yoof and experience

True Believers,

Been on my sick bed this week, soh'been barely able to pick up a pen, let alone wrap my sore head around the tumultuous events of the weekend.
Suffice to say, it was more entertaining to watch the Swans go round on the crystral bucket than a bunch of self-appointed boffins and pointy-heads totting up the complete range of entirely inexplicable numbers, for no result.
At least in football, the scoreboard doesn't lie.
It's only taken them all season, but for the first time Sydney finally got the mix of yoof and experience completely right.
Trent "Our Man From Burma" Dennis-Lane found the radar, the Jetta Kiddie found his feet in senior company, Son o' Gary Jack has been more or less on song all season, while Pretty Boy Hannebery is now a clear favourite with the books to win the AFL Rookie of the Year Award, while Reece "Rick" Shaw and Jesse "James" White continue to be hungry in a forward line without an obvious target.
Combine that with old workhorses of the likes of Kennelly, Bevan, Bolton, McVeigh et al doing the business as usual, and its always going to be a winning combination.
If they can play like that through to Mad Monday, then who knows what's possible in September.
The Goodes Train's only job on the night was to annoy the shit out of BBB Hall, which he accomplished with aplomb, spoiling anything the came his way and delivering the odd little rabbit punch to the ruffian's solar plexus whenever they came into contact.
Fitting that they picked out The Great Brett "Never played A Bad Game" Kirk to boot the final goal of the match in his swansong at the G
Did like The Great Mickey O's mid week assessment of Cap'n'Kirk's career:
“For a guy who can't run that quickly, who can't jump, mark, or kick, who's not that strong; geez, he's a pretty good footy player though. He's one of the best and I'm proud to call him my mate”.
A classic example, if ever there was one, of a player lacking in natural ability and talent who made a name for himself and achieved greatness through sheer determination and intestinal fortitude.
No one can argue with 238 games and 96 goals in 11 seasons, after coming into the big league as pick #40 in the '98 draft.
An ornament to the game who has long been admitted to the pantheon.
Vale the club's spiritual leader, who will no doubt go on to find Nirvana in retirement.
As for SC Roos, he effectively retired weeks ago when he started tearing up game plans, and as a bloke who doesn't stand on ceremony or sentimentality, didn't appear to care much that it was his last time in the dug out.
Entirely clear that The Coach'n'Horses has taken over the top job and implemented his own way of doing things, to wit, always try to make a smart start out of the blocks with points on the board, reassess where you are at quarter time, and then be prepared to switch to Plan B at any stage.
Seems Sydney will more or less finish in fifth or sixth place, barring any major accident against the Bears in Brisbane this weekend, for a single home final, but without the double chance.
Shame that that final has to be played at the Western Paddock due to contractual arrangements, when everyone would far prefer the Cricket Ground.
For once this season they'd have 'em hangin' from the rafters at the G, while they'll struggle to half-fill the Olympic Stadium at the inflated ticket prices they will no doubt charge for the finals and no free public transport thrown in.
Call me an old fashioned forever hopeful and an idiot optimist if you like, but as fanciful as it may sound, a Collingwood/Sydney quinella to make the Grand Final is not the roughest of chances and very well priced at the current 50/1.
"yeah sure, right" said the Good Lady Wife, always the pragmatist.
But, that'd be one for the true believers...


SYDNEY: 4.4, 10.6, 13.10, 17.12 (114). Goals: Dennis-Lane 4, Jack 2, Bolton 2, McVeigh 2, Bevan 2, Jetta 2, Kirk 2, White.
WESTERN BULLDOGS: 5.1, 6.3, 9.7, 10.10 (70). Goals: Hudson 2, Eagleton 2, Hall 2, Grant 2, Gilbee, Jones.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 36,554.


The Mighty Tigers pick up yet another get-out-of-jail-free card!
Who would have thought that the Burt Kiddie of Parramatta, perhaps the most reliable goal kicker in the caper, lining up a penalty goal shot from pretty much in front with 26 seconds left on the clock to push the match in extra time with Eels having all the momentum and the season to play for, would have shanked it just wide of the uprights?
Once again a heart-in-the mouth first half for Balmain fans as they bombed at least four tries, conjouring up every way possible to mess up a four-pointer, from just dropping the ball stone cold to passing the thing clean into touch in the first 20 minutes, and crossing the line twice only to have the tries disallowed on the say-so of some dodgy Bamford, and then let in the softest opposition try in the shadows of half time.
Joisus.
That said, amid all the chaos, there were a couple of brilliantly coached set plays in there that would have easily made the "try of the year" highlights reel, if only they came off.
Although it might not be immediatelyy apparent to the casual observer, it appears more and more like SC Sheens is playing a very clever percentage game here, working out the exact chances of a set play succeeding and putting it out there in match conditions; if it doesn't come ff, too bad, all the good if it does, and if more succeed than fail, then you'd have to be in with a tip-top chance of winning the game every time.
Takes a very large football brain to do that.
SC Sheens hasn't had a side that he can try that trick with for five years, but it worked back then, so why not now?
The forwards again did very well to out muscle the big mob of brown brothers in the Eels pack, laying a solid latform for the backs to their magic, with Benji getting the mojo working in the jink, step, and weave department.
His best game in a month or so, and the goal kicking boots at least have a patina of polish on them.
Anything could happen this Sunday as the Tigers take on the Dirty Rotten Cheatin' Mexicans at the Spiritual Home of Balmain rugby league.
How do you prepare for game against Melbourne who are entirely unpredictable given they have absolutely nothing to lose, or gain, apart from the possibility of theiving two premiership points off a side sailing towards the top of the table.
Despite the stoush for the top four remaining very tight indeed, Balmain at this late stage would have to a shoe-in for the double chance - or at least the double chance in theory, under the plain weird Hare-Clarke-McIntyre-Duckworth-Lewis finals system the NRL still insists on employing, against all advice to the contrary.
No doubt the Club Secretary, having flipped the abacus and done the permutations on possible play-off match-ups would have been dipping into the Injured Players Benevolent Fund to have a punt, having noticed that the books have wound the Tigers/St George Grand Final quinella back into a narrow third line of favouritism; a special at the still juicy odds of 8/1.
Now, that'd be one for the true believers...


PARRAMATTA EELS 18. Tries: Inu, Horo, Mitchell. Goals: Burt (3).
WESTS TIGERS 20. Tries: Ryan (2), Lawrence, Fifita. Goals: Marshall (2).
At Parramatta Stadium.
Crowd: 19,854.

"even a third grader can work out the Premiership ladder"

Thrillseekers,

Joisus!
The Mighty Tiges are the quintessential coach killers, aren't they?
Fancy bombing no less than four - that's right, four - dead-set certain tries in the first ten minutes of the match, and then gifting a hapless opposition who have been all at sea for the best part of a month, two tries before half time off the back of really stupid penalties that not even a team representing the Spastic Centre would dream about giving away.
Surely, SC Sheens, at his age, would have been down at Centrelink on Monday morning looking for rent assistance to hire purchase his new toupe.
That said, Balmain do show that there is still some room for spectacularly speculative football in an age of conformity and political correctness, as a good mate put it, "at least some crazy ideas are allowed to get out of the box".
It's a view of things that's also widely admired in the Front Bar down at The Local, where the Philosopher, when you can get a word out of him as he ponders his form guide and brandy&dry, thinks Balmain are by far and away the best team in the caper to watch in aesthetic terms, despite, or perhaps because of, their unorthodox methods and willingness to chance the arm, have a stab at an unsual idea, try out a freak set play just for the sheer sake of it, which, he suspects is all the work of SC Sheens as the gears in his brain crunch and mesh to determine the probability of risk versus reward.
The Philospher reckons all this pulling out of tufts of hair is just show on the coach's part.
The Penrith coach knows what going on, as he admitted on interview after the game, "I was just out-coached in the end. It's as simple as that".
No kidding, Matt?
There's no doubt the Tigers pack has been on fire in recent weeks, with the props and the second row hammering the advantage line in the traditional softening up period and handing out plenty of "don't argues" and "how's your father's" on the way through, to the point where Todd "The Refrigerator" Peyton, Bludnut Galloway, and Man Mountain Heighington are tuckered out after the first 20 minutes, and pretty much buggered by half time...but not to worry...the Charging Fifita and the Great "Ol' Man River" Skando are there on the bench to take up the slack in the second half.
Not to mention That Pom Ellis, who can go all day, is playing out of skin, and is tougher by half than any other forward going around in the comp.
His two four-pointers this game were by far and away the most outstanding forward's busting barreling barnstorming tries scored by anyone in any team this season, leaving no end of defenders upended in his wake.
On that platform, it was only a matter of time until the backs opened the flood gates..
The Best Leb in The Game has been working assiduously all year on being the premier dummy half in the caper.
And that's not counting his uncanny ability to pot the field goal when no one is looking, or expecting it; least of all his own team.
Farah is working on the SC Sheens theory that "it's always good to get a field goal when you can get one one account of you can't always get one when you need one".
And the one he scored here was a classic example; kicked off a threep'ny bit and sailing sweetly over the black dot to surprise even the touch judges.
Little wonder then that Balmain are the leading exponents of the field goal this season.
Something that could come very much in handy in close encounters in September.
Can't remember which coach it was who said mid-week that "even a third grader can work out the Premiership ladder", so the Club Secretary would have noted that Balmain are now a single point on for&against difference out of second place on the table, two wins from the top.
The critical importance and the true horror of those two completely inexplicable losses to Souths has only just dawned on the Sec and the denizens of the Back Office.
Still, the beancounters would be rubbing their hands in glee as the dollar coins spilled out of the turnstiles with the best crowd of the year at the No.3 home ground.
South Western Sydney does like a winner.
A quick whiz of the beads on the abacus reveals the minor premiership is still not mathematically out of the question, however slim and problematical the prospect, with the tight, tough and testing run home of Parramatta [a], Farkin' Cheatin' Melbun [h] and Titans [a] to come.
On interview after the match, TP Ellis was talking up the prospect of a Miracle Year 05 repeat, Cap'n'Farah was visibly relieved at just being guaranteed a top eight spot for the first time since 05, while SC Sheens had no opinion on the question and nothing to offer on the subject.
As he would.

WESTS TIGERS 43. Tries: Ellis (2), Fifita (2), Farah, Lawrence, Lui. Goals: Marshall (7). Field Goals: Farah (1).
PENRITH PANTHERS 18. Tries: Gordon, Jennings, Pritchard. Goals: Gordon (3).
At Campbelltown Sports Ground.
Crowd: 17, 208.


Found myself forced to reach for a fistful of heart pills and a schooner of Drambuie at three quarter time.
This game in particular, and this team in particular, are not for the faint-hearted or those of a nervous disposition.
You just have to look at the margins in the score box.
3 points, 3 points, 3 points, 9 points.
Never mind the 10 lead changes.
After settling down on the final siren, told myself that it didn't need over-analysing, because in the final paralysis, the only really concrete thing to come out of it was confirmation of just how evenly matched the bottom four in the top eight are, and how they will be unmercilessly spanked and then eaten alive by the top four, who are a class apart, very early on during the pointy end of the season.
SC Roos spent the last few minutes of the game with his head in his hands as he couldn't bare to watch it.
Who could?
Came as no surprise that, after a 30+ possession career-high game, the Swans formally acknowledged mid-week that the Young Hannebery Kiddie had served his apprenticeship and stitched him up to a three-year senior contract on a fair-to-above average wage with performance bonuses thrown in.
No longer does he have to play for a ham sandwich and a longneck on match day; quite right too, with the Gold Coast recruiting squad circling like great whites with very deep pockets.
He's been identified and tagged as a Ten Year Man for Sydney, thank you very much.
Nice to see that Fremantle continues to play the game squeaky clean; just as "In Like" McGlynn looked like he was about to blow the whole shooting match wide open, he was wiped out by some screaming banshee masquerading as a Painter & Docker, who managed to bust up ILMcG's cheekbone, and then suffered no retribution at the tribunal whatsoever himself, while his victim is out for the season.
How does that work?
Cap'n'Kirk looked like the Cheshire Cat throughout, as if he was grinning at himself while saying to no one in particular "I'm thanking the Good Lord Buddha that this is the last time I have to ever come to Subi".
Suppose it'll be the same during this weekend's swansong at SCG.
The Club pensioned off SC Roos quite nicely this week; a touching finesse just before his last appearance at headquarters, by appointing him head coach of something called the Swans Academy, which by all accounts is some kind of wonderful new machine that's been designed to groom potential Australian Rules players from the moment they turn nine years old!
Junior park footy is just the thing to keep St Paul off the streets, and give him something to do in retirement.
The best Sydney can hope for now is for Coach'n'Horses to take over, make a play for sixth place on the ladder and a home final, weasel their way through to the second week of September, and then face up to the facts.

FREMANTLE: 3.2, 5.6, 10.6, 13.9 (87). Goals: Walters 2, Bradley 2, Hasleby, Johnson, de Boer, McPhee, Morabito, Hasleby, Broughton, Schammer, Suban
SYDNEY: 2.5, 5.8, 9.9, 14.12 (96). Goals: McGlynn 3, Dennis-Lane 2, Mumford, Moore, Bevan, Jack, Pike, Mattner, Jetta, White, O'Keefe.
At Subiaco Oval.
Crowd: 34,087.

blow torch to the belly

Mystics,

Who'd try and tip the AFL, let alone even consider having a bet on it?
The exposed form is completely unfathomnable.
If you were a punter from outer space that came across the caper fresh, you'd be forgiven for thinking the entire schemozzle was massively rigged.
After SC Roos publicy admitted last week that no-one was listening to him, not least the young kiddies playing in the reserves, who reputedly had all sorts of excuses, it was pretty clear Horse Longmire had taken the senior players, the so-called "leadership group" by the scruff of the neck and told them in no uncertain terms that they should just get on with playing their own game and not fall into the awful "zone" theory nonsense that other teams put on them, and just force their opposite number to play mark-up, one-on-one football.
As a result, Hawthorn found themselves befuddled.
Goodes revels in that sort of game plan, and The Train really is, after all these years, unstoppable when he puts his mind to it.
Rhino Keefe came back to form, and Odd Head McVeigh had his first good game in a while.
And the young blokes did well too, Dennis-Lane showing he might be something with three goals, while The Hannebery Kiddie already is something, Reg Grundy proving valuable, and the Son of Gary Jack will no doubt get the "most improved junior player" at the end of season awards dinner.
Also pleasing to see young Jetta get his first goal after kicking 19 behinds straight since debut; that hopefully, as he says, "will get the monkey off me back", and it will kickstart his AFL career.
The lad has undeniable talent and would out-run anyone in the game over 30 metres, but remains very much a greenhorn.
Cap'n'Kirk, really, although he battles on bravely, is having a sad shuffle out to the spelling paddock for good; he should confine himself to chanting mantra's in the dressing room, and then going and joining the monks in the stands, rather than play the game, otherwise his middle name of "Never Played A Bad Game" could be called into question right at the very arse end of an illustious career.
Why do it to youself when you having nothing left to prove?
On the back of being seven goals up at the long break, the Swans found themslves whip-sawed to the tune of 6-3 goals in the Championship Quarter, and still won the game.
That had the Horse written all over it
Stick to the game plan, don't tear it up and don't start chucking it at people seems to be a perfectly reasonable way to go
10-9 is good enough three games from the finish, but Freo at Subi this weekend is another bottle of mussels altogether.
PS. At the risk of sounding like a broken record; yet another completely outrageous fiction from the Swans Marketing Dept in concocting the plain-silly crowd figure.

SYDNEY: 5.4, 10.10, 13.12, 19.15 (129). Goals: O'Keefe 4, Goodes 3, McGlynn 3, Dennis-Lane 3, Moore, McVeigh, Jack, Kennedy, Jetta, White.
HAWTHORN: 1.1, 3.5, 9.6, 13.7 (85). Goals: Franklin 4, Lewis 2, Roughead 2, Stratton, Ladson, Bateman, Moss, Burgoyne.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 29,431.

Well, it was only a matter of time before the Mighty Tiges were not given a get-out-of-jail card free.
And the most remarkable game of rugby league this season, by any measure, to boot.
At 28-12 deep into the second half, Balmain were home and hosed, with the slippers on and the port & pipe in hand, and yet still managed to hand the opposition two Premiership points on a silver platter.
Really, they did almost everything right on the night, but fell for the trap that they thought they found themselves on a leisurely walk in the park against a team that was missing no less than eleven regular first graders through suspension and injury, when in reality, they weren't, and then got the timing all wrong, missing several opportunities, some would says gifts at field goal in extra-time, all the while underestimating the Rabbitoh's will to win.
Retired for the night on Saturday humming to myself..."to lose the unloseable game" to the tune of "to dream the impossible dream".
The Best Leb In The Game, as usual, was running the show, the pack put in from beginning to end with the front row in particular doing in some excellent work all round, while Keefy "Bludnut" Galloway had a blinder off the second row.
Benji, as usual, was doing the jink, the step, the faint, the cut out pass and the other ballet moves, after coming to the game with his goal kicking boots well polished, for a change.
All the wingers Lote "Wot I'd Do, Guv?" Tuqiri and That Try Scoring Freak Lawrence scored tries, and lets face it, that's the only reason that they are on the paddock - points on the board - while Ayshford got himself over the line after he found himself playing on the wing by mistake.
What's not to like about any of that?
All of the above is mere hearsay, of course.
Didn't see a frame of the match as there was some potterring to do in Dad's Shed, so only caught the radio call and later reports on the bush telegraph from spies who were there.
Only saw some highlight reel vision of the quite eerie final try, scored as it was at the end of the second period of extra time at 90 minutes just as the AFL style hooter was hooting at the Western Paddock to bring the proceedings to a halt.
But there was a pass in it that appeared to have a hint of a forward pass about it, although to some seasoned observers at the ground close to the action, it was a mile forward, and yet the Bamford decided not to send the thing upstairs for adjudication.
What the?
Home side favouritism, probably.
People, days afterwards, are still stratching their heads saying "how on earth did South Sydney win that one?"
The Balmain coaching staff haven't got a clue, so what hope the ordinary punter?
Thought SC Sheens restrained himself admirably at the dénouement, while the Club Secretary, no doubt, in a back office somewhere, would have been leaping about like some kind of wild-eyed crazed ape at the prospect of the possibility of not getting the gate reciepts from a home final.
A golden opportunity for Balmain to go to outright second on the ladder and even challenge for the glorious JJ Giltinan Shield [now awarded to the minor premiers] gone begging, and now they find themselves bumped back to fifth on the table.
Barry Crocker.
And Penrith, Parramatta, Melbourne and Gold Coast to come will represent a keenly-felt blow torch to the belly viz a viz September prospects.

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 34. Tries: Farrell (3), Wesser, Sutton, Talanoa. Goals: Sandow (5).
WESTS TIGERS 30. Tries: Farah, Galloway, Lawrence, Ayshford, Tuqiri. Goals: Marshall (5).
[After extra-fucking-time, full-time 30-30].
At Olympic Stadium, Homebush.
Crowd: 23,298.

on being toyed with

Fellow Appallees,

No mystery in any of this...
Woke on Sunday morning not feeling all that well also, after giving the drink a bit of a nudge at the ground and particularly after the game, with a burning desire to get the backyard incinerator going fiercly and setting fire to all my Swans memorabilia.
All the old tickets, programs, soveniers, about two dozen free hats collected over the years, and the guernsey that never did fit, with the scarf thrown in on the top for good measure.
Still don't know what stopped me.
Even the most disgruntled fan can take a loss, but to be rolled over like that and subjected to a brutal gigantic tusk up the runter without so much as putting up a fight is just plain unacceptable.
There was not even a hint of excitement or exuberance on the event bus to the ground.
Everyone knew what was going to happen, as all the passengers had that same bad feeling in their water.
The atmosphere in the ground was pretty drear from the off with the home fans already downcast, and the smattering of Geelong fans their usual dour selves - they are not prone to excitability, as only one thing matters to them, and that's winning the flag.
Lots of collective groaning from the assembled throng.
It was very obvious for everyone in the cheap seats to see, after about ten minutes of the first quarter, that we were looking at the 2010 Premiers in action.
Swans crunched with no mercy in the backs; forwards completely impotent against dogged defence and tall timber.
Systematically demolished in all aspects of the game.
Not a single winner on the park all night.
It's all very well and good that Sydney has got the Son of Gary, but Geelong of course, has the Son of God!
The Pontiff's Seed Is Strong.
Enough said.
He had a blinder.
Remarkable that we remained in our seats past the Championship quarter, just to witness the Swans being toyed with, and said so much in no uncertain terms in the barracking.
But, no one was listening.
In an unprecedented move, we decided to join the ever growing exodus out of the ground after ten minutes of the final quarter as the massacre by then was just too painful to witness any longer, with Geelong in front by a full 14 goals, yes you read right, 14 goals, forgetting the ridiculous number of Sydney behinds, by which time any interest in barracking was gone.
Simply no point.
It was all the more painful given that the Geelong players were under strict instructions from the coach at the last break to take their foot right off the accelerator pedal, relax, conserve energy, prevent any opportunity for injury, while they benched their star players, and still the Swans were on struggle street.
As the Good Lady Wife succinctly put it during three quarter time:
"It looks as if the Swans are a semi-decapitated mouse, with it's little legs still twitching about, while it's being pawed at by some hideously ugly cat, before being swallowed whole".
Not interested in ever seeing that sort of thing again.
Found ourselves on the very first event bus out of the joint, the "Miserable Express", while beating myself up by drafting in my head a well worded letter to the people in the Sydney ticket office, demanding my money back having had the misfortune of attending three pitiful losses in three games at Homebush this season.
Then wearily factored in the why bother factor, and gave up.
Simply no point.
Sydney people are very quick to shun losers; even the seriously inflated crowd figure was the second smallest at the Western Paddock since the Swans started playing there the year after the Olympics.
There was no one in.
Absolutely no pressure on the bars; in fact there were beer pourers standing around twidling their thumbs, who were more than happy to take the time to prepare you a couple of tumblers of cheeky Shiraz [just 60c more than the execrable ale], while they would have re-frozen plenty of left over steak-and-kidney pies for next year.
They were pulling down the shutters on the food outlets at half time.
SC Roos made his first sense in weeks defining the team's finals prospects on interview after the match as "we'll just be making up the numbers".
"the huge talent gap is insurmountable, at present" sums it up nicely.
While the ladder position might still look reasonable on paper, with no one really breathing down their necks, 9&9 nonethless points to a season through the S-bend with the run home to come, all confidence gorn, and the team playing like shot birds, and a Mad Monday on the 30th of August.
Now, if ever there was one, is the time for a session in the Room Full of Mirrors down on the Balmain Road.
Everyone involved could benefit from taking a good hard look at themselves.
Despite all that, doubt that St Paul would have spent much time on pulling his hair out at Sunday morning smoko down by the Magic Waters, leaving that up to The Horse, but there would have been plenty of that far away look as he gazed out to sea contemplating the fact that you are "a long time retired" in this caper.

SYDNEY: 3.7, 4.12, 5.16, 9.18 (72). Goals: Goodes 3, Bolton 2, Jack, Kennedy, White, Kirk
GEELONG: 5.1, 10.1, 18.3, 20.5 (125). Goals: Johnson 6, Ablett 3, Mooney 3, Ottens, Varcoe, Hunt, Kelly, Byrnes, West, Ling, Mackie.
At Olympic Stadium, Homebush.
Crowd: 30,710.

Haven't seen a single frame of the Tiges match as it was played simultaneously as the Swans game.
You don't get any League score updates at The Rules.
Would have jumped at the chance to swap my Swans tickets for a seat at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday night, but sadly, it was perfectly clear that the Swans tickets were unloved and unwanted and effectively worthless.
Spies who were at the ground suggest it was yet another case of Balmain being handed a get out of jail card free, against a side with a caretaker coach who are running stone motherless last in the comp, this time courtesy of a benevolent Bamford!
You don't see that very often.
Those close to the action, as best as they could reckon, say a hapless Sharkie was denied a perfectly good try in the dying minutes that would have won them the game, after he was ruled to have infringed the "fair advancement of the ball at the try line" rule [a fancy new name for a "double-movement", apparently] when it was clear the bloke was not tackled, was not held, and had used the not-illegal advantage of momentum to plonk the ball on the chalk.
But all accounts, it was a further example of how real time action observed by the naked eye on the spot beats slo-mo replays every time, because as everyone knows, the television lies, and yet the decision comes down to a legally blind referee looking at a crystal bucket and it's taken out of the hands of the man who was there, but who wasn't quite 100% sure of what it was that he actually saw.
Who'd be an umpire?
Little wonder the Sharks were spitting chips and then spewing about being robbed blind, and told everyone within ear shot who wanted to know, but its a conundrum that will never be solved.
Not that the Leichhardt faithful cared one bit.
It's only a good excuse to have that extra schooner in the Orange Grove Hotel on the way home, while disecting the game in the post-mortem.
The only other highlight of the fixture in the bush telegraph reports was Benji being given a rollicking Bronx cheer when he finally kicked a goal.
The home crowd are on to him.
Thinking the win mathematically guarantees Balmain a berth in the top eight - could be wrong there - but there is certainly now a log jam for a top four spot, which is worth its weight in shiny shiny gold in the Hairy Clarke finals system employed by the NRL.
SC Sheens would have just scratched that one in the "we'll take our wins" column in the Coach's Ledger, and think nothing more of it, while the Club Secretary would be looking to give that old cash register in the back of the Revenue Office a good polish, as it's been unused for five years, on account of it only goes ching! ching! in September.

WESTS TIGERS 24. Tries: Fulton (2), Brown, Lawrence, Tuqiri. Goals: Marshall (2).
CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS 22. Tries: Collis (2), Ferguson, Gardner. Goals: Porter (3).
At Leichhardt Oval.
Crowd: 14,942.

a strange and mysterious 12-goal bath

Fellow aghastees,

There is a school of thought abroad that something very strange and mysterious was at work at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.
Whatever it was, by all reports, it certainly hushed the crowd into those split second moments of complete silence that you get for no reason at all in large sports crowds from time to time.
There simply can be no understanding of why Sydney were on the receiving end of the worst massacre seen at HQ in many a long year; the first time the Swans had been given a 12-goal bath in no less than eleven long seasons - you have to go back to 1999 to find something equivalent.
It was plain for all to see how it happened, but there was something quite odd about it, as if it had a lot more to it than just Melbourne playing exceptionally well and Sydney playing exceptionally badly.
It's likely to remain completely inexplicable.
There's no rational explanation for what went on.
Not least SC Roos, who was astonished and had absolutely no idea on interview after the game, and could only offer:
"(I felt) pretty helpless...it is a bit of a strange feeling, to be honest. It was an unusual feeling...quite strange."
Spooky.
Don't like spooky, it just un-nerves and unsettles everyone involved.
The senior players had no concept at all and were flabbergasted as to why they were entirely missing in action throughout and could have been lost on the Kokoda Track for all it mattered, while the junior players were at a total loss to ascertain why they were all at sea, apart from the fact that they were gobsmacked, never having seen or experienced anything like it before in all their born days.
The Mad Buddhist and Sydney's Spiritual leader, Cap'n "Never Played a Bad Game" Kirk would have conjoured up the deity to show him a sign, and would have been disappointed when none was forthcoming.
At Monday morning smoko down at the magic waters of Bronte, the coaching staff would have had the peyote pipes out in a bid to have some kind of divine apparition appear before them who could tell them what went wrong.
Nothing doing there.
SC Roos admitted that he found himself with nothing at all to say to the players at full time, not because he was angry or upset by the performance, it was just that he had nothing to add to what people might already be thinking, and didn't want to alarm anyone by drawing their attention to the intrinsic weirdness of it all.
Not even sending the entire team for a session in The Room Full Of Mirrors down on the Balmain Road would come close to working it out.
No point.
The players have been told to stop thinking about it and black the thing from their individual and collective memories, as if it never happened, and while the event will no doubt come back to dog SC Roos on the last Mad Monday of his career at the end of the season and probably haunt him for the rest of his life, the fact of the matter is the scoreboard doesn't lie.
All the mumbo jumbo aside, the loss, while it is absolutely impossible to read anything into it, did an enormous amount of damage on the premiership table.
Dropping down to eigth at 9&8 and losing a huge chunk of percentage, when a win would have all but guaranteed a berth in the finals...just like that.
Now they find themsleves in very real danger of missing out on September altogther, with the difficult run home they are up against.
On first reflection, contemplated getting down to the box office this week and asking for, nay demanding, a refund on my tickets to the cheap seats for this Saturday night's Geelong game at the Western Paddock on the strength of that exhibition at The G, but then realised that the ticket clerk would only tell me that they are worthless.
So, thought better of it, what with forces at work that can't be comprehended by mere mortals; it'd be no surprise if the Swans came out and gave the Cats a right caning, against all odds.
Stranger things have happened.

MELBOURNE: 8.2, 12.4, 20.8, 22.10 (142). Goals: Green 5, Dunn 3, Jones 2, Morton 2, Jurrah 2, Jamar 2, Bruce, Scully, Wonaeamirri, Johnson, Davey, Watts.
SYDNEY: 2.1, 4.4, 6.6, 10.9 (69). Goals: Goodes 4, White 3, McVeigh, Richards, Pyke.
At Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 29,374.

At least the Tigers loss to the Evil Silvertails [and let me tell you there's nothing worse in world sport than losing to Manly. Could go on, but won't] was straightforward enough and had some ryhmn and reason to it.
Nothing odd here.
The defensive unit was simply not on-song on the day, and eventually fell to bits in the fatigue of the dénouement, while the flashy backs were more interested in testing out some clever new set-plays in match conditions, instead of concentrating on the job in hand.
And they were outplayed to boot.
Things were not helped by Benji's mum forgetting to polish his goalkicking boots for the second week running.
Said it before, say it again, but for all his undoubted genius in general play, Marshall's goal kicking is just not up to first grade standard.
They've missed the window to buy a designated goal kicker, so the only other option is to give Farah a shot; he can kick alright - but something must be done about it before the finals.
Things were also not helped by the Best Leb In The game being found out playing funny buggers as he constantly appealed to the Bamfords about the markers not being square in the play-the-ball, and when he finally got a penalty, was then promptly given a good whack in the brain box from that complete fool S.Mattai...a stink ensured in which no punches were ever landed...but Mattai still found himself in the sin bin after petulantly pushing Farah in the back when the Bamford had told him to shut his mouth and go away.
The jester even wanted to go on with it after being given his marching orders.
And yet, Manly still scored a soft try while Mattai was off the field for ten mintes and they were down to 12 men, and that was the end of the section, for all intents and purposes.
Pretty silly stuff all round, that would have attracted admonishment from even a Vaudeville crowd.
While the result did only superficial damage on the premiership table, as the Tigers remain in third spot at 11&7, it was the "what if" factor that really mattered.
SC Sheens would be more acutely aware than most that they lost a dead-set golden opportunity to move into outright second on the ladder with a win, as well as guarantee a locked-in appearance in the finals, given that SC Sheens promised, after extending his contract for a year on the back of a paper napkin in some cafe in Chiswick early on in the season, that he would quit forthwith if Balmain didn't make the top eight this season, for the first time since The Miracle of '05.
And nothing, nothing at all, gets any easier at this time of year.


MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 38. Tries: Lyon (2), Rodney, Foran, Stewart, Farrar. Goals: Lyon (7).
WESTS TIGERS 20. Tries: Heighington, Lui, Ayshford, Tuqiri. Goals: Marshall (2)
At Central Coast Football Stadium, Gosford.
Crowd 20,059.

pick up some new banjo strings

Grinning Winners,

Didn't seen a frame of this match after finding myself wandering about on Cockatoo Island on Sunday afternoon looking at the art and the remarkable industrial architecture, instead of being fixated by a Swans game on the crystal bucket, just for a change of scenery.
So not really in any position to venture much comment, given that not a flicker of film has gone past the eyelids.
And so, missed the best win of the season, by all accounts.
TB.
Too bad.
A seasoned observed sent a message through on the bush telegraph advising of the 39 point win, and told me to get down to the shop on Monday morning to pick up a some new banjo strings before they sold out, as they could be needed for a few more rousing renditions of the team song before the season is out, on the strength of that win.
Even if it was against a side who the Carlton coach admitted on interview after the game that had "lost their way".
TB.
Too bad.
Also suggested the Son of Gary Jack was instrumental in completely closing down Judd, while the Goodes Train enjoyed being on a long leash and probably got the three Brownlow votes by the unanimous acclamation of the Bamfords.
At least SC Roos is still marking the notches on the right side of the coach's ledger; he knows the inestimable value of wining away, while some suggest Horse Longmire had a lot to do with the six goal jump out of the blocks and cruelling any chance the home side might have had well before half time, and then pedalling along comfortably in the Championship Quarter, before closing down the whole shooting match in the final stanza.
Worked then, might work again.
Seven multiple goalkickers suggests the mid-field boys and the forward line have found their mojo again.
On a now thin roster of fit players, 9 and 7 is not to be sneezed at.
Did note mid week that Henry Playfair has retired at age 27.
Gave the game away after picking up a couple of hairline fractures in the spine after falling over unchallenged in the game against Richmond, which he quite rightly called as "embarrassing".
That'd be enough to stop any bloke in his tracks though, and combined with a chronic hammy and Shagger's Back, found himself with no choice but to give the game away.
Appeared in just 16 games for Sydney, after 52 with Geelong.
Sadly, a glittering career consigned to the footnotes of history.

CARLTON: 1.0, 3.1, 8.3, 10.8 (68). Goals: Hampson 2, Judd, Scotland, Simpson, Betts, Yarran, Waite, Garlett, Murphy
SYDNEY: 6.3, 10.6, 14.9, 16.11 (107). Goals: Shaw 3, McVeigh 2, Bolton 2, Moore 2, McGlynn 2, White 2, Meredith 2, Goodes.
At Docklands Stadium.
Crowd: 31,915.

How many weeks has it been now that the Mighty Tiges have been making an art form out of taking the get out of jail free card?
Call me a weakling nancy boy if you like, but with low scudding clouds and rain about, and the mercury dropping to about six degrees C, wasn't among the faithful counted at the turnstiles at the spiritual home of Balmain rugby league.
Only heard snippets of the strange MMM radio call of this one while shivering at the mull bowl down in Dad's Shed, so again, didn't see a frame.
But heard enough to realise the Tigers reduced themsleves to 0-16 at one stage, and 4-16 at half time.
At 16-16 late in the second half, Balmain yet again never led at any stage, after Benji had shanked the field goal attempt with six minutes to go, until less than five minutes left in the caper when Fulton got on the end of a well timed Marshall pass and barged over for the match winner, and with two minutes left on the clock, Benji scoops the thing off the deck after a dropped Cowboys ball, busts at least four tackles, and runs like the clappers to the tryline to put the fruit on the sideboard.
No finer sight in world sport.
Remarkable that they won by that much given that Benji had discovered when it was too late that his Mum had forgotten to polish his kicking boots and he could manage only one goal in six attempts at the cross-bar.
SC Sheens was seen in the dug out to be pulling out the few tufts of hair left on his head, while Roycey Simmons was more pragmatic, as he lept about like some kind of whirling dervish on seeing the Fulton try.
Obviously figured that, as the general go-to-man, he wouldn't be called upon to do anything this week, apart from re-organising Benji's boot polish contract and have a quiet talk to his Mum.
Equal second on the ladder with August to come exceeds all expectations of the so-called pundits, but the Club Secretary would still be worrying.
Especially at the remarkable sight of John "The Great Skando" Skandalis coming out of retirement for the second time in as many seasons, due to the cupboard being bare with the number of first-pick forwards now in the Sick Bay.
Skando would have been saying to SC Sheens "aw, c'mon Tim, please, please, don't do this to me. Don't ask, please. I am 34 years old, for chrissake!"
But when called on, had he no hesitation in pulling back on the black and gold guernsey, and mixing it with fearsome 18,19 year old man-mountains.
However, old skills, hard & wizened sinews, mental toughness, vast experience, guile, and a hide like a buffalo will win out over the yoof of today everytime, regardless of the creaking bones.
Much to the relief of the Secretary, at least The Great Skando doesn't come into any salary cap calculations; he comes "free".
Happy to just pull his generous salary as the Forwards Coach, and play for a roast beef roll with gravy and a snort of absinthe on match day.
WESTS TIGERS 26. Tries: Tuqiri (2), Brown, Ayshford, Fulton, Marshall. Goals: Marshall (1).
NORTH QUEESLAND 16. Tries: Graham, Harris, Taumata. Goals: Thurston (2).
At Leichhardt Oval.
Crowd: 11,364.

a good ol' fashioned stink in the scrum

Long kickers,

After enduring the many vagaries of an 18th birthday party at our gaff on Saturday night, there was nothing for it to curl up on the lounge like some kind of fat white grub and wait for The Rules to come on the crystal bucket so one could watch it through half closed eyelids.
Lucky for me, or anyone else in the household for that matter, there were no moments of any notable excitement throughout the game to disturb my fallen over relaxation, as the Swans were just intent on getting the lead with a five goal first quarter and then playing ugly through to the final siren.
Time for a lazy Sunday afternoon slumber.
No more evinced by the fact that Sydney failed to score a single goal in the Championship Quarter - not that they were really trying very hard to in any case - and still won the match by 30 points!
And the fans love it.
They'll keep coming back week after week to see that.
Not.
It was one of those games where the scorers when asked to nominate "best" for the scorebox in the fishwraps for the next day would have had trouble picking anyone out, as it was a match where most players were satistfied with doing a bit here and there; Goodesy took a couple of good marks, kicked a few goals, Malceski and Kennelly, along with The Ugliest Man in Football did a good job shutting down the Norths forwards, while Jack, Hanneberry, and Mumsy et al all did a bit here and there up front, but it was anyone's guess as to who was best on ground.
Perhaps the bloke who never gets a mention on the scoresheet, Mike Pyke, who did a sterling job with the hit outs in the ruck, given that he has been hypnotised by the trick cyclists on the coaching staff into thinking that he is still in the line out.
As if they got to third gear, eased off the throttle, and then pushed the button marked "auto pilot".
It was all so cynical that SC Roos appeared to spend most of the last quarter picking his nose; he was that interested in what was going on.
If SC Sheeds can promise some razzle-dazzle football with Israel leading the way in the years to come, he'll get a lot of converts on board the western bandwagon, given that sort of display at the SCG.
In that case, the Swans would be forced to artifically inflate their turnstiles figures even further.
A seasoned observer at the ground sent me a telegraph message soon after the off saying "they'd be very lucky if they've got even close to 20 in".
Needless to say, he was simply astonished when they posted the official crowd.
Go figure.

SYDNEY: 5.4, 8.6, 8.9, 12.13 (85). Goals: Goodes 3, Shaw 2, McGlynn, Jack, Bevan, Mumford, Kirk, Dennis-Lane, Malceski.
NORTH MELBOURNE: 2.3, 4.7, 5.9, 7.13 (55). Goals: Campbell 2, Goldstein 2, Thomas, Bastinac, Adams.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 23,856 (? ed).

In his spare time, Benji Marshall has been making a study of The Art & Science of The Field Goal, and has obviously come to the conclusion that he concurs with the basic tenet of "get one when you don't need one, because when you need one you might not be able to get one".
And what an absolute corker it was too, from a bloke who has all but given up kicking in general play.
On the toe just inside the half way mark, cannons high, wide and handsome - a veritable rainmaker - bends back slightly on the breeze and literally falls from a great height clean onto the top of the black dot, and then tumbles off on the correct side of the cross bar for one point.
Magnificent.
You could practice that kick from here to breakfast, and never nail it.
Right up there with a hole-in-one.
SC Sheens was moved to comment on interview after the game "i thought to myself 'what the hell is he trying to do here?', then i found myself saying to myself 'you bewdy!'...maybe the football gods did smile on us."
Also very pleasing to see a good ol' fashioned stink in the scrum, with The Best Leb in The Game prominent.
That well known idiot N.Friend had been giving Farah the silly un-called-for niggle all game.
The clip across the chops here, the elbow in the ribs here, a squirrle grip there, that sort of thing.
In the end, Farah had just had enough - you can only take so much gratuituous violence for so long - and when Friend tried to head butt him across the front row, that was the cue for a couple of short, sharp upper cuts from Farah in the scrum.
The packs exploded of course, and it was on for young and old, just like in the olden days.
While Friend did not aquit himself very well in the ensuing melee as he was somwhat dazed by the well placed punches, both escaped penalty which was only right and proper for mine, but the Bamford saw fit to send that well known fool M.Minichiello to the bin for carrying like some kind of bush turkey on heat in a business which was none of his business.
Now that's what the fans come to see.
Penalty leads to Balmain try with Titans down to 12 men, and a match winning 15-8 lead.
Defence again the key to a not too complex puzzle, and the longer the season goes on, the dourer doth the game become, as teams simply try to protect their ladder positions while trying not to get bashed up too much and keep their key men fit and out of harm's way.
Simply no need to excell to excess at this stage in proceedings.
The Club Secretary would have had the abacus out on the desk this week totting up the numbers, working out the probability, crunching the multiples and computing the edges of the margins in order to get his punts on; on a top three finish.
With three games yet to come at Leichhardt, and with five opponents in the current bottom eight in the last eight matches, he'd be shovelling the Disabled Players Benevolent Trust Fund cash into the bookmakers bag on the Tigers being somewhere in the JJ Giltinan Shield trifecta at any old odds.

WESTS TIGERS 15. Tries: Brown, Ayshford. Goals: Marshall (3). Field Goals: Marshall (1).
GOLD COAST TITANS 14. Tries: Rogers, Gordon. Goals: Rogers (3).
At Campbelltown Sports Ground.
Crowd: 14,050.