mind you, as “the worst decision I’ve ever seen in all my time in football. They’ve just ripped the heart out of my backline”.
And doesn’t Prince just love to come back to haunt the Tigers?
Especially when he must rate himself as a half way decent chance of adding a second Premiership Ring to the collection.
Seasoned observers left the ground mulling over the question, and shaking their heads muttering amongst themselves “Our Benji, spectacular try, Best Leb in The Game, two tries, and we still lost the match?????”
The game was a microcosm of all the lost matches through this season.
In it from the outset, well placed throughout, and then opened up like a can of beans in the last ten minutes.
Not hard to see where the coach’s ledger will finish up after he has scratched the final result into the two columns marked “well take our wins” and “well learn from our losses”.
GOLD COAST TITANS 36. Tries: Prince (2), Campbell, O'Dwyer, Rogers, Tagataese. Goals: Prince (6).
WESTS TIGERS 24. Tries: Farah (2), Hanbury (2), Marshall. Goals: Marshall (2).
At Robina Park, Qld.
Crowd: 20,102.
