NRL Almanac – On the edge of a (nerdy) dream

We watch rugby league through many prisms. At a base level comes that of the footy fan, complete with an appreciation of good quality play; a mockery of cowardice and stupidity; an unyielding hope that your side will see premiership glory soon. Occasionally, wallets will enter the fray and a multitude of possible financial outcomes arising from the match add a further layer to the viewing experience. Dollar signs, however, are not the only sets of numbers that may be whizzing through the mind of a league fan in 80-minute intervals.

The prospect of reading an NRL Supercoach/ Dream Team-based article may send many eyes rolling into the back of heads at an alarming rate. The good news is that this column will be about neither. The bad news is that by the end, you may wish that it had been.

Unsatisfied with the notion of having an online salary cap and watching everyone draft Corey Parker, ten of us embarked on our own fantasy football journey in early March, 2006. The first (and undoubtedly most important) rule –a player can only be contracted to one team at a time. We allow a core group of players to be kept by each club from one year to the next; Greg Inglis may not be a one-club man in the NRL, but I’ll be damned if he’s ever going to line up against my Tuncurry T-Rexs. Nathan Hindmarsh will retire at the end of 2012 having played for only one club in both the NRL (Parramatta Eels) and the FFL (Otford Orangemen). And so it goes.

After six seasons of limited success (one losing Grand Final appearance being the highlight), the minor premiership cards fell my way in 2012. As a result, this match didn’t just act as the finale to Round 20 of the NRL; it also brought down the curtain on our FFL’s major semi-final. The winner would advance to our Grand Final in a fortnight, while the loser would get another bite at the cherry in next week’s Preliminary Final.

As a consequence, I was no longer merely a Cowboys fan tonight; I was overbearing tennis father-level aware of the exploits of Matthew Scott and Aaron Woods, of Kane Linnett and Dallas Johnson. Much like the anchor leg of a 4 x 100-metre relay team, it was left to these four men to bring home the bacon. With the match outcome delicately poised heading into Monday night, the outcome truly was placed in their hands.

Ordinarily, this would be the place to discuss the glorified game of touch football that was the first half; the dominance of Matthew Bowen; the physical toll the opening stanza inflicted, resulting in the tank registering 'empty' for many players in the final 20 minutes. But that would betray the statistical penchant of this column. Instead, I can happily report that the 'engine room' of Woods and Scott were fantastic, while Dallas Johnson almost reached the half century mark in defence. The upshot of all this was a hard-fought and narrow victory, complete with a pass to the Grand Final and a spot on the precipice of premiership glory.

Tonight’s combatants, along with footy fans of all persuasions, will have to wait for the first Sunday in October to find out who will reach the pinnacle. By contrast, I am only one week of favourable numbers away from premiership glory. Such is the benefit of watching rugby league through many prisms.

 

NORTH QUEENSLAND 29 (Tries: Glenn Hall, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Brent Tate, Anthony Mitchell, Gavin Cooper; Goals: Thurston 4/5; Field Goal: Bowen)

WESTS TIGERS 16 (Tries: Robbie Farah, Liam Fulton, Masada Iosefa; Goals: Marshall 2/3)

Venue: Dairy Farmers Stadium

Crowd: 12,357

Votes: 3- Matthew Bowen (NQ), 2- Liam Fulton (WS), 1- Brent Tate (NQ)