Justin's words Friday, 3 October 2008

There is little doubt my obsession with sport has affected my relationships over the years - girlfriends have come and gone and even my family has at times questioned my priorities in life, but in my humble opinion it is them who miss out.

They don’t understand the sweet aroma of liniment in the change rooms, the ‘in your face’ brutality of some local footy matches, or even the theatre of the back nine on Sunday at Augusta.

Who doesn’t take a week off work to watch the Sheffield Shield final, sit through all 161 laps of Bathurst each year, or watch every game played in the AFL and NRL every week?

Fanatical? Me? You better believe it!

As I write this morning, with the National Rugby League (NRL) grand final only four sleeps away I have a serious problem however. I simply can’t get excited about it.

Admittedly the Eels were a serious disappointment again, but there is nothing new there and realistically Melbourne and Manly fully deserve to be where they are. In fact on paper it shapes as one the better deciders in recent memory, but in all the drama that has cloaked the season, the on-field action has almost become an afterthought.

Here we are nearing the conclusion of the centenary season - it was supposed to be a celebration, an opportunity to pay fitting tribute to the game’s forefathers and the greats of years past, but instead we have had to endure one controversy after another.

There was the defections of Mark Gasnier and Sonny Bill Williams to union, the Greg Bird ‘glassing’ saga and an alleged rape involving a group of the Broncos and even now, in grand final week, the announcement of the teams was given second billing on most news reports behind the fallout from Craig Bellamy’s press conference last Friday night.
All due respect to David Gallop – he really does have a difficult job at present, but I just simply couldn’t deal with another one of his monotone press conferences before Sunday.

“The greatest game of all” as it has been commonly referred to over the years has degenerated into little more than a rolling media scrum in which officials have become far more adept at ‘pollie’ speak than actually recognising and respecting the views of the game’s fans.

We are trying to hang in there in the hope of better times on the horizon, but hope is slowly giving way to frustration.

Incessant dummy half running and wrestling in the ruck area have been allowed to hijack the game as a spectacle through poor rule changes.

Reducing the length of the season, halving the interchanges and bringing the 10-metre rule back to seven would be a good start. I for one want skills and teamwork to flourish again and more games through the season to carry greater importance.

As far as Sunday’s match goes, I expect a tight, low-scoring battle dominated by the forwards, with the twilight kick off and the potential for the surface at Homebush to be affected by dew leading to a quite conservative approach being taken by both squads.
Against what many pundits are predicting I see Melbourne overcoming the losses of Smith and Hoffman to claim back to back titles 16-10.

~ end