Leaving home

In our last few weeks in Australia, we are upholding the pacer lifestyle. This term pacer comes back to a spelling error during the "Danpacers era". A while ago I went up to Queensland for work, and in the time I was away, turned by two bedroom apartment into a sort of mini hostel.

So you know, what comes around goes around, so we are relying on our friends to give us a roof over our heads. We have been staying with Viv and Bret for the first portion of our stay, which has been really good, we can just walk to work etc. We don't want to impose on them for the whole stay, so today we move over to Caroline's house, multiple times Australian Women's Footbag Champion...

We will stay there for about a week and then come back here, then finish off our time in Australia with a stint and Grandma and Grandpa's in Sydney. Not really long at all to go to takeoff.

Let me remember how I felt just before leaving to go away to Queensland:

It has been great to have our friends help us out, and it has been fun to stay with Viv and Bret. We share some jokes and I have been reading various books that have been picked up from garage sales, borders closing down sales etc. I polished off Danny Buderus' autobiography, now I reading about "Laurie and Clyde", two of my heroes growing up, who I got to see in action earlier this year in Hay. You know, as much as these may be embarrassing to have in your collection, I actually really like to read these sports books, brings back a lot of memories.

Alan Tongue retires

Today is a sad day in Canberra Raiders history, to go on with the abysmal season that has been 2011, Alan Tongue has announced this year will be his last. He will go down a one club man, and one of, if not the most passionate player to wear the lime green.

Since his debut in 2000, the Raiders have not enjoyed the success of the early 90s, but there have been some good years and some bad years. Tonguey has been there through the thick and thin. Between 2006-2008 was probably his peak time, his huge tackle rates and support play and mainly, passion would sometimes singlehandedly get the Green Machine home.

Last year Tongue was injured for most of the year, but managed to notch up his 200th appearance for the club, to huge applause. In the final against the Tigers, especially with Campo busting his leg, Tongue scored a decisive try to keep the Raiders in the fight.

So many times he has played with a variety of injuries and played through the pain, he has been an inspirational leader and lead with his actions, but this year I think you could see the toll of all these tackles coming against him. Being overseas I will not get to see the last game at home. Unfortunately my last viewing was the shutout received by Melbourne.

I hope the Raiders will use Tongue in some manner of the field in the next seasons, he will be a great role model for the younger players. Alan Tongue is a different mould to most players. You quite simply won't see the same "bleeding green" of players like Tongue and Josh Miller in the next years at the Green Machine.

Hay Pie In The Sky Match

Not sure if it was the desperation for the real season to begin, or a desire for adventure that took our two travelers across the plains for the Pie In The Sky match. A formidable lineup mainly made of former Raiders greats was the reason for heading to Hay.

We left Canberra after work on Friday afternoon, bound for Wagga. We made pretty good time and beat the Google estimation of when we would arrive. We stayed with TreesMenz, an old workmate of mine. Conveniently enough, she had two single beds spare in her house. When we arrived, the doors were wide open, but nobody was home. Turns out her mum lives a couple of doors down, and it's Wagga so no worries about robbers. Anyhow, we decided we would get a pub meal for our dinner. The first place we stopped by, the Union, it seemed pretty expensive, but not that impressive, so we decided to continue the tour of the town. We came across a big outdoor concert, and a man told us to hurry along the bridge as there would be fireworks in 90 seconds.

The man must have been wrong, because we were at the table in Romanos pub, ready to be served our meal when the fireworks had finally kicked off. Funnily enough, there were fireworks on when we last went to a footy match, the trial in Bega.

We had our meals which were all pretty good, I had a big steak, which was probably a bit too big, but is there really such a thing? We weren't really keen for a big night out on the town, so we went back and watch the comedy channel, then went to bed.

Plenty more driving the next day, with no hills to be seen. Flat as a tack the whole way, bound for Hay. I had driven the journey yesterday, so it was my turn to sit back and relax. We listened to the local ABC, and they had a match preview for the game we were heading to. Matt Geyer was on as a guest from their live broadcast from Hay, he was saying how it would be good if there was a more formal system of these matches in the bush, but it's something the CRL is simply not interested in.

After the early sports section, the Weekend Woodies took over, I wasn't really interested in old ladies and their creaky floorboards, so I put on the appropriately titled "Small Town Stories" from A Death In The Family.

The fruit fly exclusion zone requested we drop our fruit in the rubbish or receive a heavy fine. Though I thought there would probably be no inspectors out on the weekend, I didn't want a heavy fine, nor did I want to be single handedly responsible for destroying the Riverina. After eating a couple of bananas, we decided to simply hide the fruit in the bushes, and collect it on our return journey.

We stopped to meander in Narranderra for our morning tea break. There were signs of wealth that you don't usually see in the country. Even the cricket ground had a very shiny fence, reminiscent of North Sydney Oval. I stopped in at the skatepark for a quick roll around, I've got to say it's not one of the highlights of the various skateparks I've been to. Right up there with the worst to be honest.

The Gaslight Anthem carried us on our way and Lostprophets brought us into the town of Hay itself. We had a lunch at a local cafe, The Long Paddock. It was a bit disappointing and a bit too expensive. We located the field, and I stopped by another skatepark. A kid riding some sort of 3 wheel tricycle contraption told I was "heaps good ay", and to be honest, even though he was wrong, I was stoked.

We checked into our cabin at the Hay Caravan Park. It was a pretty small area, I'm not sure how many they claimed it could fit, but if you filled it to the maximum, you would want some pretty small children filling the triple bunks.

I played some Footbag and was playing quite well actually, there was a small brick area just outside our door. Some fellow Raiders fanatics came by, Kenrick, better known as KW, that bloke on the radio who sometimes tells how the fans are feeling about each week's match. He said something about being pretty good with the old Hacky Sack. Instead of being a jerk and saying it's Footbag mate, I just muttered some thanks and talked about the game ahead.

Soon after we were off to the game. It wasn't a long drive into town, and we could park quite close without being in an area that looked like it would be havoc after the game. We walked past the old Hay skatepark on the way in, which was definitely one to miss, simply a couple of quarterpipes on an old concrete block. Excitement plus. To one side of that Laurie Daley was sitting down with Brad Clyde and a bunch of TV cameras, I guess it was a small segment for Fox.

We arrived at the match and a couple of the youth academies were playing. The scores on the scoreboard didn't seem to match up with the scores the announcer was giving, but when we arrived, the score was 18-6. By the end of the match, the team we thought was Hay- though neither team was actually a Hay team, were up 24-18, but the other side scored a late try. The kicker from the corner went wide and it was game over, 24-22.

Not long after the main game was about to kick off. I wondered who the guy in the middle with the big gut was, and was surprised to see it was Big Mal, rather than a muscle man, he now sports a huge belly. Though nowhere near the size of front row forward Mark Tookey. As the ABC commentators said, the team came out in "a variety of shapes and sizes".

The team that came out was something along the lines of:

K Nagas

M Bai

B Clyde

L Daley

M Geyer

M Meninga

A McFadden

Q Pongia

S Woolford

M Tookey

B Roarty

D Furner

S Millard

On the bench they had a number of young players from the Hay side with Ricky Stuart pulling out a couple of weeks ago and Jason Croker a late withdrawal.

Things were not looking good for the old blokes early on, with one of the Magpies, carrying the name of his town, Harley Hay, capitalised on a dropped ball from Laurie Daley and found winger Ryan Gash backing up for the first points of the match. 4-0 down it was time for the all star lineup to get serious. It was a long, long time before the Hay Magpies crossed the line.

Kenny Nagas was the star of the first half, scoring the first two tries. The first involved some crafty footwork, leaving a number of the Magpie players bamboozled, while the second try he basically pulled out of his arse. The ball had bounced after a short break from Simon Woolford and he picked it up at almost full pace, reaching out behind him and knocking over a few defenders to score. This was vintage stuff, and the whole reason we had come out to the wild, wild west.

With so many of the big name players from the early nineties Raiders glory days, it was no surprise to see a similar style employed, something between that style and that of the Harlem Globetrotters being played. It was no match for the farmers and whoever else lives out in Hay, who were led by Gareth Price, a former Welsh international, who I'm not entirely sure what he's doing in Hay, but he has signed on as Captain/Coach for the season.

The points kept flowing in, with David Furner getting something to show the boys back at Raiders training, this is how you score a try mate. He bopped off a few would be defenders and charged over the line.

The game was played in four quarters, each one of varying length, somewhere between 15-20 mins. It was a hot day, so I'm sure the old blokes were happy to take a rest. Each time between quarters, half the crowd would swarm across the field and they would have to wait until they meandered back off to the other side before play resumed.

After the third quarter, the ABC team said coach Arthur Beetson gave Laurie Daley the worst pass award for the day, for a long ball, a few metres forward, that landed a little ahead of Marcus Bai on the ground, which he knocked on.

The second half had plenty more tries, Andrew McFadden chipped through and then soccered the ball again to find support, while Simon Woolford ran further than he ever did in his NRL career to score a 60m try. He took no further part in the game after that.

As the clock ticked down, you saw a few players looking for a reprieve, but there was no way the players on the bench were going to be getting back up from their chairs, so whoever was still on, stayed on. With a few minutes left, the Magpies were attacking the line, after a dropped all at the back. After a suspicious amount of tackles in the count, the ball was placed somewhere near the line (probably in front of it), but with no video ref, Bill Harrigan pointed to the spot. The scores remained unchanged, the All Star lineup victorious by 50 points to 8.

For a 3-2-1 I would give

3- K Nagas

2- D Furner

1- A McFadden

After the game we headed back to the Caravan Park and had a swim in the pool. It was still fairly hot at about 6pm, so it was a good way to spend the rest of the day. We headed to the South Hay Pub just down the road and ate a pretty mean mixed grill. We had seen a truck outside and thought it was a trucker getting a good feed, but when the covers came off, there was a band playing inside.

The old tavern looked like it would be a fairly wild place that night, and after Jonathan won $270 on the pokies, after an outlay of $1, we hit the road. We were back in the cabin and had the cricket on with Australia vs Sri Lanka.

I watched for a while, then continued with F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as The Ritz and Other Stories". I had gone to bed with three wickets down, and I wouldn't have missed much more action as heavy rain stopped proceedings.

We were up reasonably early to kick off the long drive home. We got our breakfast goods from the local Foodworks, which was advertised on the radio station, just after they played "Bang On" from the Propellerheads.

I drove the first leg, across the flat and then we switched over at Narranderra, before collecting our fruit, good as new, where we had left it the day before. We powered through to Gundagai where we stopped at a Chinese restaraunt, probably the only place open in town. They had some $10.50 lunch specials...there was not really any surprise that we were the only ones there, so the meals came in no time.

From there I was back in the drivers seat, and it was not all that long until we were back in the "big smoke" (in comparison to where we had been) of Canberra.

Some of those players we went to see, they've still got it, while others are a long, long way off being in their prime. When you think it's almost 20 years since some of them retired, it's pretty impressive they can still get out and play a match every now and then.

It was a lot of fun going to the match and seeing all the old heroes, it was also good to explore somewhere I had never been before.

Canberra Raiders- starting lineup, Round 1 2011

So for the next couple of weeks, as the trials go through, I will edit what I expect to be the starting lineup for Round 1 vs Sharks.

1. J. Dugan

2. B Ferguson

3. J Croker

4. J Thompson

5. D Vidot

6. J McCrone

7. M Orford

8. D Shillington

9. G Buttriss

10. B White

11. J Picker

12. B Harrison

13. A Tongue (c)

14. S Fensom

15. T Learoyd-Lahrs

16. B White

17. T Thurling

18. J Miller

19. R Robinson

20. S Williams

Raiders first Trial match- Bega Recreation Ground

I remember as a kid going to see the Raiders up against the Steelers in a Tooheys New Cup in Bega, it must have been in around 1992 or so, probably the first time I had seen the players in the flesh, a great experience, probably still one of my favourite footy experiences.

So I was pretty excited when late last year the Green Machine announced they would be playing again in Bega, after about 15 years out of town. The game before, I think it was a double header, Norths v Brisbane and Penrith took on somebody else. These matches didn't have that same local flavour of a Raiders v Steelers match though. That must have been about 1994 or 1995. Since then the ground was not considered up to scratch, but an injection of cash from the Federal government and the ground was getting an upgrade, enough of an upgrade to host the Raiders and the Storm.

I finished work on Friday night and the plan was to head down directly. We got off to a bit of a late start and didn't get on the road until about 8pm. The gang was myself, my wife and Jonathan, my usual Raiders-watching pal. The last league outing for this trio was a success, the finals match in Penrith, so I was hoping for more good times.

Once coming down Brown Mountain we were engulfed in a thick fog, so it was pretty slow going, we arrived fairly late at my parents' house and pretty well went straight to bed.

Jonathan and I had a bit of a ride around in the morning, I had Mum's pink bike, a very masculine look. We rode out to Tarraganda, then around the town. For the first time in a long time, the river had plenty of water in it, what has come to be a rare sight in Bega.

Once we got back from cycling around, it was time to head to the beach. We went out to Middle Beach, from the lookout there didn't seem to be a great amount of surf, but there were a few people out and they were catching some waves. We got down to the beach and it seemed to have increased in size.

The tide was getting lower and the sand was precariously close to where the waves were breaking, so there was always the worry if something went wrong, that you would get a face full of sound. Jonathan hadn't really been out in waves like this before, he was asking how to get right out the back. I told him it's just like the footy, you have to charge up and just try and break that advantage line, gain a little ground every time, and hopefully you will charge through eventually.

I got a few good waves, but most of my time was spent hoping to come up for air. My last wave was a nice late take off though, got up plenty of speed, and once finished decided it was time to head into shore.

We got home and got ready for the big match. We arrived for the 5pm kick off of the under 20s game, and the game was already on, even though it wasn't 5 yet. The Storm were already ahead, and they scored not long after. They continued to score, getting out to a 28-0 lead.

The little Raiders got on the board eventually, McIlwrick going over soon after arriving on the field, to bring it to 28-6. In the end it was 34-16.

There were some girls behind us, as Dad said, they "didn't represent Bega so well". We were sitting just behind the dead ball line at the Northern end of the field. They had some wise insights, such as "the Storm players are so much hotter than the Raiders in all grades". During the half time break there was a girl's Oztag match, one of the girls from the Bega Roosters team went over for a try after a nice chip and chase effort. "That bitch deleted me from Facebook cos I kept posting pictures of Storm players"...suddenly I liked the idea of this girl.

As part of the pre match entertainment a helicopter was going to bring in the trophy. In order for the chopper to land, everyone sitting in our position had to move on out. In a game that was pretty well sold out (crowd 6169), there weren't a lot of places to go, however we found a new spot, in line with the 10m line just around from where we were sitting previously.

I was amazed by the amount of purple in the crowd. Bega should be through and through Raiders territory. So I'm not sure if it was people travelling from Victoria, or that the silverware in the cupboards of the Storm (falsely earned) had attracted some more fans here in Southern NSW.

After the helicopter then came the official opening of the new facilities at the ground. Now did this ever go on. First was John Dixon, on behalf of the Aboriginal Land Council. He himself played many years for the Bega Roosters. I think he may have been captain coach at one stage. Following him were a variety of footy bosses, politicians and it seemed anyone who else who wanted a say.

The teams trained on the field. The Raiders were directly in front of us. My mum asked who the player to look out for would be. With Dugan, TLL, Tonguey, Campo, Orford and Joel Thompson all missing, I wasn't so sure who would be playing a starring role. I selected Shillington (16) and Brett White (10).

A while after the stated time, it was kick off. The Storm kicked things off, and the first period had pretty well the strongest lineup available of the 30 players each team used.

The Raiders started with a team of something like

1. Milne 2. Robinson 3. Croker 4. Stuart 5. Vidot 6. M Picker 7. McCrone 8. Tilse 9. Buttriss 10. White 11. J Picker 12. Harrison (c) 13. Fensom

While early signs were positive, the Raiders continued to drop the ball in attacking positions. The game was being played in three thirds of thirty minutes, just to show it really wasn't a real game. The first third had each team fielding pretty well first grade lineups. Melbourne looked like they usually do. Even though they were missing Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, they were still playing a very structured lineup, led by Garreth Widdop, the English fullback playing with the number 7 on his back. I think they plan to use him at five eighth for the year, after from Raider Brett Finch packed up and went to England, and I think he will flourish there.

Just towards the end of the first 30 mins, Brett White put on a huge hit on one of his old teammates, dislodging the ball and setting up a scrum in great field position. Josh McCrone back himself for a grubber but the ball went over the dead ball, it was followed by a flying McCrone sliding through after it, but he was a long way from the ball. Something that has been lacking in the Raiders game the last few years has been communication on kicking options, and it seemed there that no one else in the team had any idea about it.

The scores were locked on zero at the first break, the scorekeepers not bothered at all by either team. Within the first period of player there were a number of penalties against both teams for play the ball infringements. The refs keeping their promise to crack down on this area. In my opinion, there are worse things that need to be looked at, and this really bogs down the game, into a game filled with penalties.

Some of the younger players got their chance to impress in the second period, but it was Chase Stanley who was impressed, waltzing through a couple of big defensive holes to score the first two tries of the match. The Green Machine needed to get over the line in this third, and young Sam Williams sent the ball on to Croker who passed on to Vidot to charge over in the corner.

I'm sure young Croker would still be having nightmares about his last kick, the missed goal in the final against the Tigers, and this was not an easy kick to begin 2011. From directly on the sideline, in some muddy grass, pretty well in the dark. It was no surprise he missed.

That kick was no concern though really, Croker was by far the best player in Green. From watching that game I felt this is going to be the breakout year for the kid from Crookwell. After making the training squad for the Australian team last year, looks like he will be keen for some more recognition.

For the other backs, David Milne had some strong kick returns, but one particular howler dropping a towering bomb, he knocked that back, but then picking it up on the tryline, he dropped it forward. The Storm scored from the ensuing set.

Reece Robinson played strongly while he was on. He took a great take on a bomb, and for his troubles got tackled in the air by a Storm player, earning the Green Machine some more ground from the penalty. James Stuart was probably the worst of the backs. He got quite a few games last year when Joel Monaghan broke his thumb, and showed himself as a winger unable to score tries. In this game he mainly featured by dropping the ball or missing tackles. I didn't see much of Nathan Massey, a new signing for the under 20s, and Drury Low could have scored a late try but dropped the ball in open space.

From this slight description, you can imagine the frustration watching this game of the continuous dropped ball, particularly in attacking positions. The third period had the most inexperienced lineup on the field, it was the same for the Storm, many of them not even wearing a number, but they still held their structures. It seemed the Storm had a heavy off season getting into shape now that they are once again eligible for premiership points.

They scored a couple more tries in that last time period and the final score was 24-4. Of more interest to me was a text from Jonathan. "They're giving away food at the BBQ tent". I was there immediately. So at least that was some kind of score.

We walked back home, the lost wasn't so hard to fathom, it's only a trial, what does it count for. Eels fans had a different attitude after they beat the Tigers 30-10. According to them, trials show everything. The best part was that no one got injured. The Cowboys weren't so lucky, it seemed most of their new signings got injured during their trial up against the Broncos in Alice Springs.

A 3-2-1 for the Raiders:

3: Jarrod Croker- top game, will be a star this season

2: Brett White- showed he will be a very worthwhile investment and crunched a few of his old team mates.

1. Shaun Fensom- always seemed to be ready to take another run, make another tackle

Fantasy Football

With the League season approaching, I have selected my players for the fantasy season. I always seem to lose interest midway through the season, so maybe if I analyse my progress, it will be a different story.

This is the squad I have chosen- I'm going to list it as if it was an actual team

1. N Merrit (Souths)

2. L Burt (Parramatta)

3. A Glenn (Broncos)

4. J Thompson (Raiders)

5. J Nightingale (Dragons)

6. K Foran (Manly)

7. S Prince (Gold Coast)

8. D Shillington (Raiders)

9. K Kingston (Penrith)

10. N Friend (Gold Coast)

11. N Hindmarsh (Parramatta)

12. T Learoyd-Lars (Raiders)

13. C Parker (Broncos)

14. A Tongue (Raiders)

15. J Warera-Hargraves (Roosters)

16. N Fien (Dragons)

17. L Walsh (Penrith)

Reserves

D Kemp (Broncos)

B Ferguson (Raiders)

J Carney (Roosters)

C Walker (Eels)

W Graham (Sharks)

M Masoe (Roosters)

G Eastwood (Bulldogs)

S Mataora (Raiders)

Obviously, Nathan Friend isn't my first choice when I think of props, but the hookers often have the highest score. This is in the Daily Telegraph supercoach competition. When asked how many times a week do I read the DT, the answer was a big fat zero.

I am hoping to do a Raiders related post each week, starting from the trial match in Bega, my hometown, which is on Saturday week.

The final countdown

So, it what seemed like a far step from reality, the Raiders have charged into the NRL finals. Five wins in a row, 8 from 9 with just a loss to the illegal Storm outfit, the Raiders have gained momentum at the right time.

Sack the coach, sack the halfback. You don't hear these calls so much anymore. So this evening, we'll hit the highway bound for CUA Stadium in Penrith. The Canberra Times is full of Raiders articles this morning, a great way to begin the day. The question everyone wonders is will it be a '90 grand final repeat, or a '91.

For the Green Machine, a loss is an early exit. A win will be the first since 2000. Of all teams, they beat Penrith. These teams have a long history of various results. The teams are actually locked on the same win/loss against each other.

A loss for Penrith will see them playing again next week, possibly away from Sydney, and sombre times at Panthers after the match. For the Raiders, that would mean a home final next week and plenty of tooting horns heading back down the Hume.

So here's hoping for a Green Machine victory tonight. Looks like a lot of Raiders supporters will be congregating on the Southern Hill. See you there!

More of London

Raiders fans wave money at the cheats from Melbourne

I will continue my tales about my trip I took recently. I better finish it off before I go on another trip, it's just over a month before I head to San Francisco for the World Footbag Championships. I'll set the scene, we're at the Walkabout, one of those "Aussie pubs", it's 10:30am and the Green Machine are on TV.

We got away in time, and walked in to the pub right on kick off. There was an AFL game on the big screen (Geelong v Brisbane) and the Reds were playing Super 14 on the next screen with the commentary on. We sat behind a bloke in a Raiders jersey watching the silent screen. I went up to the bar and asked if we could get the sound on but he told me it couldn't be done. Soon enough he realised no one was watching the Reds, and switched the Green Machine on to the TV with sound. That was more like it.

So the Raiders lost to a team one million dollars over the salary cap. They were cheated by the video ref on three occasions against a bunch of cheats. Normally these would leave me disgruntled, possibly a pathetic mess for the rest of the day, but I didn't care. It was nice to be able to see the game at all, and we had more important business at hand, the table tennis table was back out.

I was on a hot run, I think I won five in a row, to add to my victory from a couple of nights before. As the beer went down though, so did my skills. It seemed like everyone else was coming back into the games. Suddenly the run was over. We had some burgers for lunch, they were absolutely enormous, it was awesome. The last game of table tennis, I finally had another win over Matthew, our new Raiders mate.

Some of his friends were watching the AFL game, one Cats fan, one Brisbane. One happy, one sad. Brisbane were absolutely pumped. Funnily enough both girls were from Geelong. They invited us to a picnic in the park, it sounded good. I had planned on going to Cambridge that afternoon to visit Matt Bailey, but the more beer I drunk, the further away Cambridge seemed, and the more likely missing my plane early the next morning seemed.

There was a bit of sun out, it was a nice day to just be hanging out in a park with some new friends. Matthew bought a soccerball, so we started kicking that around, whilst drinking more beer. I though this was a perfect way to finish up my time in England. Eventually the picnic came to an end. In that time, Dan said to our fellow picnicers that I may be the most famous person to come from our year in high school. I have been thinking about this in my head since that day, and all it makes me do is worry about the other people who were in that year. Once they left, Dan told me one of the girls seemed to be making moves on me, inching closer all the time, hanging on to every word I said. I honestly had no idea, but found it quite humorous.

After the picnic, we met some young guys who were kicking a ball around, they were pretty good, made us look like fools really, drunk fools, which was exactly what we were, though I had a couple of tricky moves up my sleeve, which never fail to impress. No matter how drunk I am.

We kept drinking, until I caught the bus to the airport. That was at 3am. What a ridiculously big day.

Raiders hold off Titans

Josh McCrone looks for the offload as Ned Kelly impersonator Brad Meyers tries to make the tackle. Photo from the SMH website.

Somehow, it's now Round 13 and today was only my third visit to Bruce Stadium. Canberra have only played a few games at home, and I have been away for a couple of them. A worrying statistic is that by Round 16, it will be just game 6 at home for the Green Machine.

Anyhow, I took a short walk through the forest, and I was at the game. I got there close to half time in the under 20s match, the Raiders had just taken the lead, then went in again soon after. Seemed like we were in for some entertainment. Half time changed things, Gold Coast went on a rampage. Defence was not the strongpoint, the young Raiders leaked numerous tries out of seemingly nothing. In the end, I think the final score was 54-26.

First grade started well, Josh Dugan scored a try in the first minute after Preston Campbell's kick off went out on the full. I thought it was a sign of things to come, I was hoping for a big Raiders victory, to add to the 136 points that the Titans conceded in the previous three games at Canberra Stadium.

Gold Coast were soon back on the board, but that was the end of their troubling of the scoreboard in the first half. 22-6, things were looking alright at halftime. The troubling thought was to look back at previous home form this year, and things were not looking so positive. They needed something immediate in the second half. Vidot over in the first minute, no worries, 50 points here we come. That's what I was thinking, then something went wrong.

This was before Dugan limped off the field, that really spelt trouble for the Raiders. Having a bench full of forwards was a real trouble here. The Raiders seem to show so regularly that they don't have the fitness expected of a senior NRL team.

Once Dugan was off, the structure was basically unknown. Joel Monaghan and Daniel Vidot seemed to share the fullback duties, Travis Waddell came on as a back up hooker, but original dummy half Glen Buttriss stayed on the field. It seemed as if the Raiders were missing a couple of players, as the Titans carved through some easy tries.

The Raiders got took a penalty goal, which should have used some time, put the Raiders on the front foot, but a mistake at the kick off meant a line drop out. The Raiders were looking more and more fatigued, hoping that the clock would run down, whilst the Titans ran faster and harder at the line. Monaghan took a catch in goal, suddenly he was looking keen. He ran out to the 20m line for the tap, but nobody else ran out with him. One at a time, a Raider move things a bit further forward.

Right towards the end, the Titans were powering for the line, but Mark Minichello went for the glory, when he had support next to him. He was tackled, last tackle changeover. Trevor Thurling took the final run. He was tackled, the siren went, the Raiders players fell down or lay on the grass. The Titans however, looked as if they could play another game. Unfortunately for them, that was their first loss in a row. For the Raiders, it was a much needed victory. Final score 28-24.

I'm not sure who was playing once Dugan hobbled from the field. This is the vague idea that I got of who was playing where

2. Monaghan

3. Croker

13. Thurling

4. J. Thompson

5. Vidot

6. Campese

7. McCrone

16. T. Thompson

14. Waddell

17. Logan

15. Picker

12. Harrison

9. Buttriss

8. Tilse

10. Shillington

11. Learoyd-Lahrs

1. Dugan

As NSW fans may remember, playing players out of position is not really a great idea. The fact that Glen Buttriss played 80 minutes seems to make the selection of Travis Waddell on the bench unnecessary. I think 18th man Adam Mogg may have been a better selection. With the fact that Joel Thompson is playing in the outside backs, there's already another forward ready.

Too late for that now, but there is likely to be a couple of changes made next week. If TLL and Shillington return to the Origin arena, there will be two places open, while Josh Dugan may not be back next week. Troy Thompson had another great game, he was probably the pick of the props.

Next week is the long trip to Townsville, hopefully the Green Machine can come away with two more points. The away form has been strangely good this year. So much so there was a sign at the game: THINK AWAY THOUGHTS RAIDERS

The Green Machine

I may have written in here somewhere that I started studying my Masters. It's in Writing, all done online through Swinburne University in Melbourne, through the Open University system. I'm really enjoying it so far. I got some marks back today, the first so far, I managed to get 80% overall for this particular subject, and for my major writing piece, 85%, which is a high distinction. Not a bad start, especially compared to the way I started my undergraduate degree.

I'm just going to post the whole thing as I handed it in. In the next few days I'm going to edit it and add in some classic Green Machine pictures, which will all come from Google Images. So here's the piece of writing.

This piece of writing is going to chronicle my time following the Canberra Raiders. Canberra Raiders are a rugby league team based in Canberra. The idea of this story is not particularly new, Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch runs along the same lines, about his devotion to the English Premier League team Arsenal. This will be a personal reflection, a look back and an understanding of why something has captivated me for 20 years now.

Let's go back in time a little while. It's 1990, my pop is down visiting us in Bega. He is watching the TV, the Balmain Tigers are up against the Canberra Raiders. I must be about 5 or 6 years old. Pop is a hardened Tigers man, having been the principal at Ibrox Park High School in Leichardt, where Balmain captain Wayne Pearce went to school.

I should add a note here that the previous year's grand final is still regarded to as the greatest grand final of all time. The Tigers take a half time lead, yet the “Green Machine” as they are known claw back into the game. John “Chicka”Ferguson scores right on full time to take the game into extra time. In extra time, reserve forward Steve Jackson, wearing number 20, takes the ball fifteeen metres out from the line. He was a late addition to the team and had never scored a first grade try before. He bumped off a couple of defenders and kept charging for the line. He bumped off a couple more, nearly there. He reached out, letting a few more defenders slip off him and planted the ball over the line. Try! Raiders win. In my extended family there are many Tigers fans, they cringe at every mention of the 89 Grand Final.

So the game my Pop and I are watching is the grand final replay. I only choose the Raiders because Pop is going for the other team, but they go on to win the game. Not only do they win the game, but also the premiership. I think I'm on to a good thing here, as well as the fact they are the closest team to Bega.

The next year my cousin Tom started to really get into the footy too. It was a similar situation, we were watching the Raiders play the Panthers, the beaten grand finalists from the previous year. As I was such a keen supporter of one team, he backed the other. They went on to win the 1991 Grand Final. Later that year the Raiders were caught for extensive salary cap breaches, not quite to the level of the Melbourne Storm over the last five years, but it meant they had to shed a number of players, they were not a force to be reckoned with in 1992.

1992 though was the first time I went to a game. The league was the NSWRL at the time, Canberra and Illawarra had been two of the first teams to be based outside of Sydney, both entering in 1982. By the time I was following the game Brisbane, Newcastle and the Gold Coast had joined the competition.

This game I went to was with my cousin, my uncle and my Dad. Where else would we head to but Penrith football stadium. Walking into the Panthers club in my Raiders jersey, the lady at reception said “I don't know if I'd wear that in here”. I was slightly concerned about a wild Penrith man coming and beating me up. After playing aqua golf badly, we went over to see the game. It was a close match, but Penrith won in the end. In the late stages of the game Steve Walters threw a pass which was ruled forward, the centre was away unmarked. I couldn't believe it. “That pass wasn't forward, it was flat”. I cried and my cousin gloated in his victory.

Neither team featured in the Grand Final that year, 1992 and 1993 both involved Brisbane and the Dragons, with Brisbane winning both games. 1993 was the year all fans were hanging out to see a Brisbane vs Canberra grand final, they were the two best teams of the early 90s. Unfortunately for the Green Machine, star player Ricky Stuart broke his leg just before the finals. Even though they still had a number of stars still playing, they went out in the early days of the finals. The North Sydney Bears were one of the real leaders each year during the regular season, however once the finals came around, it was a different story. Their team was full of stars, but simply could not play once the finals came around.

In the preseason in the early 90s there was the “Tooheys New Cup”. It was a knockout competition played in regional areas. A few times these matches came to Bega. My favourite was when the Raiders and the Illawarra Steelers came to town. These were the two closest teams, so most kids in the area went for one of the other. Not only the kids, but the grown ups on the hill drinking beer as well. Unlike many matches of that era, I have no idea what the score was, who won, or when it was, however it is one of my favourite rugby league memories.

In 1994, I went to another game. My uncle Tony took me to see Canberra play North Sydney at North Sydney oval. This time the Green Machine powered to victory. They continued this powering all year, winning the competition. Mal Meninga scored the final try in a big win. This was “Big Mal”'s final match in the competition. The next year the competition name was changed from the NSWRL to the ARL, a national competition.

The next few years the Raiders were still contenders, but couldn't quite make it to the top echelon again. The Super League war came and went. This was a major controversy in Rugby League, losing many supporters. The 1997 competition had two separate competitions, the Super League, which the Green Machine were involved in. When reading about it before it happened, I liked the idea, and I think the main reason for my support for this competition was that Canberra was always involved, there was no plans to cull them from the competition.

I was in high school by that time, I wasn't as obsessive into the football. I had played a season of league for the Bega Roosters, our team was one of the worst in the competition. I played most of my year on the wing, that's where they play the worst players at that level. I had played the year before in the school team. I ended up in the seconds team there, for some reason starting as a front row forward. We were still playing up against the top teams, so I would regularly find myself smashed down and bleeding. Playing for the Roosters, we endured thrashing after thrashing. The only teams we could compete with were Cooma and Cobargo, who were just as bad as us. The distances we needed to travel were quite staggering. Pretty well two hours in any direction, the Group 16 competition ran from Eden to Batemans Bay and up to Cooma. Two hours for a thrashing got a bit old, and I didn't get on well with my other team mates. I was not interested in turning up the next year.

Throughout high school I kept an eye on the Raiders, but didn't have the obsessive passion. They were still “my team”. There was no interest in following another team. However, once the Raiders were bumped out from the finals again, you had to choose someone else to support in the big game, the Grand Final. I remember enjoying Jamie Ainscough conceded a penalty try for the Melbourne Storm to win in only their second year.

The next few years provided grand finals featuring teams I didn't really care about at all, and the Raiders would generally scrape through in the back end of the top eight, then lose in the first round of the finals. Mal Meninga, the great man, came in for a stint as coach, which was not a particular success. He has now taken Queensland to a record four State of Origin series in a row.

In 2002, there was another salary cap scandal, this time at the Bulldogs. They were effectively thrown out of the competition that year, the Green Machine snuck into the finals. 2003 the Raiders were a big surprise packet, they were leading the competition for the first ten rounds. I was living in Sydney at the time and went to see them play the Roosters. It was a close game, the first time I'd been to the Sydney Football Stadium. You could hear some of the bone crunching tackles from the stands. Unfortunately it was not the day for the Raiders, from memory the score was 16-14.

It was a strong year for the Raiders, getting into the finals. Their semi final match was up against the Auckland Warriors. New Zealand hero Stacey Jones slotted a field goal to seal the match.

The next year I moved to Canberra, I thought I would be heading to games regularly, but I really didn't get there as much as I would've liked due to my poor student budgeting. I did see the rematch against the Warriors though. From high up in the grandstands with a mean hangover, I joined the crowd in a collective sigh when Stacey Jones kicked a field goal to put the Warriors up 29-28 with five minutes remaining. Clinton Schifcoske saved the day though, a field goal right on full time, another into the golden point extra time, game over, Raiders win.

Over the next few years I went to games every now and then. The Raiders were a team of has beens and never weres, the star player was Jason Smith, a mid-30s chain smoker, who put in some surprisingly wily kicks for someone who could not run at all.

In 2007 I moved to Melbourne. Before leaving I had seen the round one match against Manly in Manly, the Raiders were thrashed. The year ahead did not look good. As they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. It was hard to even see a game on tv. I took to going to a seedy “sportsmans bar” next door to a strip joint. Whilst the AFL played on the big screen, the NRL matches would get a run on the tiny screens around the corner with no sound. Maybe once a year the Green Machine would get a run on free to air TV. In Melbourne these games would not even show until 3am.

The next year I was back in Canberra. I was keen to go to the matches, but didn't always have the cash. I was living just down the road from the stadium, so I would wander up every now and then to check out a match. I ended up seeing a few games where the Green Machine piled on the points. They broke 50 against the Gold Coast, then absolutely smacked the Panthers 74-12 in icy conditions. The Raiders put on a strong run, even though their star player Todd Carney was sacked after 31 various alcohol related indiscretions. The run to the finals ended in the first week, a terrible injury toll saw them wiped out by Cronulla.

The under 20s competition was still running though, and the Raiders had made it through to the Grand Final. I went with my friend who is a keen Manly supporter. The Raiders beat the Broncos in extra time and Manly thrashed Melbourne 40-0. It turns out that Melbourne squad was well and truly over the salary cap.

Last year I joined to be a member, this year I have renewed it. The ticket prices for one game are so expensive, it makes sense to be a member. Most of the players from the under 20 premiership are now in first grade, some are taking steps to the representative levels already. The Raiders are in the bottom half of the competition at the moment, but are filled with the potential. Watching them still has me just as excited as when I was six years old.

In Memory Of

This photo is from a couple of years back. Todd Carney (#7) kicks a field goal to seal the game for the Raiders in the early rounds of 2008. Another loss in Canberra for the Dragons, who you see walking back dejectedly.

Times have changed. At the time Todd Carney was the golden boy, however already then he had problems. There might have been twenty separate alcohol related incidents at the time. By the time of his sacking from the Canberra Raiders, there were 31. That's really a lot. Especially considering they included a high speed car chase (the loser there was Steve Irwin- not the crocodile hunter, but the substandard player who had his contract torn up).

The final straw came mid 2008, Carney was accused of urinating on a man's face. A friend of Dan Tilse. The charges were later dropped, however, that's not the kind of story you just make. Sure, it would be a lot of hassle, and of course, nothing would happen in the courts, so the man may have made the right decision.

This was at All Bar Nun. Sydney media portrayed it as "a hot Canberra nightspot". It's a pub, it closes at 12 most nights. It's not that exciting. It is however, where I'm going to go watch the match tonight. It's not that far from home, and what better place to watch the Raiders take on Carney and his new mates at the Sydney Roosters.

The papers have been full of Todd Carney talk all week, and he's going to have to play well after all the media focus. The other focus has been on the Roosters illegally courting Raiders custodian Josh Dugan.

As it's the Raiders, nothing will happen. Nobody will care. The same rules don't apply when dealing with the Raiders. Just look at Joel Reddy's suspension. One week for elbowing Terry Campese in the face.

If the Green Machine can get a win here, they will be two away wins in a row and they should get into the top 8. A win will show they really are contenders, not pretenders. Tackling machine Sean Fensom is out, he has been replaced by human cannonball Josh Miller.

Raiders vs Eels- Monday night football preview

Last year some incorrect ref calls cost the Green Machine heavily at Parramatta Stadium, which has not been a happy travel ground in recent years. With only 2 away wins last year, there aren't a lot to choose from.

A few years back the Raiders team was full of players that were playing in the reserves for Parra, but gained some success with the Green Machine. Schifcoske, Mogg, Ian Hindmarsh, Brad Drew just to name a few. Mogg was subpar in his return from the ESL, maybe his former club will spark him up a bit more. Bring back the form that has him averaging 1.5 tries per match for Queensland.

Both teams have got off to a sluggish start to the year. Although the Eels made the grand final last year, about 10 weeks out they were actually the worst team in the entire competition.

Josh McCrone would be under immense pressure this week. He, as well as the other main option at halfback Marc Herbert get tackled with the ball far too much. Last week against the Tigers, McCrone did not actually put in a kick. An impressive feat for a halfback.

The Raiders really need to turn up in the second half, whilst the sixteen other players apart from Hayne need to put up their hand for the Eels. The fullback battle between Josh Dugan and Hayne will be interesting to watch. Hayne has been caught out defensively quite a lot of times, look for some strong ball running from Terry Campese.

I hope to see another massive game from David Shillington this week. He had a huge match, even though the team lost. His best game in green. If he continues with that form he will be a rep player for a reason.

I think the Raiders have this one in a high scoring encounter. 34-22. JT two try hero. Fensom 50 tackles.

I will be watching the match at Belco labour club.

You really dropped the ball on that one

Raiders go down away from home

Part of quite an absolutely rubbish weekend involved listening to the Raiders lose to the Titans thanks to ABC Grandstand's live coverage from Skilled Stadium in Robina. From the sounds of it, the score should have been a lot more (Final score 24-4), but the defensive effort, especially that of Josh Dugan and Shaun Fensom was absoulutely massive. Fensom was expected to leave the field in the opening minutes after he was seeing stars, but was averaging close to a tackle a minute in the first half.

The Raiders were backing up on a short turnaround after the Monday night match against Brisbane, and were always going to struggle in the heat. The amount of dropped ball was simply not acceptable for a first grade side. I think there were 18 knock ons in the match from the Raiders, Troy Thompson responsbile for two huge mistakes. Unfortunately for the big bloke, that may have been his last game in green.

Somehow, after line dropouts again and again, the Green Machine were only down 8-0 at half time. It took right until the final minute for the Raiders to get on the board, thanks to a consolation try to Daniel Vidot in the corner.

The commentary team suggested the team should stick around in Queensland and all turn out for feeded team Souths Logan. They said the guys playing in the reserves couldn't be any worse. They were probably right. The attacking options were simply terrible all round.

Adam Mogg, who played two games for Queensland for 3 tries has returned to the Canberra fold, and will provide valuable experience. Enforcer Tom Learoyd-Lahrs should also make his return to the squad. Travis Waddell has a broken jaw thanks to a high tackle that did not receive a penalty.

The Easter weekend brings the Tigers at home, which is usually a good game. I will be away competing at the Australian Footbag Championships, so won't get to go to the game. Hopefully there will be a number of changes in the lineup.

My team would be

J Dugan, D Vidot, J Croker, A Mogg, D Milne, T Campese, M Herbert, D Tilse, G Buttriss, S Logan, B Harrison, S Fensom, A Tongue. TLL, T Thurling, D Shillington, J Thompson