the man who almost wrecked my season Have you ever tried to heavy squat the day after playing back to back league games? Not recommended. I packed it in after the second set. I suppose the important thing here is that I finally got cleared play. The last time I took a league field in any (semi) official capacity was for the Richmond Bulldogs and that was 5 seasons ago. Why after the extended lay off did I need a release from the NZRL, did playing one season (the extent of my on field experience) of club footy for a lets, be honest, an absolute shambles of a team from an organizational standpoint justify my being eternally contracted to New Zealand rugby league? Thanks to Karmichael Hunt, yes.
The offender in question after two years of playing in Australia decided he was Australian (he's a Kiwi), hey if he wants to change national allegiance more power to him, the option was there and that's his prerogative (to be fair I think he's played all his league in Australia). I for one would have done differently, but that's just me. He went on to play a part in many successful Queensland and Australian sides and also lost in the world cup with Australia last year. You can't win them all eh. Karmichael is a talented player and the Kiwi's fearing a loss of other potential greats have instituted a rule precluding any players who have ever played in NZ from playing for Australia ever again by requiring said players to sign a contract pledging their loyalty to the NZRL the alternative being non-eligibility to play in Australia.
The details of the process of being cleared are complex beyond comprehensibility my current club manager for the Runaway Bay Seagulls showed me a schematic detailing each step of which there were about a million. All I could think of is: haven't these people heard of the internet? The bulk of the communications relied on faxing. Faxing? Did technology somehow freeze in the late 1980's for these people? Well through much pleading and excess expenditure of my mobile telephone credit I managed to circumvent the Karmichael Hunt rule. Finally I played yesterday. All is forgiven NZRL.
Played one game for the reserve team. We tied 16-16 with the Ormeau someone-or-rathers. Our team suffered from poor completion rates. Is it really that hard to catch a ball that's lollipopped into your lap? Come on boys! Played another with the Seniors after (I think my entire game time for the day must have been around 80 minutes). This one we lost by a converted try and an inability to retain the football once again. If you want to win you've got to respect the ball. Balls are quite dignified so I pay them their due reverence. Ahem. On a personal note my offence was almost up to its usual standards with my "the hardest man to tackle on the planet" moniker being justified once again. Damn I'm good. Then there was my D. The less said the better huh. Needs improvement.
Stats that matter:
No turn overs.
1 try. Only one? I'm just getting warmed up (coverage on the way soon).
Disclaimer: I bear no ill will to Karmichael, he's an awesome player. He'd be even better if he played for the Kiwis.
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