Summer Is Just Not Cool

Like all young red-blooded Sydney boys I used to look forward to long hot summers of street cricket, trips to the beach and the absence of any school teacher supervision for at least six weeks. But, as I sadly grew older, I began to treat summer as somewhat of a necessary evil. It became the link between the end of one footy season and the start of another; but made tolerable by the presence of bikinis and New Year’s Eve. As a “respected family man” I now don’t notice women in abovementioned bikinis and I hit the hay at 11pm on December 31^st. Summer offers me nothing and to be fair I give little back in return. Put simply, I just plain hate it.

Every true NRL fan knows what I’m talking about and I’m getting sick and tired of watching the clock for four straight months while completing my futile mind games. You know the drill…

October: The season was draining, I drank too much at the GF and quite frankly I could do with a few weeks away from the stress of the punt. But in the back of my mind I know the Four Nations is on the horizon and I start doing my form. It is a month of content reflection.

November: The Four Nations is in full swing and I have recaptured my zest for the game. Trips interstate and overseas to watch the Kangaroos are all too common and I marvel at the talent of Benji and thank my lucky stars he is a Tiger. I laugh at the incompetence of the Poms, Frogs and Kumuls while chatting solemnly to my UK spy about the future of the game in the Old Dart. It is a wonderful time to be alive where I let my hair down and celebrate the greatest game of all without the stress that can cloud a finals series.

December: Reality hits in. I find myself making daily trips to the newsagent to ask when David Middleton’s annual will be available. The Mr Myagi lookalike at the counter points me in the direction of NW magazine and we go through this daily ritual until I walk home contently in mid-December with my annual and the RLW summer edition to boot. Mindless web surfing uncovers very little apart from the odd obscure signing and thankfully Nick Tedeschi’s and Steve Mascord’s weekly pieces. But alas it is not enough to satisfy me and I find myself chewing my Christmas turkey with a faraway look in my eye. The only comfort is seeing the same look in the eyes of my extended family as we discuss why Parramatta signed Reni Maitua and whether the Mark Riddell comeback is not just an early April Fool’s joke.

January: Things are getting desperate. The calendar seems to be moving backwards if anything. I feel like I’ve upset the warden and am spending 31 days in the hole. I am alive in body but dead in spirit – I truly am a Dead Man Walking minus Susan Sarandon’s shoulder to cry on. I know the players are back on the training paddock and the papers are starting to dedicate half the sports section to rugby league but I just don’t think I will make it. I have already mapped out my plans for the trials and opening five weeks of the season and I get the impression some of my friends are getting annoyed with me asking for confirmed numbers for a match on March 14. You do what you need to survive.

February: My spirits have lifted considerably. I’m only days away from my annual trek to Redfern. The All Star teams have been settled on and the Dragons are only a matter of weeks away from the Charity Shield-World Club Challenge doomsday double. I can smell hope in the air and I’m not the only one. Mates and rugby league tragics alike start calling me for the first time since October. I do the same. Heck, I even started to agree with Billy Harrigan’s back to basics refereeing policy. I must be in a good mood. This daily heats bounces off me like tacklers on Gareth Ellis. I don’t feel a thing and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The season starts at Redfern tomorrows and I’ll be posting my thoughts on a fortnightly basis. It may be an appreciation of the previous round of matches, a comment on a pressing issue or perhaps just a puff piece on an emerging star. Come to think of it, a full season preview may be in order on Monday week and for the punters amongst us, I may even throw up some prices. In the meantime, enjoy the All Stars clash.

 

Thanks to Bauer Griffin for the use of the photo.