Denizens of The Outer,
The general consensus of opinion in the Front Bar down at The Local last Friday afternoon was that Sydney would give Port Adelaide a ten goal football lesson, given how good the Power have been going lately [one win out of eight, including the first ever loss to the Gold Coast] and therefore, by definition, wasn't worth watching.
Felt inclined to take a different view; watching your team hand out a rare right thrashing to any side can be the source of some satisfaction for a loyalist.
And so, the lesson was duly delivered.
Coach Horse should mull over and pay particular attention to the seven goal championship quarter.
If they could do that every week they'd be hoisting the flag at the end of the season!
In reality tho', it's was a hard, grinding, ugly kind of game, with few opportunities.
No less than 12 goal scorers shows the Swans haven't had a genuine full forward since BBB Hall was banished....
Pleasing to see the Ugliest Man In Football, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, back in the fray.
After being wracked with injury, LRT hasn't played for quite a while, but is still all arms and legs, and remains capable of frightening small children without doing anything at all.
For the second week in a row there was a clear Best On Ground, J.Bolton just dominated his patch, and dictated terms - not that he had much opposition to deal with.
Rhino and the Goodes Train continue to play very well indeed, and Coach Horse would be well aware of the need to have those two continuing to produce in a winning team.
Reg Grundy and Rick Shaw are developing as hard men, capable of a bit of flair when required.
But in the grand scheme of things, not much can be learnt from a match of little, or no consequence.
Perhaps the blokes in the Front Bar were right after all.
SYDNEY: 3.5, 5.6, 12.11, 18.13 (121). Goals: Reid 3, Everitt 2, Goodes 2, Hannebery 2, Kennedy 2, McGlynn, Bird, Bolton, McVeigh, Jetta, Roberts-Thomson, Smith.
PORT ADELAIDE: 3.2, 4.3, 8.5, 9.5 (59). Goals: Motlop 2, Schulz 2, Thomas, Phillips, Boak, Chaplin, Logan.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd 20,719.
Didn't see a frame of the Tigers match as it was played simultaneously with the Swans game - and a good thing too.
At 27-0 down at half time, probably would have done an Elvis, got out the Glock, and started shooting up the television.
Inexplicable that they just didn't turn up to play; defies reasonable explanation.
Although he wasn't particularly to blame, The Great Heighington took the fall on behalf of the team and made the public apology, describing the first half as worst defensive display that he'd been involved in in his entire nine years at the club, and then said sorry.
Everyone else was too shy to appear in public after that dismal effort.
Deary, deary me.
SC Sheens, at least, concurred with Heighington's assessment in these terms "for a team that has aspirations of actually doing something this season, that was pretty poor" and then, for good measure, went on to state the obvious "if you don't go in and you don't hit with your shoulder, and you don't knock your opponents down in the ruck, you're going to get rolled by their speed in the middle".
My friend the StatsGuru has made an interesting observation.
He reckons that the Paper Tigers haven't beaten anyone of note this year.
Quite right too.
Approaching the half way mark in the season, as Balmain cling for dear life onto No.8 spot on the ladder only on percentage with a log jam of teams in front and behind them, they've only beaten one team above them on the table this year, and that's the Worriers, who are currently in 6th.
And the draw just gets more difficult as the season wears on.
Yet to play four out of the current top five, including St George-Illawarra, twice.
Crikey!
No shadow of a doubt that a large part of training this week would have been a couple of long sessions in the Room Full Of Mirrors down on the Balmain Road so they could have a good hard look at themselves, with the words from the people in the bleachers "can, and must, do better" ringing in their ears.
On the sunny side, there are some good milestones at Leichhardt this year with the Best Leb In The Game having just played his 150th for the club, and the Great Benji about to do so, and then there's the news that the Great Liam Fulton will turn out for his 100th appearance for the Tigers this weekend, having debuted in 1993.
Spent a lot of time in Sick Bay over the years, a year in exile in the dark satanic mills of northern England through no fault of his own, Fulton is among the last of the classic forwards who is picked week in, week out on the "never played a bad game" principle.
Just gets on with the job of making the hard yards and clocking blokes, left, right and centre.
He's a member of the Sensational Six - the remaining survivors from the Miracle of '05 who are still going around - thus earning the honorific "Great".
An unspectacular player by any measure but is a picture of tough reliable dependability, who has been known to score tries from set plays off the back of the ruck.
Despite having perhaps the most serious expression on his face of anyone on the field, he's also a supremely popular clubman off the field, being the team jester that he is.
By all reports, does a brilliant routine in impersonations, relishes ringing people up on the phone and pretending to be someone else, and loves nothing more than a well thought out perfectly executed practical joke.
Talk about larf!
A master of the jolly jape.
All power to his oars.
SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 29. Tries: Farrell, Merritt, Talanoa, Wesser. Goals: Sandow (6). Field Goals: Sandow (1).
WESTS TIGERS 18. Tries: Farah, Marshall, Utai. Goals: Marshall (3).
At Olympic Stadium, Homebush.
Crowd: 18,245.
