Thursday nights are the night of stress, strain and impressive training by all and sundry as they look to press their claims and stake a spot for the Saturday shenanigans, and last Thursday was no different. A massive crowd on the track and some of them trained, which made it impossible for all players to be clearly spotted, but the noise was very impressive none the less.

To show our affinity with the other gender the Club had arranged the Ladies lunch and there was full house, and despite the overwhelming influence of the dreaded box on people’s behaviour patterns as a result of dreary, dull and frankly stupid TV there were no ladettes in attendance from what I could see, which was somewhat refreshing, but a sure sign that the ladies were there for lunch and then they were more concerned in turning their attention to the action on field and see the boys perform.

The day started with the team making a number of changes, some forced, some perhaps perplexing and some that were downright outrageous, but ultimately they turned out to be fruitful given the result which has pushed the team from the lower reaches of the table to hovering with intent outside the top 4. That intent will be tested by Old Brighton next week who gave us a bit of a touch up down at the seaside last year and then sent the cockroach over the edge on preliminary final day last year and judging by his flaccid skin and flaky temperament since that day has never fully recovered from.

Still enough of that and let’s talk footy, footy and more footy, ‘cos given the powers in the professional game had said it was time for the pampered few to get back to the grass roots of the game and discover the realities of why we love the game (and not them) we had served up what the Ammo’s had titled Rivalry round and despite the fact we  have a rivalry with another brown mob – Ormond, we had to suffice with Old Ivanhoe, as Ormond were busy, so let’s talk rivalry round. Although to be fair we in the magoo’s do have a rivalry with the Chocolate Warriors of Ivanhoe where we have held the upper hand somewhat over the last few years and which has included a win in the 2005 B Reserve GF.

The opposition in their jumpers that could only have been concocted after a month long drug induced and drug infused binge drinking session (surely no-one would deliberately use brown in such a way) of brown and white V were mirroring the late EJ Whitten mantra of looking to “stick it up ‘em” with fierce tackling and a ferocious attack on the aggot which resulted in the fearless Tim Kovess reliving some of the ancient Celtic rites of getting close to mother earth as he was driven not once, but twice into the hard surface of Dairy Bell face first and he arose somewhat unsteadily with a mouthful of the turf and minus some of the facial skin that covers the skeleton.

From this we realised that there was a contest and that we would need to be up and at ‘em otherwise we would be on the end of the famous (or infamous) sledging that they like to proffer when they are up and running. With Tim off we sent on the Tow Ball and he had immediate effect with a crunching hip and shoulder and then he ran and chased the ball and ploughed through some of the Brown with White V bollards in his way to right the ship and set the team back on course, and all of a sudden it was game on.

Last week I said it was a relief to get the 4 points and that I did not really enjoy the win, rather I was like a young boy running with a full bladder and seeking a tree, a spot where to expunge the bladder of too much cordial and then splashing it indiscriminately all over the offending tree, whereas this week it was a game and result to enjoy. From the outside it may appear to be a relatively comfortable victory, but it was not quite so clear cut as the game was actually much closer than the scoreboard suggests, and every time we looked to have skipped away the oppo fought back and would kick a goal to stay in the hunt and keep us honest.

The game was not without lowlights and they came with the loss of common sense to Tim as mentioned before, but I was talking to his dad after the game and he said it was the first time he could understand the babble emanating from his son, so it may have an upside, Bill Dwyer was on fire (that has a certain symmetry to it) and Roaster (no doubt standing too close to the fire of Dwyer) were both incapacitated and as such we played the entire 2nd half with a less than full complement, so the win was even better given the lack of playing stock.

There were some really good signs and the team were starting to work together linking up the play with hands, run and carry and some better use of the ball along with some increased polish around the contests where we got some effective outcomes and clearances it was a pretty good effort overall.

The back 6 (as distinct from the magnificent 7) were working hard to repel and reject the overtures of the opposition and were also looking to create and get involved in setting the play up further up the ground, so we were able to give our forwards plenty of opportunities to kick goals and establish a lead that was never headed.

It was good to see that there were some signs of positive movement on the remaining stock with Nick Roberts getting onto the ground – a rare occurrence indeed, Trent Anderson lasting longer than 10 minutes, Rizzle Dizzle getting his hands on the pill and marking, leading and moving towards the oncoming aggot with intent and Sauce back after a 12 month sabbatical due to an ankle replacement playing with some renewed vigour and more precision as we know he can.

Additional Highlights included:
Rizzle at FF and his 4 goals, will it be enough to get him back into the late game, let’s hope as he was his usual 20 minutes late, what will happen on his wedding day is anyone’s guess – the bride will need to be 45 minutes late ensure that she doesn’t beat him to the church on time,
Tow Ball, Frankie and Chewbacca all getting physical (not in the wimpy lycra and leg warmer way of Olivia Newton John, or polyunsaturated Tofu flavoured skinny milk way either) and imposing them selves on the contest and working particularly hard to be creative and bring others into it,
Tom Moloney (whose girlfriend was last seen giving advice to the ressies cockroach at the now infamous bucket night and rather stupidly he wasn’t listening as she made perfect sense to me) was very good in the middle where he was able to use his smarts to help set the play up for his team mates,
The Bus for his tireless efforts as the sole ruckman in a team of ferrets which was great and he set the tone for us with his constant contesting and commitment to giving us valuable time and space in the middle
The afore mentioned back 6 were very good at tending to their opponents and repelling the forward thrusts of the visiting team,
Bill “on fire” Dwyer was very good and putting his name back into senior contention prior to falling foul of the shifting sands of Dairy Bell,
Bulldog, Hessie, and Bonnic were all working hard at creating and being nuisances when the ball hit the deck, so there were some good signs as they look to place pressure on their counterparts in the late game.

And lastly….

Richie Marks was really attuned and very concerned with footy, footy, footy as he was too busy interrupting everyone with news that he was to become “Yap-Daddy” before, during and after the game as he kept shouting to all and sundry that he was going to become a dad. Congratulations to the Yappa’s, but can we now just play footy…. please

Overall a good game, and this now creates a dilemma – do the players now sit back and relax, reflect that yep, that was OK, or dor they push on and look to get the season for all back on track?

Next week we are at the seaside and play Old Brighton (I’m not sure if there is any truth in the rumour they stole their jumpers form the financially destitute Melbourne Football Club) who we played 3 times last year and they are again up and running so it will be a test of the young players as they come up against older and more experienced opponents. Despite this we have a little weapon of our own this year – we have not played on any grass at Dairy Bell so we are well attuned to playing on terrible surfaces and no doubt knowing the Bayside Clowncil, they are in cahoots with Stonnington and they will have spared nothing to ensure that the Beach Oval is exactly that – a beach, and couped with the railway line cutting across the half forward line helping the home team it could be a beauty, or it could not.