So said Andrew Voss on Saturday night as emotions bubbled over late in the Storm v Warriors clash at AAMI park. I had never heard that expression before, but I thought I knew exactly what he was talking about and it sat perfectly with what was happening on the field. To be honest, the Warriors beating the Storm in Melbourne is an upset, but it was within the realms of possibility. Really, it was not even the biggest upset of the round, with that honour going to the Bulldogs upsetting the previously undefeated Panthers on Thursday night. So, what was going on to provoke that comment from Vossy?
The Warriors had effectively beaten the Storm. They had the scoreboard well in hand and decided to have some fun. Fun, for a Rugby League team, is belting the opposition. The Warriors had a few minutes where they ripped into the Storm, pulling off a series of big hits, and it wasn’t just their big blokes, it was their five-eighth and even their winger getting in on the action. Eventually, the Storm had enough and there was a dust up. The Storm players were being physically intimidated and embarrassed and had to make a stand. The Warriors, they were having the time of their lives, laughing, and revelling in the moment. It is about as good as it gets on the football field, total domination. I think many of them will look back at this game and it will be the highlight of their career. This will be the one they talk about when they run into each other in 10- or 20-years’ time. It will be their Reece Walsh GF, 2025 game. It had been over a decade since they had beaten the Storm in Melbourne. However, there was something disturbing and shocking about what was going on with Melbourne. This performance was very strange, given their history of bouncing back after a loss, particularly at AAMI Park, the best fortress in the competition.
This was akin to ‘Tommy’ towelling up the Gatlin boys in the ‘coward of the county’, or the Year 12 Chemistry class at high school walking out on to the school oval at lunchtime to where the First Thirteen were and saying, “we have had enough of you Numbnuts giving us a hard time, get a bit of this into you” and giving them a flogging in front of the Grade 8s.
This was not a shock like Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson all those years ago, 1990, when everyone thought ‘Iron Mike’ was invincible. It felt more like Larry Holmes in his prime embarrassing an ‘over the hill’ Muhammad Ali. A changing of the guard type scenario. Time will tell if that is what it was or just a freak one-off event.
‘Highly respected’ pundit (not my words), Michael Ennis, had given a BOM like forecast before kick-off. “Geez Vossy, the Storm look fired up. I’d say Craig has been into them this week. They will have worked hard on their defence. We will see a different Storm tonight.” The boys from NZ were walking headlong into an almighty ambush. So everyone thought. Melbourne trailed narrowly at the break, 18 to 14, but conceded three early tries in the second half. Their once tight defence was a shambles. This week they are away to Canberra, no easy task. Another loss will really have the critics circling. Melbourne, unlike Brisbane or Parramatta, do not have a long injury list. Coates is the most notable player on the sidelines. He is a talented player, but you sense they need a lot more than Xavier to turn things around.
It appears that Vossy was not operating off the top of his head. The term ‘Hold my beer’ has quite a history. ‘Hold my Beer while I kiss your girlfriend’ is a song by Aaron Pritchett. It was a Top Ten hit on the Canadian Country Music Charts at one time. In fact, there are numerous songs out there titled ‘Hold my Beer’. There are T-shirts galore available on the Internet, and it has morphed into different directions and different T-shirts, Such as, ‘Hold my trophy while I kiss your girlfriend’. Somehow, I had failed to notice these developments in society. As the saying goes, readers, ‘You learn something every day’, even if it is as insignificant as this. Without The Footy Almanac, I may have never discovered this riveting information, let alone be able to pass it on to you. Now, back to the NRL.
When is your best team not your best team? There have been some interesting cases this season. The Warriors have lost both games this year when Luke Metcalf played. In those two games, Tanah Boyd was ordinary. But in every other game, Boyd has played well and the Warriors have won! Work that one out, Andrew Webster. At least he has time to work it out as Metcalf has done a hammy and will be out for a few weeks. The Knights have done well with the Fletcher Mullet brothers and Sandon Smith doing an admirable job in the absence of Ponga and Brown. What if they are worse when Brown returns? Unlikely, but possible. Over at the high-flying Wests Tigers, Jerome Luai, their highest paid player, has been missing and Jock Madden has been filling in admirably. What if the Tiger bubble bursts when Luai returns against the Broncos? What would Benji do? Jock is on the pine this week and I suspect he will stay there or go back to NSW Cup, regardless of what Luai does.
Apologies to all you academic Rugby League players out there who did Chemistry at school and played football. I know there are some of you out there.
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Prospector, I like your take on the Warriors’ Day Out – who’da thunk it?
Thanks for the lesson on that phrase – the old teacher coming out in you!
And a good question -‘ When is your best team not your best team?’ The Wahs certainly have a headache in that regard, maybe the Knights and possibly the Wests Tigers.