Roosters 06 - A Retrospective

Life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up

?with hope in my heart and a twinkle in my eye the 2006 season starts for the Roosters. Tempered enthusiasm; aware but wary of the ?rebuilding? sign hanging over the club - hope stirring in a heart atrophied after an average 2005 season - new recruits; the next ?big thing?; post-Fittler recovery; bring it on!

That's me in the corner

?foetal position, head in my hands. Star recruit failing to live up to prophesy of salvation ? Moses is not leading his people to safety. Old favourites tired and perplexed as positional shuffling resembles a manic game of chess on acid. A young hopeful (future of the Roosters) thrown in and dragged out of the limelight, eroding self-confidence with pin-pricks of doubt and empty promises.

That's me in the spotlight

?four straight losses. Headlines blaring from the smudged print where my sweaty fingers have clutched, as if trying to extract an answer from the very question itself - What is wrong with the Roosters ? the coach ? internal strife? Only questions, never answers?maybe next week.

Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you

?clinging to the eight by chewed fingernails and desperation ? can?t afford to slip further, don?t lose sight of the goal. Each rare win merely a cruel twist of hope ? ?maybe this is what?s needed to kick-start the season??

And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough?

no end in sight to the downhill spiral, positional pawns, overpaid and underperforming players; frustrated and disillusioned fans ? women and children to the lifeboats, the iceberg fast approaches.

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

?performances mirroring the antics of a Parisian cabaret act; take it on the road, do it at home, just watch the trapeze artist - we all like to see a tightrope act gone awry!

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions

?can?t and won?t make the trip down to Sydney each weekend to witness the slow and painful demise of what was a powerful and ferocious beast. One game attended in a season ? disgrace - forgive me Freddy, for I have sinned!

Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up

?can?t force my eyes from the screen, iridescent light burning holes in my iris just as the acts of folly and foul play sear my heart. Laughter is the best medicine and the half-back-cum hooker-cum five-eight, surrounded by his cohorts, provides the side splitting, slapstick comedy of the Keystone Cops and I am the healthiest supporter in the League.

Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed

?aargh! The only light in an otherwise dark and dank six months ? the big man England-bound without a last hoorah in the tri-colours ? Moooorley?Moooorley!

What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around

?mathematical possibility ? the phrase an insult to the true contenders, cruel words mocking the inevitable and deserved fall from grace, words providing no safety net for the flightless bird?s spiraling death dive.

Now I've said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

?were you there? Did you turn up? Lost in a flurry of blue and red - players like spinning tops - damsels in distress with no Galahad in sight. A performance of atrocious statistics - embarrassing to watch and a long train trip home on the Newcastle line to top it off after, being beaten like a wayward child by the one-man team.

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream.

?the end of all mathematical equations - thank god, I was always better at the arts. The season gone accompanied by the death knell sigh of a fifteen year old mutt with no hearing, no eyesight and a broken hip. Thank goodness the misery is over and I can now get on with enjoying the football again!