At Brookvale nothing changes...

Saturday sure was proof of that.

But before I get into that I'll mention the good bits.

Carolyn, Trent and Campbell were already waiting for us when we got to the hotel at Brookvale. Campbell was all smiles :) In fact, he was all smiles all the time during the time we saw him. Hmm, not sure why none of my photos reflect this.

After settling into the hotel, Anna and I went to get some drinks and munchies for the game. Well, drinks for the game. The munchies were actually packets of chips containing NRL Tazos!!! How embarrassing. I felt like I should be in the school yard as we excitedly opened our two packets of chips each to find out who we'd got. We even traded! Oh, what fun!

We kind of sat in our usual Brooky spot for the game - A little closer to the 50 metre line then usual but Rose, Heather, Sue, Luke and co. had already picked out the seats and waved us over so it was all good. I have to admit I spent a lot of the game (Game? What game?) having cuddles with Campbell. He was so good. He tried sleeping but the noise around was too much and he kept waking up. In the end the poor little guy only had about 30 minutes sleep the whole evening.

After the game we caught up with a few players caught up with Kiddy... Oh, and Matty Geyer. Poor Matty Geyer. He always apologies to us when they lose and this week was no exception.

We munched on Pizza for a late late supper - midnight - we called it a night. Sunday morning Carolyn, Trent and Campbell left for Batemans Bay whilst Emma, Anna and I flew back to Melbourne. We made it to Mascot just in time - 5 minutes to spare. Luckily we still had enough time to grab some Krispy Kremes before taking off. Got to get our priorities straight. The flight back was uneventful but the landing made up for it. So so BUMPY and the HARD brake at the end was extremely unsettling. I wondered if the pilot only just realise that the runway did actually end at some point? Anyway, we made it back safe and sound and as did the doughnuts.

Now for the not-so-good bit: Manly 34 Storm 12

What is it about that ground that makes the Storm Boys play like a bunch of pebos? True enough, Storm did have a bunch of big names out. Cam Smith, Dallas Johnson, Greg Inglis and Matty King were all out due to Origin and Billy Slater and Michael Crocker were out due to suspension. Those six names account for a hell of a lot of experience and talent in our team. However, if you look at the players who did play on Saturday it's not as if we are playing with a bunch of no-names. It was a time for them to stand up. Unfortunately no one really did. There were some OK individual performances but as a team they had nothing doing. It looked like they had no idea how to score and generally never looked close to doing so.

This week we are back home, at The Graveyard (Olympic Park), playing host to the Penrith Panthers. A close to full strength squad has been named - minus Billy (back next week) and Crocker - and it looks damn good on paper:

Starting team:
1. Greg Inglis
2. Matt Geyer
3. Matt King
4. Jake Webster
5. Steve Turner
6. Scott Hill
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Garret Crossman
9. Cam Smith
10. Brett White
11. David Kidwell
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson

Subs:
14. Ian Donnelly
15. Jeremy Smith
16. Antonio Kaufusi
17. Nathan Friend

Hopefully the boys will lift this week. I want to be number one again!