Bleacherites,
The thing about walking
up to Docklands Stadium from the Berlin End of Melbourne is
you'd never pick it for a footy ground unless you were told. Now
surrounded by high rise corporate HQ's and a five-star and next
door to a massive railway station, it looks more like some kind
of enormous concert hall. Going from late afternoon sun into the
joint with the lid on and it's dark and cold, the lights are on,
and the place cries out "this is what a Melbourne winter looks
like". Never seen footy there, while the MCG has been graced
with my presence a few times, and the difference is pretty
stark. Had my excuses for being in Marvellous Melbourne just as
the Swans were playing in the very last fixture of the home
& away season. Docklands is a happy hunting ground for
Sydney - a home away from home - and "compact", about the same
playing area as the SCG, but it's looking pretty dowdy at 22
years old compared to the historic grandeur of their Paddington
home. But a free ticket came my way by way of grace &
favour, so there was no question - just had to go see the
contest. Didn't matter that of my three match attendances this
year, two were against St Kilda. Know yr enemy. And it was
'everything to play for' time too, as they say in the
classics...right down to the sharp pointy end of the season. The
Swans could've still finished 2nd-5th on the ladder and that
made for a pretty nervous South Melbourne supporters end. Then
news came though from the match across the road at the G, which
had 88K punters in - it was half time in the Swans game - that
the surprise result there made no difference. Just winning
became imperative.
Found myself in a newsagent in Sunshine on the Saturday morning before the Sunday game, and got myself a Saturday Age - the paper of record. The wizened old newsagent behind the perspex shielded counter said "ah, weekend Age? that one gone up". Having heard about rampant inflation and already scanned the front page for the cover price myself he also peered at the masthead and said "yes, now five dollar". The only other customer in the shop was a woman who indignantly shrieked "five bucks!!" and then said nothing else. Don't know that the Age sells all that well there. Only got the miserable rag to confirm my suspicions; in all the nine back pages of football news there was not a single story about the Swans. Not a one. The match preview ran to a few pars. Never mind they're third favourites to win the comp.
As is par for the course down Mexico way, the standard of umpiring was appalling, and the backpedalling shrimps got plenty of stick from the bleachers for giving plainly ridiculous free kicks against the away team. Lost count of how many goals they free gifted on a platter to the Saints, but there were a fair few by half time. Never mind that St Kilda are a good side, with the football stars right across the park and the likes of King tending to go large on the scoreboard, home side bias is a thing among the Bamfords. Sydney could've played better, for sure, but never looked like losing from the opening bounce for mine, and the heart rate only went up a notch or two in the red & and white section of the stands when the Saints came within seven points a couple of times in the final stanza, but they were never going to go marching in. It's perfectly fine to do just enough to win, isn't it? And look a bit scrappy at it? Sandbagging, even? Margins make no difference now, the team that wins the most...well, wins. Will "The Goal Kicker from North Adelaide" Hayward was due for a blinder, and the look of pure joy on his face in the denouement after he booted the match winner with minutes left told you all about the sweet taste of victory. The South Cheer Squad certainly put on a show - they'd dwarf the paltry one at the SCG. Another place fandom runs very deep. You forget what the crazy crowds are like in Melbourne, where folks will turn out in numbers to watch two flies crawl up a wall; in contrast Sydney is very tame with no tribalism. GWS Pygmies have no supporters.Former Swan, The Great Dan "The Kiddie" Hannebery, was probably Best on Ground in a losing side in his last game before retirement. Outstanding. The Kid played out of his mind. A brilliant career cruelled by injury, having notched up 200 games for Sydney, then just 17 matches in four years after transfer to St Kilda at his own request as he did himself all kinds of mischief and spent most of his time in Sick Bay. At age 31 it was time to give the game away. Hanna's is in the Swans Pantheon, and that's all that matters. There was no doubt he was a star ten-year player from the off. There was a touching scene after the game as Dan was given all due respect and chaired off the ground, and one half of the carrying party was his old Swans team mate, The Great JP Kennedy, who retires at the end of his own spectacular career as the season finishes also, after his body finally gave up on him at 34. It was more than enough to see a single tear roll down the cheek of a die-hard or two who've taken notice of their whole careers. End of another era.
Some time in the
Championship quarter as the Swans looked to be cruising, a lone
seagull appeared and sat on the ground for a time before being
chased away by players chasing the ball. As we were being driven
along the turnpike going past the ground on our way to the
aeroporto the next morning, the Good Lady Wife remarked "I
wonder if that seagull ever got out?". She was the one who
spotted Isaac Heeney The Cardiff Zucchini ambling to the
departure gate at Tullamarine eating from a bag of Burger Rings
as most of the team got on the flight home to the Emerald City
before us.
While most everyone
were rooting for a home final first up, always thought finishing
third is a very good place to be. While they looked like a
finals chance from season's starting gun, the Swans spent a long
inconsistent mid-year where the chance at the double bite at the
cherry appeared very much in doubt. How easy it is to forget. To
make the first four is rolled gold. That's seven triumphs on the
trot now, and they're a red hot chance of doing a 'double purple
patch' and snatching the whole damn shooting match. Just ask
Collingwood - it's that 'momentum' theory they keep talking
about. At one stage, a digital spreadsheet on a portable
telephone was shown to me that calculated what score the Swans
needed at any given point in the match to get the percentage up
to go second on the ladder. The Stats Guru's eyes would have
popped out as he made a mess of his jeans at the mere sight of
it. A work of art. But, nah. The way it is, all that needs to
happen is for the Swans to really find their mojo and pass the
fairly stern test against last year's Premiers* (*in a mickey
mouse Plague-rooted season with an off-kilter Grand Final in Perth)
on the wide open (and hostile) spaces of the MCG. Then return to
the SCG for a heaving Prelim final against whoever, then back
down to Melbourne for a float down the Yarra and another run
around HQ in the Grand Final, when anything can, and does,
happen. Of course they know the attitude now just needs to be
win, win, win everything and take the shortest route possible to
the Premiership. You can be dead sure SC Horse would be drumming
that into them, even as they relax with smoko in the magic
waters of a late winter sea bath in the South Pacific Ocean.
He'd be in their ears. It can't get any simpler than win the
next three against quality teams - who all boast some big name
champions - and The Flag is in the bag. There aint no room for
losers in the finals, they can suit themselves, and nobody ever
remembers who came second anyway. Take no prisoners.
ST KILDA:
3.3, 5.5 , 7.7, 11.8 (74). Goals: King 5, Long,
Windhager, Higgins, Steele, Membrey, Butler.
SYDNEY: 4.2, 9.3, 11.6, 13.10 (88).
Goals: Hayward 3, McDonald 2, Heeney 2, Franklin 2, Rowbottom,
Warner, Gulden, Papley.
At Docklands Stadium.
Crowd: 23,334.
while doing the things south of the border, the hand-held bush telegraph chattered into life with the news that catastrophe had again struck the Mighty Tigers as they were on the receiving end of Eastern Suburbs' second highest score ever - 72 - in the entire history of farkin' rugby league which was goddamn invented here. You have to go back to the 1935 to find a bigger one by the Chooks and that was more than 87. Twelve converted tries to one is enough to knock the stuffing clean out of a side already suffering from extremely low self esteem having lost 14 of their last 15 matches. Never mind having any confidence in anything, they're probably on pills for that; now they're dead set certainties, a lay down misère, to take out the non-coveted Wooden Spoon with a time-honoured whimper.
Then there's the Tiges workmanlike skipper James Tahmou getting sent off within a minute or so of the finish for launching a "foul-mouthed tirade at the referee", and getting rubbed out for a week down at The Tribunal, more formally known as the Rugby League Judiciary. All for nothing. It's not that Jimmy called the ref names or anything, it's because the word "fuck", or was it "fucking", along with "incompetent" were included in the well aimed spray at officialdom. He might have got away with a simple "idiot" or "imbecile", maybe "bastard" even, but as it is, he gets to play one more losing game before likely retirement, in ignominy.
It is very very
difficult right here, right now to find a point in living memory
where Balmain has been at a lower nadir. Gawd Almighty, the
whole kaboose has detached and ebbed away and it's now an
irretrievable wreck, after eleven long seasons of failing to
make the finals. The Supercoach Sheens and Benji Show next year
will have more than their work cut out against the impossible,
given the club's history in acquiring quality marquee
players has been very poor indeed. They can't even attract any
decent "journeymen", and the junior's ranks are thin on the
ground with the good ones snapped up for superior coin
elsewhere. In any case, from here, it's yet another ten year
project to win the Premiership, and that's with luck. Far too
many rusted on old timers won't be here to see it. Next year's
coach will be 82 by then. Lawdy, lawdy me. End of days.
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 72. Tries: Butcher (4), Crichton (2), Tupou (2), Lodge, Hutchison,
Tedesco, Watson. Goals: Walker (12).
WESTS TIGERS 6. Tries: Naden. Goals: Doueihi (1).
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 14,939. 
