Loyalists,
With Melbourne getting a month's worth of rain on the Friday, the match would have been a whole lot more interesting if they'd accidentally left the roof open at Docklands.
Pigs rooting in mud would have been better than what was on offer.
Never mind the solid first quarter, never mind being robbed blind by the Bamfords in the first half; Swans were found out well before the end of the Championship Quarter.
Game over.
It's as if the Saints took 18 rattan canes to the Swans; caned in the ruck, caned in the mid field, caned in the forwards, caned in the backs, caned 6-3 in The Champo.
It's pretty simple really.
If you man up and strangle the Sydney mid-field for possession, they don't have much else to offer, it seems.
Never mind that St Kilda are renowned for shonky play.
Has Nick Reiwoldt been picked for the Olympic diving team?
If not, why not?
He'd be perfect off the springboard, appealing to the umpires all the way down.
But, it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
Odd Head battled on gamely all day, and JP Kennedy tried his best in probably his first game this season where he didn't score a Brownlow vote, but there were far too many passengers for mine.
Just for instance, despite kicking three forgettable goals, the Jetta Kiddie was entirely missing in action in the contests that mattered and was hardly seen.
Most of the time you wouldn't even know that he was playing.
Lenny's 250th lended the mysteriousness factor.
On interview after the game, Coach Horse was utterly perplexed, saying "I didn't see it coming....I didn't see it coming".
Mr Ed would've be down by the Miracle Waters for Sunday morning smoko scratching his ear and pulling out what little hair he has left on the bonce, thinking "what to do?"
The 101 point win over the hapless Demons did no good for anyone.
Top sides take beating approaching the half way mark in the season, if you are dreaming of September, and it's up to the coach to work out how to do it.
It'd help if he could decide on who to play in the ruck, with Mummy out, and take it from there.
No deliveries from the Goodes Train doesn't help, either.
Back to the drawing board for the second time since the purple patch.
Go figure.
A rather startling message chattered through on the Bush Telegraph in the corner of the loungeroom just before three quarter time.
It was from my spy at the ground and it simply read "season over".
Now, he's never been one to fall into the optimist's camp, but it could well be a "season definer", the one that's looked back on at the end of the regular season, the one that set the tone.
Who knows?
Too early to say in May.
ST KILDA: 3.1, 8.7, 14.14, 16.15 (111). Goals: Milne 3, Steven 2, Riewoldt 2, Dal Santo 2, Saad 2, Blake, Cripps, Siposs, Milera, Montagna.
SYDNEY: 4.4, 5.4, 8.6, 12.11 (83). Goals: Jetta 3, McGlynn 2, Reid 2, Jack 2, Bolton, Kennedy, Roberts-Thomson.
At Docklands Stadium.
Crowd: 34,737.
Undoubtedly the best game of the year.
Both sides dug deep; rugged defence, clever backline play off forward grit, and running rugby league - said it before, say it again - the finest sight in all world sport.
Just a pity it was played at Campbelltown "wouldn't go that far on me holidays" Sports Ground.
Farah was a clear Man of the Match after backing up from an outstanding game for NSW on Wednesday.
The Best Leb in the Game closely edged out Keefy Galloway for the gong; the now Hairless Bludnut after a visit to a barber with a sharp cut throat razor a few weeks back.
Made a million tackles, and arguably more hard yards carting the ball up than everyone else combined.
Marshall played a very good game; a more measured approach which he's been coached to play, but when he sees something moving out of place out of the corner of his eye, he's like a black greyhound and just goes for it, at pace.
The jink, the step, the pass, as if it's all done by mirrors.
And his goalkicking has improved this year by the length of the street; must be kicking hundreds of goals in practice with a specialist kicking coach the way he's going, and his mother, the poor thing, would still be polishimg those boots for good luck.
At last he's realised conversions and penalty goals are crucial in this game, and without them, you'll lose more than you win.
Aaron Woods and Matty Utai don't get much press, but they shouild be singled out for the right good go that they both put in, in defence and attack.
It's just a so much easier path to victory when the engine room is smoking and the forwards give the backs the platform to get their mojo working.
Still, the game was not without a couple of disappointing players.
Hate to single them out, but.
Despite scoring two opportunistic tries, Timmy Moltzen had an absolute shocker.
His litany of crucial mistakes almost cost Balmain the match on more than one occasion, and he would have been squarely to blame if they'd lost, so he got off the hook.
And by the way he hung his head in his hands, he knew it.
SC Sheens would be kicking the dirt saying "why didn't we sell him to St George while we had the chance?"
And the same could be said of Adam Blair - certain the coach would love to sell him back to Melbourne after bringing him on board at the start of the season as a marque player on a bloated stipend.
Not that the Storm would have him back - the bloke has made absolutely no impact on any game in 12 outings.
Costly mistake, that buy.
On interview after the match, SC Sheens mentioned nothing of that, firmly putting the result into the "we'll take our wins" column in the Coach's Ledger, but did note that it was a pretty good effort given that most of the team had sent in sick notes mid-week and were bedridden with heavy head colds and he couldn't get a full squad on the training paddock until the Saturday morning.
For old timer fans, it was very very pleasing to see Curtis "Son of Sirro" Sironen make his debut off the bench for Balmain at the tender age of 18.
After being scouted in the cradle, the kiddie is by all accounts the genuine article, with all the skills and confidence to match, and entirely unlike his father, has a good football brain on his shoulders and is a specialist five-eighth.
Curtis, it appears, has it all mapped out before him and an illustrious career awaits, if he wants it, but of course he will have to cope with playing in the long shadow of his living, breathing, dead-set legend old man who played 246 games for Balmain, 14 games for NSW, and 21 games for Australia and is one of the greatest second rowers of any era.
The boy wouldn't even have been a twinkle in his father's eye when some unknown people took it upon themselves, in the week before the '89 Grand Final, to take just a single evening to paint with a very broad brush in huge black letters across the entire length of the wall on the road bridge over the six railway tracks at Petersham station, the words:
THERE IS NO FEAR LIKE THE FEAR OF FEAR ITSELF, EXCEPT SIRRO.
Well there you go.
Precisely what was needed, just what The Doctor ordered.
A priceless mid-season purple patch with five wins and a bye on the trot, so make that 12 premiership points in the dilly bag and a place in the top eight.
Anything could happen from here.
WESTS TIGERS 26. Tries: Moltzen (2), Marshall, Tuqiri. Goals: Marshall (5).
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 18. Tries: Graham, Hall, Winterstein. Goals: Thurston (3).
At Campbelltown Sports Ground.
Crowd: 13,059.
