Disappointees,
Did like the bloke standing next to me overlooking the 20 metre line at the Swimming Pool End, he might have been 11 years old, 12 if he was pushing it, decked out in the complete Storm kit, clenching his fists and barracking strongly whenever the Melbourne fowards took it up.
He was a mere slip of a lad, and he appeared to have a father with him who by what he was saying had seen a few rugby league matches in his time, but didn't have his heart in this one, and kept apologising for the fact that his boy had somehow inexplicably become a Melbourne supporter.
The kid was beaming at the end of the game, naturally.
A woman stood behind me holding a copy of the Sunday Telegraph up to her face to read, so she had no chance of catching even a glimpse of the game.
Thinking she might have been making a pointed statetment to the bloke she was with; something along the lines of "not interested".
Just like days of yore, when Balmain played every home game at Leichhardt, we wanded in from the Orange Grove for the second time in a fortnight, and found the Spiritual Home all but packed.
By the time we had found our standing room, they'd hung the 'full house' shingle outside the ground, with hundreds being turned away for just being too late.
So, the ground was dripping with atmosphere.
The Balmain forwards matched Melbourne man-for-man in defence, but didn't have their usual cut and thrust in attack, while the backs seemed disorganised as the halves struggled to find any rythmn, with the Great Benji and The Best Leb In The Game both having quiet games.
Marshall really only had one good moment when he threw a Hail Mary miracle pass, cutting out four players across the back and finding his right winger unmarked, allowing Be My Beau Ryan to score what turned out to be the home side's only try of the match.
When Benji limped off with what appeared to be a bit of a knee with about ten minutes left, all hope was lost.
No one remotely looked like scoring in the second half in a dead set checkmate stalemate as Melbourne strangled the living daylights out of the game with the full sanction of the referees.
Go figure.
The Storm came to play, no doubt about that, but also implemented some below the belt tactics and downright dirty play - an audacious thing to do at Leichhardt, where the crowd can get volatile - in a bid to slow down the play-the-ball to a crawl, which they did very effectively.
Some shady character by the name of Sika Manu dropped his knees in a tackle on That Pom Ellis early in piece, provoking outrage on the hill, and yet, even though it was right there in full view as plain as the light of day, the Bamfords missed it and he got away with it scott free, when he should have been sent off.
Back in the day, dropping the knees was up there with tripping, the spear tackle, the swinging arm head high tackle, biting and eye gouging as the send off offences.
Not anymore in the modern game it seems.
Late in the match, the same bloke collared the Balmain fullback in a clothesline tackle around the neck, then tips him up and violently back slams him into the turf, before sitting his broad buttocks on the bloke's chest and head!
Three infringements in one.
At least the Bamford gave him and his captain a right lecture and put him in the report book, but what then happened down at the tribunal?
No action was taken over the last tackle, and yet he was done for the kneeing, but let off with a reprimand on account he didn't have enough penalty points for even a one week suspension.
Let's be blunt here; weak as piss.
Joisus wept.
Did like Farah dropping his bundle on interview after the game when questioned about the Melbourne style of play.
''They f---ing do it all the time, they do it all the time, and they just get away with it,''
While you don't get to the top of the table being nice guys, there's no room for filth in the game for mine.
Someone should remind the Storm players that rugby league is a thug's game played by gentlemen, while rugby union is a gentleman's game played by thugs.
They should switch codes.
But, a sense of honour seems to have gone out of the thingy since it became a multi-million dollar business.
SC Sheens declined to comment on the Bamford's performance or the opposition.
Rather would have said nothing, but did mention something about the Tigers being consistently inconsistent.
While the Tigers hung onto 6th place on the ladder by the skin of their teeth, there's a log jam behind them, and the top five have opened up a huge six point gap on the rest, and will be very hard to dislodge from here.
The Club Secretary doesn't need to get the abacus out to calculate that Balmain now find the best they can hope for is to fight it out with six teams for the last three places in the top eight.
Wandered out of the ground kicking empty beer cans along the ground, and found the need to strain the potatoes in the heritage-listed Gents on the side of the hill.
Found ZZ Top in there [he's more often seen at Cambelltown].
Full-beard down to his waist, major league mullet, dressed in the full Western Suburbs Magpies gear from the 80's teamed with carved cowboy boots, smoking at the urinal with his beer perched precariously on the porcelain.
Perhaps he was the bloke with the booming voice who after the match gave the Storm players a choice send off as they made an undignified exit up the tunnel...
"Go back to Mexico, ya mongrels".
WESTS TIGERS 4. Tries: Ryan.
MELBOURNE STORM 12. Tries: Proctor, Hinchcliffe. Goals: Smith (1), Duffie (1).
At Leichhardt Oval.
Crowd: 20,486.
Swans, what Swans?
Never saw a frame of this game as it was played simultaneously with the time we spent at the Spiritual Home on a Sunday afternoon.
On returning home found the bush telegaph in the corner of the loungeroom had chattered into life and transmitted the scorebox from Docklands.
Tore off the tape and read the score, and so wasn't even remotely interested in viewing even the highlights reel on the crystal bucket news of the Swans being eaten alive like kippers for breakfast.
The fishwraps variously described the Sydney effort as "terrible" or "dreadful".
The bald facts show they were the best part of ten goals in arrears at three quarter time, after for the second week running, failing to kick a single goal in the Championship Quarter, and in this instance having six unanswered goals kicked on them.
That'd be something that'd have Coach Horse stratching his head.
Never going to challenge the top four with that kind of nonsense.
In fact, the StatsGuru gave me a ring on Monday morning and said all of Sydney's four losses this year have come against the teams that are currently in the top four, including being beaten by Carlton twice already, and they've got Collingwood coming off the bye this week.
He concluded his remarks by saying "fancy that?".
Yet another thing for Mr Ed to ponder as he thinks about sending the entire team down to the Room Full Of Mirrors on the Balmain Rd for a session of having a good look at themselves.
Can, and must, do better, even if they appear on the face of it to be still be travelling alright, only a win or two to make the top five.
The Pies would be a highly unlikely starting point, but everyone knows as you go into the back end of a season the game becomes a different bottle of mussels altogether, when form becomes important and class becomes paramount.
Grundy, Bird, Johnson, Kennedy, O'Keefe were listed as "Best:" in the scorebox.
Got no idea, of course.
You be the judge.
CARLTON: 4.2, 7.4, 13.8, 15.10 (100). Goals: Kreuzer 2, Murphy 2, Garlett 2, Walker 2, Ellard 2, Robinson, Henderson, Judd, Yarran, Gibbs.
SYDNEY: 3.1, 4.3, 4.4, 10.6 (66). Goals: Goodes 2, Jack 2, Bird, Malceski, Shaw, Bolton, Jetta, McGlynn.
At Docklands Stadium.
Crowd: 42,788.
