An Apathetic April

Much to the dismay of The Editor April is my favourite sporting month. NHL is in Stanley Cup mode, NBA is gearing towards playoff time, Champions league is nearing the finals stage and NRL is starting to get whiff of State of Origin about it. This all means there is less time for me to be a good boyfriend and more time spent watching my Foxtel IQ. It’s terrible to be a partner at this time especially when your significant other is obsessed with sports like I am…the only problem with April in 2012 is that the NBA and NHL have been so captivating – the NRL is very boring in comparison. Which brings us to the point of this article and the reason I haven’t written anything at all since the start of this month.

Let’s be honest…The NRL at this time of the season is always a bit boring. The ‘new car smell’ is starting to fade, the problems with your team are starting to look like they might hang around for the season and unless you are sitting top 4 of the ladder your squad has a got a hard slog to the finals. All of this breeds a disinterest and I myself have become victim to this fact. For the first 3-4 rounds I watched every game I could. Now it’s Round 8 and I’ve noticed that the last 3 rounds I only watched South’s games. Weird hey?

Obviously this became clear when I came to write an article and I noticed that I had nothing to say. Sure I could have written about Robert Lui’s suspension, James Tamou and his decision to play for the Kangaroos (Wait – who does he play for at club level again? All this fuss and I don’t even know) or even the ‘Gold Coast going Bankrupt Saga’. The problem was I wouldn’t be saying anything new or exciting that you hadn’t already read on any other website. So to remove this ‘sporting apathy’ I’ve decided to write an article that will get YOU and I both excited for what’s to come in 2012 for the NRL. Instead of talking about things that happened in the past, I’m going to peek into the future. Let’s see if we can help each other out starting off with:

State of Origin

Less than a month to go until State of Origin is here. First off let me say “I LOVE STATE OF ORIGIN TIME!” Who doesn’t? (No really – do you know anybody who doesn’t like it?) You can already feel it. For NSW it’s all about who will play 6/7 and for QLD its all about not stopping at  6 and making it 7 wins. Nothing beats coming home from work on a Wednesday night, grabbing a few beers, a pizza and sitting down with mates and screaming the three most commonly known SOO shout outs. I’ll now list them in order of appearance:

1. “HERE WE GO!!!” – normally said at the kick off as the attacking players runs towards the defensive line
2. “HIT’IM” – this one can be used in a fighting situation or for big defensive plays
3. Lastly (this one more recently) “seriously, Billy Slater” – normally said by both QLD and NSW fans because to one he is amazing, to the other he is deflating (i.e. see final try for Game 1 2011)

Of course I can’t get you excited about SOO without showing you my NSW line-up predictions…so here you go with no explanation why whatsoever:

1. Hayne
2. Coote
3. Jennings
4. J Morris
5. Uate
6. Carney
7. Wallace
8. J King
9. Ennis
10. Mannah
11. G Stewart
12. Scott
13. Gallen
14. L Lewis
15. Watmough
16. Gidley
17. Tolman

Interesting right? Well not as interesting as the…

Round 8 Matchups

Matchups this week include:

• St George Illawarra v Sydney Roosters
• Melbourne v Warriors
• Canterbury-Bankstown v Manly
• Brisbane v Gold Coast
• South Sydney v North Queensland
• Canberra v Cronulla
• Parramatta v Wests Tigers
• Newcastle v Penrith

How can you not be excited about watching games this Round when you consider they start on Wednesday?

Or when you take into account that the Tigers, Parra and Titans all need a serious victory to move out of the basement?

How can you be apathetic when Team Hasler 2.0 (Bulldogs) is taking on Team Hasler 1.0 (Manly) in what might be the game of the round on Friday night?

What about South’s taking on the Cowboys when both teams want to be considered legitimate this year?

How about Canberra trying to prove they can win without Dugan and Campese by beating the streaky Sharks?

If that didn’t work, what about the classic Anzac match between the Dragons and the Roosters?

There is a just a buffet of exciting games in that bunch. Although I’m saving the best for last with the Storm taking on the Warriors. Leading into my next point…

Those Lingering Questions

Melbourne is currently undefeated but their biggest test comes this weekend against the Warriors. This is because the Storm has a serious Warriors hoodoo. We witnessed it in the finals last year when the Storm lost a winnable game. Will that hoodoo be present this weekend? Can the Warriors be the first team to defeat the Storm in 2012? If they can’t then who can? When will Melbourne’s winning streak end?

Speaking of winning streaks (well for the moment anyway) how can you not be excited about Cronulla. They have a good combination of youth and experience but it all could come to a halt come SOO time when Gallen and potentially Carney will be gone for a few games. (Side note – Who would have thought that a team that included Jeff Robson and John Morris could be on a winning streak? Crazy!) The biggest question is when will they come back to earth and be the middle table team they are destined to be?

Sadly last week saw yet another end to Terry Campese’s season. I guess for most part that means Canberra will take their place in the basement with the Titans and the Eels for the season. Campese is such an integral part to the way the Raiders attack that I don’t see the team recovering from this. The only lingering question is why they continue to ride into the season on the back of 2 players (Dugan and Campese) who are constantly injured?

It’s funny but in writing this article I’ve actually made myself rather excited for what’s to come. Hopefully the next time I sit down to write an article my apathy will be replaced by a need to talk about the current explosive season. Only time will tell what the next round of footy can bring when you’re ‘On The Try Line’.