Free Radicals,
Things did not auger well from the off.
Tigers found themselves robbed blind within the first three minutes of the match, when a perfectly good Balmain try was disallowed by a seriously vision-impared Bamford by the name of Shane Hayne [whatever possessed the Hayne's to call their son Shane is anyone's guess].
Shane didn't even consult with his touch judges or refer it upstairs to the TV ump, then moments later allowed a very dodgy Manly try at the other end - just blew the whistle and pointed at the spot - which was duly converted, to gift Manly a 6-0 lead in the blink of an eye.
The Tigers morale was shot then and there.
They knew that not only were they up against a very good side, in front of their highly partisan home crowd at that shitful hole known as Brookvale Oval, but they also had to battle a hostile referee...and to make matters even worse...the Mad Monk, who took up his seat in the stand as the Manly No.1 ticket holder, so they also had a nasty Prime Minister agin 'em; a bloke who hates anyone who lives south, east, west of The Bridge and is determined to rub their noses in it.
The flappy-eared buffoon must have taken much delight in seeing The Fibro's being spanked by the Silvertails first hand, as those who aspire to the cloth, do.
Coach Harry must have been thinking "what is it that I can do?"
That's probably the season nadir.
The abacus out the back of the Secretary's Office says it's not season over just yet, but Balmain has an unusually tough run home.
There has been talk on wires of how some sides have been given soft draws, and are only prominent because of them, but the Tigers certainly aint among them.
That's all well and good, but September usually sorts the men from the boys, and it's rare in the modern era to have lowly ranked teams barge their way through to the Grand Final.
Guessing Staff HQ would be taking a good look at the playing roster with an eye to the future.
There's no shortage of Islander kiddies who can play, in the lower grades, but they don't have much money to buy players in the off season.
The road will be long and the way will be hard.
Mention must be made of the unfortunate retirement of Liam Fulton, after 161 games for Balmain in an injury-wracked career at the age of 29.
The consumate workhorse, a fearsome tackler, explosive out of the ruck over ten metres, try scorer in tight situaions...forced to give the game away through general wear and tear, with the career ended by no less than four bad head knocks this season that attracted the concussion rule.
The doctors told him he would be a fool if he went on, "you don't need no more brain damage, son" and he thankfully took their advice.
Fulton is one of the last links to the Miracle Year '05, there are only two others now who continue to play for Balmain who appeared in that year's Grand Final - Farah and Richards.
Liam knew fairly early on in his career that he would never rise to the status of outright Champion, but was happy to settle for being a well-respected long-serving Clubman who's among the first picked week in week out for years on end when he was fit.
Quite content to put his snout up someone else's arse in the scrum for the right money, however modest that may be, as long as it's enough.
Turned out to be a scholar and a gentelman who never put a foot wrong.
And an ornament to the game.
MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 40. Tries: Hiku (2), Foran (2), Gutherson, Stewart, Cherry-Evans. Goals: Lyon (6).
WESTS TIGERS 8. Tries: Lulia, Nofoaluma.
At Brookvale Oval.
Crowd: 13,432.
Best Champo of the season by far.
It's not that often that anyone kicks ten goals in the third quarter while keeping the opposition to a single solitary behind.
My Spy at the Ground, who's a master of understatment, wired in at the last break "it only needed one good quarter to put that rabble away"
The had the Double Blues at their mercy at half time, and absolutely anihalated them by three quarter time.
This week, Buddy appeared as the Beardless Wonder - it was only a matter of time 'til he kicked a bagful - just needed to lose Sampson's hair.
His set shot kicking - witness the one he curled back in off the left boot from 70 metres out - has improved outta sight, and Nick Davis Comes to Save Us has had a lot to do with...at training he'd say "now here's a hundred balls Buddy, here's the 50m arc, and those things over there are the big sticks".
Practice makes perfect.
Lance it seems is conforming with the Sydney way of things, the "club culture", ethos or whatever it is - it's highly disciplined...with the aim being to get just get on with the job and keep out of the papers.
And of course in the acres of football newsprint that is printed in Melboune, South Melbourne only ever get grudging respect at best when they are doing well and are about to snap the necks off the all the Melbourne teams.
You'd think that that'd be worth a mention.
But no.
The headline will always be "Carlton fought bravely before gallant defeat".
My arse.
Word on the street has it that the smart money are talking up the prospect - just as they did last year, only to be goosed - of JP Kennedy winning the Brownlow.
And why not?
Did he not just beat the club record for most consecutive games with 25+ possessions since records were kept, and just keeps going?
That'd be eyecatching.
Consistently up there in the "best" line in the weekly scorebox in the fishwraps, and blind Freddy can see that Josh can play.
Still, who knows what the umpires see?
They are in another world.
Who on earth thought up the concept of giving the vote to the umps for Best on Ground?
The Miracle of Democracy at its perverse best, and don't the bookies and the punters know it.
Coach Horse is worried.
He thinks the words "cocky" and "complacency" have crept into his vocabulary, and that's not good, but he must be comforted by the fact that he knows how to get a team to the Grand Final and win it, with the help of the Secretary's Office, the Football Dept, and Sick Bay.
Been there, done that.
No shortage of silverware.
Not counting any chickens or anything.
SYDNEY: 2.4, 6.6, 16.10, 18.14 (122). Goals: Franklin 6, Reid 4, Parker 2, Goodes 2, Rohan, Malceski, Lloyd, McVeigh.
CARLTON: 1.2, 5.5, 5.6, 7.9 (51). Goals: Henderson 2, McLean, White, Bell, Johnson, Everitt.
At Sydney Cricket Ground
Crowd: 34,965.
