never in doubt

Heart patients,

Ooh.
There's something going on here.
There's premature talk in fandom that this could be the start of another '05 miracle, as the circumstances at this stage of the season are remarkably similar.
Quite rightly, SC Sheens attempted to put the firehose on unreasonable expectation, telling the scribblers from the fishwraps on interview after the game:
"You can hype us up all you like. I don't care. A few weeks ago you were bagging us. No one tipped us this weekend, no one tipped us last weekend. We have to wear that."
It was as well a constructed win of any this year.
For any opposition it's always very difficult to deal with the Farah/Marshall Show when its on fire, with another try by the Great Benji that he scored himself that was by all reports worth the price of admission alone, for the second week running.
But what most impressed everyone was the rugged pre-emptive pro-active defence - always on the advantage line, not waiting for the opposition attackers to come to them - go up to them and bash the crap out of them being the simple raison d'etre.
The Great Skando would have had a lot to do with the new style of forward play that's been finely tuned over the past month or so.
John Skandalis can't decide whether he's the Strength & Conditioning Coach or the Forwards Coach [perhaps they are the same - he doesn't pretend to know].
In the 249 games that he played for Western Suburbs and Balmain he certainly learnt the value of getting right up into your opponent's face before giving him one.
It annoys the shit out of most opposition forward packs, and its all legal and above board.
Down 0-8 at half time was never going to be a problem, the result was never in doubt, with the Dragons belted from pillar to post in the first 40.
The last two weeks, as it has been for most the year, has been a very clever all round coaching effort.
SC Sheens dreams up the set plays, specifically designed for each different game and meticulously drills them into the players on the training track.
St Tim has form when it comes to coaching a champion team, rather than a team of champions, and in fact, goes out to lunch and trades on that record.
It appears Peter Gentle has slipped easily into the Assistant Coach role left vacant by SC Simmons; all he has to do is be around to put out spot fires both on and off the field.
Does a lot of leg work around the practice paddock, and can spot a critical moment in a game and have a short word in SC Sheens shell like in case the main man hadn't picked it up.
In the players' down time, he acts, as Royce did, like the Club Welfare Officer and Team Chaplain.
Everyone, except the fans of course, is trying to play down the fact that on the back of four consecutive wins, the Tigers last four games are against teams that are already gorn for the year, and they appear on paper to now be bidding for a top four finish if they manage to put together an end of season mega purple patch of eight wins in a row.
But, with lowly ranked teams looking to prove that they aren't as bad as they look by upsetting the applecart and beating good sides who are challenging for the finals, there's always the chance of the wheels falling off the bandwagon.
So it's probably best to leave it at the that, with a top eight finish all but assured, and the argument about the order of the final table yet to come.

WESTS TIGERS 16. Tries: Fulton, Marshall, Ryan. Goals: Marshall (2).
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 14. Tries: Boyd, Morris. Goals: Soward (2), Hornby (1).
At Sydney Football Stadium.
Crowd: 27,687.


A bloody point, eh?
Never did see a single frame of this game live, on account of being otherwised engaged at a social function of football non-believers, and it was a very good thing too.
Of course, had no desire to have a look at the newsreels the next day.
A bloody point.
Pour me another drink, Fawlty.
A fierce loyalist gave me a ring after the game and told me that he was forced to reach for the heart pills on more than one occaision, and by three quarter time was on the verge of ringing the local hospital to get an ambo parked out the front of his place on stand-by.
Beaten 5-3 goals in the Championship Quarter didn't bode well by all first hand accounts.
Coach Horse waxed lyrical post-match about "missed opportunities", but really the Swans record in front of goal this year has been nothing short of deplorable with more than a couple of blowouts in the behinds department.
Playing the Ugliest Man in Football Lewis Roberts-Thompson at full-forward in recent weeks after having played his entire career at full-back only goes to show how desperate they are for a genuine, quality full forward.
Where's BBB Hall when you need him? [er, at the Bulldogs kicking goals like there's no tomorrow].
They need someone like Buddy Franklin up front.
The Goodes Train can be relied upon to snap the miracle goal, but has always been flaky from the set shot; In Like McGlynn should be kicking more goals like it says that he should do in his contract, while x y and z have no obvious target to kick to from just outside the 50.
The Reid Kiddie looks the goods when he's in the forward pocket, the Jetta Kiddie can kick 'em from anywhere when he puts his mind to it, as can the Birdy and Rhino, but it's so very obvious they are in acute need of a bit of marquee tall timber in the goal square.
Hard to see them going places in September on that basis, even if the mid-field led by Son of Gary is very strong, the ruck is as serviceable as any other in the game, and the backs do their job.
Seasoned observers at the ground suggest that The Train easily picked up the three Brownlow Points in a class display, reminiscient of old, and yet failed at the denoument to boot the clincher.
The look on his face in the photographs in the instant after that clearly shows the Ol' Fella is human after all.
Tickets in hand for the MCG this Sunday afternoon.
Can't be accused of being anything less than loyal, as it's our second away game of the season after Manuka.
And keen to have a looky at the renovations at the ground, since it was last graced with my presence way way back at the 1987 VFL Grand Final!
The heart pills are safely stashed in the carry on luggage.

ESSENDON: 1.2, 8.5, 13.7, 15.10 (100). Goals: Reimers 4, Hille 3, Leroy Jetta 2, Zaharakis 2, Hurley, Melksham, Stanton, Davey.
SYDNEY: 3.3, 9.4, 12.6, 14.15 (99). Goals: Reid 3, Goodes 3, Lewis Jetta 2, Dennis-Lane, Kennedy, Bird, Mumford, McGlynn, O'Keeffe.
At Docklands Stadium.
Crowd: 38,700.

Craves.

"big trouble if they're there in September"

Eternal optimists,

It was as if it was the game that they had been waiting to play all year.
And it only took them until round 21.
Only.
But who can blame them?
With the Sick Bay full of casualties in the first third of the season, they're now back to more or less full strength [minus Tuqiri and Daniela, who've been disregarded in the game plan for weeks now anyway].
The mid-season ructions, what with forced transfers and others taking the tap on the shoulder and being told a better option would be elsewhere appears to have settled down.
Apart from That Pom Ellis [Man of the Match for the second week in a row] and the Farah/Marshall Show, the best players were those who will be at other clubs next year.
No doubt SC Sheens reminded them that their cheques are still being signed by the Balmain club secretary, and there's a job at hand to be gotten on with.
If the they play poorly in the pointy end, they'll arrive at their new club with the powers that be whingeing and whining about paying too much for them and they will never hear the end of it.
Money as motivation tends to work, generally.
SC Sheens was not much worried about being down to nil at half-time, saying on interview after the game "I thought we would roll over them in the second half and we'd have points in us "; what he didn't say was that the other half of the equation was to keep Manly scoreless in the second-half with granite-like defence.
Although, to win the match with three tries in six minutes - even though Benji had left his kicking boots at his Mum's place - was a bit cheeky.
It was then a simple case of hanging onto possession for dear life and strangling the game to death from a territorial point of view; even with just a two point margin, a field goal wasn't required, nor attempted.
Spies at the ground suggest the try put on by That Try Scoring Freak Lawrence was well worth the price of admission alone.
The Great Benji on the burst, the trademark jink, the weave; looks over his shoulder and sees that Lawrence is with him at full pace on the blindside, gives him a wink and a nod; another jink and another weave the other way, busts a couple of tackles, chucks an outlandish gimmee dummy, and then throws the miracle "no-look" pass.
Of course Lawrence - who knew precisely what was going - accepts the ball neatly on his chest as he goes like the clappers, and runs 35 metres to the try line and plants it underneath the black dot without so much as a finger being laid on him.
Said it before, says it again...running rugby league...no finer sight in world sport, for mine.
High fives all round, indeed.
And it's all the sweeter to beat the Evil Silvertails - a team that's even more universally hated than Collingwood is down Mexico way.
That's one litmus test passed, with another one this weekend against a St George side that's paradoxically lost its last two against lowly ranked opposition after having a season that was up to that point surrounded by an aura of invincibility.
SC Bennett has whipped the Dragons on the training track after telling them they'd "lost their hunger".
Oops, they'll be a tough ask for the Tigers after that.
Wandered into the Front Bar at The Local on Monday morning and found The Philosopher, as usual, in his place, nursing this week's favoured tipple, a Harvey Wallbanger, no less for gawd's sake.
He was more talkative than usual.
Mumbled something about it being the horses birthday and that he'd had a reasonably good day on the punt on Saturday, although he did dismiss the quality of winter racing as "rubbish".
Asked his opinion on the Tigers win, he just said that "Manly were due to be shown up. Frauds."
A couple of Brown Brothers at the other end of the bar who were enjoying some sneaky schooners of Toohey's Old on a quick break from their jobs on the local roads and were waxing lyrical about the recent form of the NZ Worriers, piped up and asked The Philospher how he rated Balmain's chances of making the top eight.
"Well, that's up to the abacus, of course", he said, looking at them quizzically, before vehmently venturing "but by Jesus, Joseph, and bloody Mother Mary, they will cause some big trouble if they're there in September".


MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 12. Tries: Ballin, B.Stewart. Goals: Lyon (2).
WESTS TIGERS 14. Tries: Ayshford, Lawrence, Lui. Goals: Marshall (1).
At Central Coast Stadium, Gosford.
Crowd: 20,059.

SYDNEY: Bye.

the sweet aroma of cooking chooks

Tenants of the Terraces,

We were rather chuffed at the finish.
The Good Lady Wife remarked, "now that was very satisfactory all 'round".
She was right.
An excellent exhibition of rugby league; probably the best game of the season in terms of competitiveness in either code all year - never mind that it became a bit scrappy as they got tired in the end.
Always good to see two big, rangy, mobile packs go hammer and tongs, intent only on bashing the crapola out of each other for the full 80 minutes.
And both sides had some half-way decent backs to play off the back of that.
And the Bamfords were inconspicuous; glanced at the scoreboard clock when the ref first blew his whistle and it read 23 minutes gone.
The game was a very good case for leaving the players to get on with it without interference from the umpires, and these Bamfords to their credit, understood that.
The powers that be actively discouraged people from going to the ground after the best part of 200mm of rain [call that eight inches in the old money] had fallen in the Emerald City in the four days prior due to a weather phenomenon know as a mob of "complex East Coast Lows".
It was widely advertised that sections of the hill would be cordoned off as dangerous and uninhabitable [three areas, as it turned out; if people sat on them on plastic sheets they'd just slide down the hill and take half of it with them in a landslide, and no one couldn't possibly stand on the shifting ground], and that the reserve grade game had been cancelled along with the pre-match and half-time entertainment.
Even the dancing girls had been warned off, for chrissake.
You get one game of football, and that's it.
They didn't tell us that the back gate was closed, due to the approaches being ankle deep in mud, so walking in from Leichhardt we were diverted down the lane-way along the side of the ground to go in with everyone else through the Mary Street front gate.
There was almost no one in standing room on the terrace at the 20m line at the Swimming Pool End.
Lucky for the ground managers that they were playing Easts, who are as good as an out of town team, given that Easts fans don't travel.
They wouldn't go as far as Rozelle on their holidays as they have a mental block about anything west of Railway Square, not to mention the fact that one more loss for the Roosters would see them all but cactus for the season.
So it proved to be very comfortable, even though the beer cans were too cold to hold [forgot the gloves, again]; a big crowd under the conditions would have been intolerable.
Ironically, not a drop of rain fell during the game, but remarkably the ground only really got chopped up in the in-goal and along the touch lines.
Still, it was a night for the forwards.
It's very easy to forget just how good a player Gareth "That Pom" Ellis is, until you see him in the flesh.
One of the very last old school hard men from the dark satanic mills and one of the very few Poms who have made a name for themselves in first grade.
Can't think of any other prop forward in the caper who hits harder in the tackle -- putting in some nice, legal, work up and down the torso of the tacklee as they go down in a screaming heap.
Doesn't mind a bit of violence when it's sanctioned by the rules, and can cop it too, reckoning it comes with the territory.
Not sure that there's anyone else in the game at present who's better over 10 metres, running the ball up through the middle of the ruck in heavily defended territory, bumping bigger boofier blokes out of the way and leaving would be tacklers groaning, sprawled on the ground in his wake.
Doesn't bust the advantage line often, but routinely makes crucial yards.
There's nothing fancy about the way he goes about his work, but boy, he just quietly puts the fear up opposition forwards, who universally hate playing against him.
Little wonder they extended his contract by three years on a bloated stipend.
Said it before, say it again: worth his weight in gold.
Give him Man of the Match for the night, for mine.
In stark contrast, Lote "What'd I Do Guv?" Tuqiri was in his first game back after a knee that kept him out for month or so, and you could see that SC Sheens had wrapped him up tight in cotton wool.
There was nothing going on on the left edge all night.
Lote hardly saw the ball, never took a hit, trotted about on his own or just stood there like a shag on a rock and really didn't do anything at all, by design.
Good coaching.
And yet Tuqiri still managed to do a mischief to a pec, and will miss yet more games.
If anyone's been cruelled by injury this season, it's him.
It came down to a crude game of chess in the end with the Great Benji fishing for a field goal at least ten minutes out from full time, working on the Wok Ryan principle that "it's easier to get one early, than it is to get one late".
Sprayed two drop kicks well wide of the uprights, Farah had a pot shot that didn't even clear the black dot, before Marshall sent the ball, oscillating wildly, over the cross bar with six minutes left on the clock for the match winning seven point lead.
Game over.
The sweet aroma of cooking chooks.
What with having to skirt around the ground on the way back, wander up through the metal hospital, drop in for a rest at the Orange Grove Hotel, to the motor, we calculated the walk at well over a mile, up hill and down dale.
Hard work for old, but happy, fans, who wished they still lived in Rozelle.
No doubt the Manly Silvertails and the Wollongong Dragons will apply the blow torch to the belly over the next couple of weeks.
It's what's called in coaching circles a "challenging draw", and it's exactly what Balmain needs.
If the Mighty Tiges can win at least one of them, you'd have to be thinking a top eight finish is all but a certainty, even though top four may well be out of reach without a purple patch.

WESTS TIGERS 19. Tries: Ryan, Fulton, Ayshford. Goals: Marshall (3). Field Goals: Marshall (1).
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 12. Tries: Leilua, Guerra. Goals: Carney (2).
At Leichhardt Oval.
Crowd: 10,187.


After Big Bad Barry Hall - on one leg on the the first leg of his farewell tour - booted the first two goals for the Dogs the feeling in my water took a turn for the worse.
In the end it was good of BBB to bag a fiver without spoiling the Sydney party.
At last the Swans learnt how to play wet weather football, and someone in the dressing room wised up after the slipoverathon of the week previous, and managed to screw the right spriggs into the boots this week.
Just poke the ball forward as much as you can and get it into a spot where you might have some sort of chance of kicking a goal.
Playing on wet tracks is not rocket science.
And still they managed to kick more behinds.
Keiren 'Son of Gary' Jack would have undoubtedly picked up the 3 Brownlow points on offer for best on ground.
Popped up everywhere and did everything right; a brilliant game.
At last, club management couldn't pretend that more than twenty thousand people go to Sydney home games week in week out.
They don't.
The Swans marketing department lives in morbid fear of an official crowd figure of less than 20K, but this time the turnstiles could be over-wound or fudged no further.
True, the weather hadn't been that good and the Swans had lost in it last week, but as the stats guru points out, it was the lowest official attendence at the SCG in nine years.
Mmm.
And the Greater Western Sydney Pygmies think they might get a crowd?
Mmm.
Sixth on the ladder aint a bad place to be with six rounds to go, and Coach Horse would no doubt welcome this week's bye, as there are more than a few of the lads playing with niggles that could use a rest.
Just go away for a week.

SYDNEY: 2.4, 7.10, 11.14, 16.18 (114). Goals: Bird 4, McGlynn 2, McVeigh 2, Reid 2, Goodes 2, Roberts-Thomson 2, Bolton, Malceski.
WESTERN BULLDOGS: 2.1, 7.3, 8.5, 11.9 (75). Goals: Hall 5, Hooper 2, Grant, Jones, Liberatore.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 19,449.

Over Beer

Chairman of selectors,

Pleasing to see the Muso gets a guernsey in the squad for MJ Clarke's debut as test captain.
Saw the Trent Copeland kiddie a few times at SCG last summer playing for NSW; nicknamed him the Muso after the more famous Copland, Aaron.
Tall, muscular frame, correct, orthodox right-arm action and can generate genuine pace bowling long spells.
Has a very good off cutter, a wicked straight ball that hurries the batsman up and gets through the gate quite often, but the in-swinger needs work.
Still, dripping with potential.

Test squad to tour Sri Lanka:

Michael Clarke, Captain (30, NSW)
Shane Watson, Vice-captain (30 NSW)
Michael Beer (27, WA)
Trent Copeland (25, NSW)
Brad Haddin (33, NSW)
Ryan Harris (31, Qld)
Phillip Hughes (22, NSW)
Michael Hussey (36, WA)
Mitchell Johnson (29, WA)
Usman Khawaja (24, NSW)
Nathan Lyon (23, SA)
Shaun Marsh (28, WA)
James Pattinson (21, Vic)
Ricky Ponting (36, Tas)
Peter Siddle (26, Vic)

I'm over Beer, and know nothing at all about Nathan Lyon, except that he's been picked as the token South Australian.
Seeing they've left Smiffy out, they might as well pick my mother as the spinner.

an artform in his own right

Fellow disgustees,

Tumbled out of the turnstiles at half time, after being given a "smoke pass" by some Indian gentleman at the gate to go to the SCG's salubrious smoking lounge [aka the footpath on Driver Ave in the rain with no cover], when a woman who would have been well into her sixties stormed out of the ground.
She was absolutely livid.
She tightly gripped her packet of cigarettes and lit one up with a shaky hand and then announced loudly to anyone within earshot who cared to listen.
"Ray FAARKING Chamberlain! He's an artform in his own right. Oh, how I HATE that turd".
At half time!
That was before the most senior Bamford of the field did his best work.
Me mate who gave me the free ticket [thanks, Trev] picked it even before a ball had been bounced.
The first thing he did when he got a copy of The Record was open it up to see who was umpiring.
"Joisus", he said, "we've got Razor Ray Chamberlain. Bloody hell. Watch out".
And so the most disgraceful display of umpiring seen in living memory came to pass.
No less than seven of the Dockers 15 goals were a direct result of free kicks; a few from 50m penalties, the rest given right in front, for what could be at best described as minor infringements or no infringement at all.
Chamberlain was chiefly responsible, and might as well have kicked half of Fremantle's goals himself.
He took a dislike to Teddy Richards early on.
In the first quarter, Richards had copped a 50m penalty for giving Chamberlain a bit of well justified back chat, but he stood his ground, didn't move, as his opposite number went up into the goal square to boot the major.
Richards knew if he ran the 50m back to mark his man, Chamberlain would give him a lecture all the way about language and how one should appropriately address a Bamford.
Teddy decided he wasn't remotely interested in copping that from the buffoon and wouldn't have a bar of it.
He just stood there like a pillar of salt, and Chamberlain was less than impressed, and took it upon himself to punish the bloke every time he touched the ball.
Swans could do nothing right in his eyes, and he was well aided and abetted by his other partners in crime.
It is very very hard to stomach officialdom making an exhibition of themselves.
Good Bamfords should not be noticed, let alone drawing attention to their daft antics, but this troika of fools were intent on running about pointing at themselves as if to say "Look at me! FIGJAM! See how important I am!?"
Could carry on like a pork chop about it, but won't.
Suffice to say shoving a fistful of fingers down the back of throat and bringing up a gutful of execrable SCG beer would have been a dignified and approriate response.
Soon after half time the crowd had had enough and went ballistic.
Every time a Bamford, any Bamford; boundary umpire, goal umpire, field umpire had the ball in his hands, there would be a resounding round of boos from all around the ground.
The people on the bleachers had obviously not got the message from "Be Kind To Umpires Week" earlier in the season.
The ground authorities hurriedly closed all the bars at three-quarter time, obviously fearing an alcohol-fuelled riot.
By then the assembled mob was apoplectic, and still worse was yet to come.
With the Swans closing in in the last quarter it looked like they could win despite all the odds being stacked against them, but the rookie Bamford on the ground [who was umpiring in his 7th game for gawd's sake] gave the Dockers yet another 50m for Sydney back chat and then gave them another free right in front to gift Fremantle the match winning two goal lead.
We threw our hats to the ground, stomped on them, offered the idiot a few choice words, and then joined the exodus of Swans loyalists who had well and truly had enough.
Seen it all now in 25 years following Sydney.
Lord, save me.
Coach Horse on interview after the game said he was giving some thought to ringing up the umpires "coaching director" Jeff Gieschen [whoever the hell he is] and giving him a piece of his mind along the lines of "if you ever give us that goose Chamberlain again this season, I'll kill ya, ya bastard. Understand?"
Mr Ed thought better of it after Gieschen told the fishwraps that words had already been had in Chamberlain's shell-like.
"Our instruction to Ray is 'just umpire the game' and let your decision making do the talking".
Lord, help me.

PS. Can't let the retirement of The Great BBB Hall pass unremarked.
The youngest daughter just the other day found a Sydney Swans Barry Hall badge that you pin to your lapel, in a clean out.
It shows Big Bad grinning like some kind of idiot savant.
When she heard that the premiership winning full forward hadb announced he was giving the game away, she said "jeez, that could be worth some money now on Ebay".
Hall was a brilliant sideshow at the Swans; loved being a serial pest, throwing his weight around and kicking goals, hated, really hated Bamfords with a passion, and didn't mind clocking blokes - although he never hit an honest man - and went about his game with a healthy disregard for the rules.
So, he got into trouble with the umpires, and the tribunal for that matter, from time to time.
Who can blame him?
His only regret after no less than 16 seasons in the caper is that he never did make it to playing 300 games through suspension [lost about a season and a half in total by being rubbed out down at the Tribunal through no fault of his own] and injury [another season and a half], to qualify for AFL life membership - not that they'd have him, anyway.
Baz was thinking he would never be picked for the Hall of Fame, that was until Wayne Carey was admitted.
Now it's only a matter of time.
Vale Barry, go well.

SYDNEY: 3.2, 6.3, 8.5, 13.9 (87). Goals: Roberts-Thomson 3, Hannebery 2, Parker 2, Goodes 2, McVeigh, Jack, Reid, Grundy.
FREMANTLE: 3.2, 7.4, 14.7, 15.8 (98). Goals: Ballantyne 3, Mayne 2, Johnson 2, Fyfe, Palmer, Grover, Pavlich, Clarke, Hill, Lower, de Boer.
At Sydney Cricket Ground.
Crowd: 23,415.


Found myself pottering about in Dad's Shed on Saturday night attending to a couple of a long neglected jobs, gearing up for spring, and so got on the ladder and rigged up the the long range AM radio aeriel on the roof to get the call beaming in live from ABC Brisvegas, as no one else was carrying it live.
Lucky it wasn't a close match as the signal wavered in and out - could have missed the match winning try.
Only goes to prove once again how important the Farah/Marshall show is.
When those two are on fire, Balmain can beat any side in the comp.
The hooker, who plays just about every play at dummy half and the five-eighth brilliantly combine to put on the set plays drilled into them at training - there is no way of the opposition coaching against that - not to mention the individual spontaneity that can turn a game on its head.
They had a hand or two in just about every try.
And Marshall, for the first time this season, had a perfect game with the goal kicking boot [he obviously didn't forget to ask his Mum to polish them this week], potting no less than six conversions and a penalty goal.
Goes without saying that that always has a positive impact on the scoreboard.
Did like SC Sheens' cheek picking Timmy Moltzen, in his first game after signing om with St George, at full back and dropping McKinnon altogether.
It was as if the Super Coach said to the bloke "Right then. You reckon you can play full back? OK. I'm picking you at full-back for the rest of the season and we'll see how you go. If I have to ring up St George at the end of the year to tell them that they paid too much for you, whose fault would that be, then? Yours."
With four inches of rain having fallen in the Emerald City in the past 48 hours [and it's still pissing down], word out of Lilyfield suggests Leichhardt Oval is underwater and the ground staff will struggle to pull a firm surface together for this Saturday night's game against Easts.
Just adds to the fun.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 18. Tries: Paterson (2), Tonga (2). Goals: Bowen (1).
WESTS TIGERS 38. Tries: Ayshford (2), Ellis, Fulton, Marshall, Moltzen. Goals: Marshall (7).
At Townsville Stadium.
Crowd: 12,829.

trooble at mill

Axemen,

There's trooble at mill.
SC Sheens has obviously made a free and frank mid-season assessment that the current squad is not nearly playing up to their potential and are in danger of missing the eight when they are clearly, on paper, top four material.
So, St Tim has decided that some dead wood needs to be cut to make room in the salary cap for some new buys for next year.
A couple of weeks ago Andrew Fifita [looks the goods, quality youngster who could go places] and Bryce Gibbs [one of the Sensational Six still going around for the Tigers after appearing in the '05 Miracle Grand Final, mind you] were told that they were suddenly unloved and unwanted, and that they would have to go look for employ elsewhere next season.
They were both indignant, saying they didn't want to leave Leichhardt, but had no choice as they were being unceremoniously shuffled out the back door without so much as a sausage.
They were both quickly snapped up by Cronulla-Sutherland, which only made them more filthy.
They don't want to go to The Shire, they don't want to play for The Shire, but they find themselves in the invidious position of having to if they still want to make a fair living out of the game.
While you can see the reason in it, it did raise the member's collective eyebrow.
And having unhappy campers around who are playing out their current contracts can never be good for morale at a football club.
Then last Friday, St George-Illawarra announced that they had signed Timmy Moltzen [Benji Marshall's flat-mate, no less] for next year, after the Tigers had agreed to let him out of the last year of his contract with Balmain.
The Tigers club secretary hit the roof, describing the announcement as "disgraceful", premature, and "very poor form", while confirming that yes, it was true.
Fair enough.
Moltzen wants to play full back, and the Saints will have a vacancy in that department, and he knows under SC Sheens he will never be more that a utility back benchwarmer.
Wade McKinnon had already made his mind up earlier in the season that he would take the well worn path and finish his playing days in the dark satanic mills of northern England, while Todd "The Refrigerator" Payten [another one of the Sensational Six] had always made it clear that this season would be his last before he took up the pipe and slippers in the Jason recliner.
Then the Sunday scandal sheets reported that Chris Heighington [joisus, another of the Sensational Six] and "Be My" Beau Ryan would almost certainly move on to Penrith, who are prepared to give them a job next year, and that Liam Fulton [yet another of the Sensational Six, for gawd's sake] was also being shopped.
Eight players -- that's a fair amount of lopping going on!
SC Sheens has obviously made his mind up about a few things and a few players, and who can blame him, as that's what any good coach is paid handsomely to do.
He reckons the current Balmain reserve grade side, chock full as it is of Brown Brothers, will form the nucleus of the future pack, while there are a few junior backs who could at least make the first grade bench next year.
All you need to do then is buy a few big names to add to the marquee players that they are retaining and a couple of proven positional workhorses and Bob's your uncle
But, (and it's a very big but given the gamble that's being taken) the jury will be out for a while as to whether it's a brilliant long term strategy, albeit most likely at the expense of a current season that crashes and burns, or not.
Instability?
What instability?
The effort against the Eels failed to belie what is going on off the field.
Probably the worst game of the season, nay, a complete shocker.
Few of the players, if any, appeared to have their heart in it.
After we had both endured watching the game on the crystal bucket with the two-bar heater going flat out in front of the double-bummed lounge, remarked to the GLW at the finish that the Balmain performance had been "weak".
She demurred, saying "yes, not very satisfactory, is it?" before she thought for a moment then stood up, brought herself to her full height, stamped her foot on the floor tiles and exclaimed "NO! In fact, it was bullshit!".
Thinking it was best to leave it at that.
On interview after the game SC Sheens was asked if the current off-field ructions were contributing to the recent poor on-field outings.
He just said "I knew you would ask that question first up. The answer is you can say what you like".

PARRAMATTA EELS 22: Tries Atkins, Maitua, Morgan. Goals: Burt (5).
WESTS TIGERS 6: Tries: Lui. Goals: Marshall (1).
At Parramatta Stadium.
Crowd: 19,654.

It was so riveting the GLW decided to attempt the crossword soon after half time, and then fell asleep.
Any miniscule hope the Gold Coast Pluto's had of winning it, let alone making a game of it, evaporated when Son of God limped off with a bit of a knee in the second quarter.
Some of those poor kids they've got playing for them are reasonably easy to run rings around.
Karmichael Hunt might be a reasonable half back one day, but considering his stellar career in the rugby league, it's a pale shadow in comparison.
An expensive experiment that might work, but probably not.
He'll take the money and go back to league you would've thought.
Small wonder that Bolton, J. picked up a knee in the warm up and was replaced by an emergency.
Was never going to play.
Why risk your best player of the moment in a nothing match?
Rhino Keefe and Odd Head McVeigh would've picked up some cheap Brownlow votes to add to their already considerable tallies.
But, little or no comfort can be drawn from handing out an eleven goal football lesson to a bunch of midgets, especially as the Swans managed to score but one goal in the Championship quarter against that quality of opposition.
Dear oh dear.
Something to mark down in the "we'll take our wins" side of the Coach's Ledger, if ever there was one.

GOLD COAST: 1.6, 3.6, 3.9, 4.12 (36). Goals: Swallow 2, Iles, Lynch.
SYDNEY: 5.4, 9.7, 10.12, 15.16 (106). Goals: McVeigh 3, Reid 3, Goodes 2, Parker 2, McGlynn, Jack, RobertsThomson, Spangher, Malceski.
At New Carrara Stadium.
Crowd:16,488

wouldn't know a set of goalposts if they fell on them

Fellow Frustratees,

What can you say, really?
They only had themselves to blame is stating the bleeding obvious.
If any further confirmation was needed that the Swans wouldn't know a set of goalposts if they fell on them, then this was surely it.
Never mind that they turned up at Dinosaur Stadium in the pouring rain throughout; they somehow contrived to play wet weather football from the completely wrong end of the stick.
Just could not see the point in hacking the ball out of the ruck, dropping it on the boot in hope -- saying a Hail Mary, and seeing where she goes.
Joisus.
At least the Jetta Kiddie had the right idea, when its slippery underfoot the only way to go is to run the ball and offload some well-aimed well-timed handballs; kicking only to finish and score points.
The game plan, what there was of it, went out the window under the conditions and crashed and burned.
Swans had any number of chances to bury the game - even with a saturated pigskin - and should have put the Crows away soon after half time and yet for the third time this season, yes, you read right, for the third time this season, Sydney failed to boot a major in the Championship Quarter.
Bloody Nora.
Swans were murdered cold, for mine.
And what a miserable scene it was on the crystal bucket with the smallest crowd at Footy Park for a Crows game - ever - all huddled under plastic raincoats and big macks, or wearing umbrellas on their heads.
Bolton, J. is having the season of his life, while Oddhead McVeigh is playing outstanding week in week out, but they spent the entire afternoon banging their heads against a brick wall.
No doubting that Johncock of Adelaide put the three Brownlow points in the dilly bag.
Played out of his skin at half back for the home side and killed the Swans attack, as much as there was any, almost single handedly.
Brilliant game.
The GLW admitted after the match that she had a bad feeling in her water prior to the game, commenting "I just knew it would be bad, and wrong".
And so it came to pass.
Not much damage on the ladder, strangely enough, even though it's their third loss on the trot, and that after they threatened to come into a purple patch.
And guess who Coach Horse's rabble come up against this weekend?
The Gold Coast Pluto's - who are well overdue and keen for a scalp - away.
Crikey.
Anything could happen.

ADELAIDE: 2.1, 3.4, 5.5, 8.9 (57). Tippett 3, Callinan, Petrenko, Douglas, van Berlo, Sloane.
SYDNEY: 3.1, 4.5, 4.10, 6.14 (50). Jetta, Goodes, Bird, O'Keefe, Bevan, McGlynn.
At Football Park, Adelaide.
Crowd: 23,063.

All reports suggest that Balmain's own Keefy Bludnut Galloway trained the house down in the Blues camp over the weekend, and so was retained in the 19 man squad and appears certain to play off the bench for NSW in Origin III.
Good option for Sticky to have when he needs a genuine front row forward for some punch and thrust in the last twenty minutes of the decider, not mention the starch up front.
As SC Sheens, who recommended the bloke to the Blues selectors, quite rightly noted "he won't let anyone down".
SC Sheens reportedly cancelled training over the bye weekend and told the Balmain players to piss off, take a break, go away or go home, take the mind off football, just not be around, and then deliberately let the hair down, while not coming to the attention of the authorities.
Didn't want anything to do with them.
Brilliant.

WESTS TIGERS: Bye.