two telly's and a couple of nil-all draws

Bleacherites,

It was a "most unusal day" in Perth.
As one commentator said "it's not often that you get up here on a very wet morning and its still pissing down with rain in the afternoon".
Loved the television close up pictures of the hardy die-hards on the bleachers in their heavy-duty plastic poncho's with puffy shower cap hoods that they haven't had call to use in years, all shrugging off the miserableness and trying to look 'brave', not many smiling until the camera landed on someone laughing his head off - that spectator must have been the one a sandwich short of a picnic.
Despite the appalling weather, Swans should have been goals in front throughout, but only the torrential rain balanced the two sides.
Buddy v Mackenzie was an absolute corker; at one point they were flat out on the ground wrestling Greco-Roman style like two pigs rooting in mud.
What a sight.
But at the end of the day, you'd reckon both blokes would call it a nill-all draw under the conditions, even though Mackenzie probably thinks he won the battle.
Mike Pyke v Dean Cox was undoubtedly the match up of the day.
The Mad Canadian with arms like snakes up against the Eagles all-time club record holder with 280+ games under his belt - all played exclusively as a ruckman - best in the business at the age of 32.
The upstart North American did well to match him, and would settle for the nil-all draw.
Did note that the Parker Kiddie picked up some kind of ridiculously large tubular trophy for being Best on Ground [why a trophy? was it the Up Yours Eagles Medal? The two sides do have history after all].
But there was general consensus in the household that Benny "In Like" McGlynn should have got the gong - he played superb rugged wet weather football, no quarter asked for, no prisoners taken, and booted a couple of big ones while he was at it, priceless in a predictably low scoring game.
Teddy Richards, gawd bless him, and Full As An Esky built the brick wall across the backline, and West Coast were fooling themselves if they thought they could get through that.
On a day like that, just dig the trenches.
JP Kennedy had a stirling game, better than the other Josh Kennedy on the ground, who could only boast smashing the poor kid Jones with a full on hip'n'shoulder to the head that saw Zac go off and fail the concussion test.
Welcome to the big league son.
The Tribunal took a dim view of it and rubbed out Kennedy of Perth for a week, which is fair enough under the current rules.
How much newsprint has Craig Bird generated in the Sydney papers given that he's been one of the Swans' best players all year?
None, zilch, as the Little Birdie continues to fly under the radar with his unobtrusive style that gets right under the skin of his opponents.
Where the Brownlow votes went is anyone's guess, given the Bamfords would have probably seen precious little as their contact lenses fogged up in the driving rain.
The Stats Guru pointed out that The Great Goodes Train with 341 games broke the all-time record for number of games played in top grade by yr indigenous fella, overtaking The Great Andrew McLeod of Adelaide.
The powers that be in the Colonies could only see their way clear to name a dining room after McLeod in the new southern stand at Adelaide Oval.
The SCG Trust can do much better than that, surely?
They'll at least have to have a life-size bronze scuplture of The Train installed at the SCG.
There's no shortage of precedent.
Just ask Basil Sellars for the cash, he'll stump up.
The Strayan of The Year?
No better candidate for the 11th bronze at the ground, simply given his exploits on the hallowed turf over the years, if nothing else.

WEST COAST: 2.2, 4.5, 6.7, 7.9 (51). Goals: J.Kennedy 2, Priddis, Shuey, Darling, Cripps, Lycett.
SYDNEY: 3.4, 5.12, 7.14, 10.19 (79). Goals: Goodes 3, Parker 2, McGlynn 2, Rampe, Reid, Franklin.
At Subiaco Oval.
Crowd: 25,076

Have found myself wondering from time to time why there aren't two telly's in the house.
Everyone has got more than one, right?
It's rather difficult to watch two games of football being played simultaneously on a single crystal bucket.
The upshot being, didn't see a lot of this game, apart from at half-time in the rules match and during the ad breaks, but didn't miss much by all accounts.
My Spy at the Ground was despondent over the number of unforced errors and the shocking penalty count accumulated through plain ill-discipline.
Went on about "can't blame the Bamford's this time, they only have themselves to blame" or something or another.
For the third Origin week in a row it was a case of No Farah, No Cigar - which is really getting like an annoying broken record - but at least that's over now.
And without A.Woods also, there's no punch in the forwards, who find themsleves directionless without their skipper, and so there's next to no effective go foward from the pack.
What hope do the backs have on the back of that?
Penrith are in-form, mind you, and go top after playing at Leichhardt, having benfited mightily from their dream season draw - soft as - and the Origin byes falling the right way for them.
The Loyal Faithful who turned out on cue in their droves at the Spiritual Home were sent packing, yet again, disappointed.
The Tigers could be anywhere, given 6th to 11th on the ladder all have the same number of wins [with the byes a complicating factor], but sink to 10th on a negative for and against.
They're in a big log jam with no way out unless they can they string a few wins together as they approach the pointy end, which still aint beyond the realm of possibilities, but gee, they're a worry.
Balmain more than likely to be eaten like kippers for breakfast come September, if they get that far.
On interview after the game, Coach Potter reckoned the gearbox may be the problem, especially when he hasn't got the full drive train in working order.
"We made far too many errors and just couldn't get out of second gear".
Harry at his taciturn best, but in truth, the whole season must be driving him right out of his brain.
It is mine.
Joisis, they're a hard team to follow.

WESTS TIGERS 10. Tries: Austin, Brooks. Goals: Richards (1).
PENRITH PANTHERS 26. Tries: Whare (2), Idris, Moylan, Naiqama. Goals: Soward (3).
At Leichhardt Oval.
Crowd: 16,698.

rapprochement will never happen

Bandwagoners,

It wasn't exactly the "violent murderous revenge" that had been tipped, nay promised, in some quarters.
In fact, when you are as well placed as the Swans are, there's no need to excert yourself; all you have to do is enough to win.
The scoreboard doesn't differentiate between one point and 100 point winners.
Pleasing to see K.Jack win the B.Kirk Medal for Best on Ground.
He also got some sort of Cup with white ribbons on it, which you can only presume is the perpetual trophy for the absurdly named "Battle of The Bridge"?
Picked up all the silverware he could lay his hands on, and if you're the skipper, wouldn't you?
JP Kennedy had a fine game for mine; he's developing into one of those players who largely goes sight unseen, but just digs in week in week out and goes strong right to the finish, with little or no fanfare about it.
He could walk down the middle of George Street, and no one would have any idea who he was.
Kiddies wouldn't exactly be rushing up to him asking for autographs.
Swans players can freely go about their day to day business in Sydney without being harrassed by the general public, except for the Buddy & Tipsy Show of course, which is hard to ignore on and off the field.
Seven goals between them will do, this week.
Without doubt the match up of the day was in the ruck...really enjoyed The Mad Canadian v Bad Mummy.
Obviously a few scores to settle there, with Pyke having literally forced Mumford out of the side, telling him to Go West.
Don't think they like each other very much.
It shows.
Both blokes would probably say that they won, but an impassionate judge would most likely call it a draw.
Good to watch, though.
So, that's ten on the trot, for the first time in living memory...you'd have to be into your 90's to clearly remember going to those games as a young lad the last time it happened
With only four more home games remaining, all against easily beatable sides, the Minor Premiership is there [caveat: that's if it doesn't all go to shit and the world turns upside down in the interim] for the taking if they want, which SC Horse may not.
In the Premiership Year of 2012, seem to recall there was a fair bit of jigging about and hanky panky in the pointy end of the season, not to mention outright match rigging; just make sure you do just enough to lose.
Depending on how the cards fall, it could well be more advantageous to try to finish second on the laddder - nothing wrong with resting key players in the denoument, and not sure that the authorities have ever successfully booked anyone for tanking or sandbagging.
Longmire is a clever man - he's not one for throwing the dice - his huge football brain would be down in the Football Office as we speak, fixing the beads on the abacus with a his beady eye as they whirr about back and forth.
The gin-soaked plans from yesteryear would be kept firmly under lock and key in the Back Office, available to the inner circle only for consultation with white gloves on, while the Super Coach would be working on crafty schemes of his own.
You know it makes sense.

SYDNEY: 4.4, 8.9, 12.11, 15.16 (106). Goals: Franklin 5, Tippett 2, Kennedy 2, Jack, McGlynn, Jones, Reid, Jetta, Bird.
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY: 1.4, 1.7, 4.10, 8.12 (60). Goals: Bugg 2, Cameron 2, Whitfield, Ward, Smith, Hoskin-Elliott.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 27,778.

The short wave radio set in Dad's Shed struggled to pick up the signal from Campbelltown Sports Ground due to the dire weather.
The hardy folk who exposed themselves to the bitter wind chill coming off the Cumberland Plains would've grudgingly sympathised with the handful of opposition die-hards who had made the supreme effort to travel from the national capital to also turn up.
Maybe the Raiders supporters were trying to get away to more balmy weather?
As the radio commentor said "if you think it's cold out here at Campbelltown with a westerly gale in, I've just checked the Bureau website and the apparent temperature in Canberra right now is -7.8 degrees".
Lucky they weren't playing in the ACT...hypothermia territory right there.
The Mighty Tiges were very gritty under difficult and trying conditions, especially after losing a marquee player inside a minute who probably didn't warm himself up properly in the cold.
Who knows?
Tedesco finds himself gorn for all money with busted a knee cap within the first 15 seconds of the game and will need a season-ending scalpel to the scapula.
Deary me.
The bloke is the Tipsy of the NRL for mine - very flaky - his list of career injuries are as long as a broken arm.
And just to think, after signing a lucrative deal with Canberra [of all teams] he reneged on the contracutal arrangements on second thoughts to stay with Balmain on the grounds of something to do with "loyalty" while dropping half a mill in the process, when the Tigers Football Dept more than likely would have been glad to see the back of the enormously talented, yet prone to crippledom kiddie and free up some salary cap into the future??
Don't know who wins there.
Solid slog for the pack won them the game, but the Anasta field goal inside the last nine minutes appeared to be the clincher with the game having decended into defensive trench warfare.
Ah ha! Don't speak too soon.
Balmain were very nearly robbed blind by the Bamfords with a dubious - at best - penalty for holding an attacking player without the ball with about three minutes remaining.
My Spy at the Ground reckoned the home crowd was rather upset by it all, they were dead-set furious until Croker of Canberra contrived to turn the mood of the crowd into pure joy, by missing the penalty goal by a whisker as it faded away on the howling breeze, knowing that that would have put the Raiders in front by a point, and surely the winners.
A classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of a god-given victory
There was no shortage of niggle the game, and a few all in-stinks, which is always good to see.
There's no doubt these two teams hate each other, always have, always will...rapprochement will never happen...not while some people have long memories, me included, given that this year being the 25th anniversary of the excruciating pain of the ill-fated 1989 Grand Final.
Enough said.
Somehow, no idea how, the Tigers now find themselves in sixth place on a log-jammed ladder with a game in hand, but are still firmly anchored in the bottom half of the top eight, going nowhere, as they have been for most of the season.
The pessimist would say, on recent showings, they'll be eaten like kippers for breakfast come September, but as every knows, finals time is a different kettle of fish altogether.
Coach Potter must be saying to The Board "what more can I do?"

WESTS TIGERS 19. Tries: Nofoaluma (2), Richards. Goals: Richards (3), Field Goals: Anasta (1).
CANBERRA RAIDERS 18. Tries: Lee (2), Croker. Goals: Croker (3).
At Campbelltown Sports Ground.
Crowd: 9,243.