The midweek Wrap – Round V

 

by John Mosig

FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL MARNGROOK FAN

What short week it’s been in Footy Eddie.  We’ve hardly had time to get the duffle coat back from the dry cleaners and sow on the new badges before we’re out on the terraces again.  This time it’s The Anzac Day Blockbuster.

And while we’re talking about heroes, there’s an annual event that deserves a mention: the Oxfam Trailwalker.  It’s a 100km slog through the Blue Dandenongs.  You’ll find the route using your search engine of choice.  We did a couple of support checkpoints for the BBRG – Big Boys Running Club.  A bunch of forty year olds bravely hanging on to their dream of eternal youth.  There were hundreds of them out there in the drizzling conditions.  All ages, both genders.  In fact the winner of the 60+ category clocked off in 17 hours 13 minutes.   Some camped on the track overnight – or convenient lodgings.  The Sweet Eastern Sirens Back On Track team took a leisurely 42 hours 50 minutes.  Our lads finished in 17 hours 36 minutes; 43rd overall and in the top 6%.  They had blood oozing out of their Dunlop Volleys by the time they hit the last 7km pinch to the finish.  The fastest time was 9 hours 51 minutes.  That’s a smidge under a kilometre every six minutes.  Those who put their bodies on the line for their Footy team at the Elite Level each week are heroes, sure; but they get paid handsomely for it.  Anyone who has been on the Oxfam Trailwalker pays to enter and raises funds for those in need overseas.  (They raised $2,311,486 BTW)  Oxfam Trailwalkers – you’re The Wrap Heroes of The Week.

Did anyone notice, as the Northern Hemisphere Summer gets under way, that Slammin’ Sammy Stosur is building some form again?  She’s already help lift The Aussies into the Group 1 of the Fed Cup and has her sights set on Roland Garros & Wimbledon.

But enough of my gabbin, let’s see who’s going to be left alive after Round V.

The Collingwood Magpies v The Whingy Hill Bombers.  What a game this is going to be.  The Bombers keep finding ways to win under all circumstances.  This is the sign of a good side.  The Maggies have had a mixed start under Coach Fig Jam.  Despite this, and a shocking run with injuries and retirements, they’ve managed to win as many as they’ve lost.  The Dons have also sustained a high number of casualties, and at this rate, they must be at some stage, wondering how they’re going to field a team.  The Pies, arguably, have the better list, but this seems to count for little when playing Essendon.  The consensus here in The Wraproom is that it will come down to who had the hardest workout on the Saturday.  The Tealers gave The Maggies a fair run for their money.  And a chance to see how their structure works without some walk-up starters, such as Daisy Thomas & Luke Ball, Chris Tarrant  & Ben Reid, to name but a few.  The Gliders hardly broke into a sweat debunking The Carlton Myth.  Injuries favour Collingwood.  Freshness favours The Dons.  There’s an injury cloud over the Brownlow Medallist, but he’d never let on.  Look, it’s Carringbush for ours.  I know we keep tipping against The Marshmallows, and they keep winning.  But, like Wile E Coyote, they can only defy gravity for so long.  The Kiss of Death this week goes to Arch Bishop Mannix ’s old team – Carringbush

Good tipping and even better punting.

And remember, if you read it in the Wrap you’ll know it’s not crap.

 

About John Mosig

I'm an Aussie Rules tragic who can remember, as a four year old, shaking the hand of Captain Blood in the rooms just before he ran out onto the ground after half time, as my Old Man slipped him a packet of under-the-counter Craven A cork tipped. Now it's my turn to take my grandson Ben through the ritual of character building that is the journey through PUNT ROAD to the outside world.

Comments

  1. Wrapster,

    is ‘Jenny Craig’ open on Anzac Day for Swanny’s morning session?

  2. Mr Wrap, it was good to see that the FFA is beneath even your contempt. Perhaps you are saving it up for Friday? Personally, I think nothing in life is wasted. FIFA and their pale imitations in cronyism and corruption – the FFA, Lowy’s et al – serve to make me grateful for Andy D and the Appaling Football League. Andy D (like millions of other sporting followers) must get down on bended knee every night – and say ‘thank you that we are not as awful as them’. Do you think he sent BBuckley there are a double agent provocateur? I think BB is earning his money if he is still collecting the brown envelopes.
    On a happier note – well done to the Oxfammers. There is nobility all round us, if we just raise our eyes like Cotchin and Shuey.

  3. I haven’t been able to get on top of the FFA Final play off PB. (You could hardly call it a Grand Final) I wish I could say I’ve been too busy rolling around the ground hugging myself with laughter. Truth is I’ve been gobsmacked. How – after all they’ve been through this year – get their show case event so wrong?

  4. Thanks Wrapster for the acknowledgement of the Trailwalkers, genuinely deserving of that over-used word “heroes”. I recall Peter Fitzsimons made a vow after September 11, not to use the word in relation to a sporting performance, after he’d read about the New York fire-men going into the burning building with the knowledge of the odds against their survival. I don’t know if Fitzy has since breached his under-taking.

    A mate of mine walked for Oxfam and I made a very modest contribution to that staggering total which you mention. Since I haven’t been in touch with him – giving him time for a few days’ recovery – your allusion to the event was the first I’d heard since it happened. You’ve certainly noted some worthy performances of the participants. Six minutes a kilometre over that distance is extraordinary.

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