Have you ever stumped your little toe on the corner of your bed? Or jammed it in a door? Hurts right? Hurts a lot!
Well, that is how the refs made me feel last week. Sharp, acute pain that floors you! Pain that wouldn't have happened if you just moved over 2cm. Pain that just shouldn’t have happened. Our boys stepped it up, gave all they had and were dead set ripped off, and the bruise is still there a week later.
I am watching Brisbane give it to Penrith last night... and we had them! Fair and square, everyone knows it! Except the score board! Well, I believe we won and no ref will tell me otherwise.
A lot of our tries against Brisbane reminded me of 2014. Strong on the line, and some with a little flare.
I’m hoping this heartbreak brings a little something to get our season rocking. A little more defense out wide and more of the 'big men' tries like the one Crichton snatched and things may be on the up.
The thing I liked the most about the loss was Sam's passion. We know he has love for the red and green but the anguish on his face and the pure passion for those lost points was heartwarming. He knows what it means, he understands his Members and I’m proud of the way he stood up.
While our wounds heal, can we use them and that pain as a propeller against Manly? They wear the same colour as Brisbane and we have a very similar dislike for them - so why not take it out on them?
And we are playing at the beautiful SFS! It’s a ground with many great memories for me.
Even though we lost there quite a bit as we were rebuilding. It was a place of fun, and where my passion flourished.
We saw players like Jovan Clark burn up the sideline with his pure speed, Ben Walker kick a field goal to finally beat the Roosters, and the 'Take Me Now' moment when we beat the Roosters with seconds to go with two field-length tries.
It also saw a Charity Shield in 2002 that had every chair filled with a red and green jersey and a crowd full of electricity that could have powered Sydney for a week.
Although we have been at ANZ for a while now, the SFS is still close to our hearts and is well and truly home for us tonight. We have lost more than we have won so far and winning this will even the scale.
We cannot let my NRL enemy Taupau get one on us! He wasn’t there for our last win against them and they will not want us to have two wins on them so this won't be an easy feat.
We haven't quite found our feet yet, but we have glimpses of brilliance every week. If we get a roll on we may prove to be a surprise package in the second half of the year.
Fingers, toes, eyes and ears crossed that we can overcome last week and show that dynamic structure we have. It is coming and I feel it will be sooner rather than later.
With representative footy coming we could open this season right up and I, for one, am looking forward to getting back into that winning feeling!
If anyone can do it it's us! Bring it!
Up the Mighty Rabbitohs!
Get tickets to tonight's clash with Manly!
