gardening, grub and a grand final
october 4, 2009
by the time most of you read this, i'll still be fast asleep.
Every game day, unless a rogue child strays into the bedroom, i wake up at 9am instead of the usual 7am. Sleep is really important to me prior to a game, and i don't treat finals football any differently. My set routine for a game starts the night before when i cook my famous spaghetti bolognese. The secret is in the bacon and barbecue sauce. While bonnie, my fiancee, is usually the chef of the house, i rule the gas knobs for the spag bol. Having the same meal is really important - it makes my body get that familiar feeling of readiness.
Onto my breakfast this morning, which will be the usual just right and two pieces of toast with vegemite (i love the new version but i'm not yet ready to start messing with my game-day routine). Then i've got a couple of hours before lunch to find ways to take my mind off the game. I'll probably crash on the lounge in the hope of finding something to watch to distract me but that almost never works, and almost subconsciously i'll find myself outside with the leaf blower in my hands, ipod blaring the album
the razor's edge by ac/dc, and i'm hunting for any leaf to move pointlessly from one side of the lawn to the other.
Then lunchtime comes and the routine is two ham-cheese-mayo-brown bread-no butter sandwiches (kind of like the two all beef patties). Heaps of water during the day and a continuous question in my head of trying to think of ways to sleep, which i never quite get around to. Before i know it, the time to grab the kit and head off to the stadium has come.
It's all about nerves. Trying to quieten down my nerves and focus on getting my body to be feeling as good as it can as i walk down the tunnel. My biggest fear is letting down my teammates during the game by being physically exhausted. And so my little routine based around food and relaxing is all part of being responsible.
I have the same routine because my nerves are the same for every nrl game i've played in 13 seasons - today's game is no exception. I've been asked a lot what a grand final win will mean. I don't think i have a very good answer or a particularly insightful one - for me it will mean that all the hard work, the awful training sessions, the really physical games, the pain of injury and the disappointment of 2001 will have been worth it. For me and the boys. While i still feel privileged to be a professional football player and have had the honour of wearing the green and gold and the sky blue, they are really more of an individual thing. The very special thing about a grand final win is because it's with a bunch of mates who have been together for a whole year. To say, "we did this." and even better with old warriors (luke) burt and (nathan) cayless standing next to me.
parramatta jesus once said that the best part of being a parramatta fan was being with other parramatta fans. Same for me - the best part of being a parra player is to hang with the other parra players. That's what a win today would mean to me. And not just for me either. A win today would mean a lot for those i'm closest to. My own personal team will be in the stands watching today. Bonnie, mum, sisters, in-laws and my kids. My brother ian has to work on his dairy farm and can't come to the game. A simple reminder of how hard some people have to work to earn a real living while i swan about in a fancy costume once a week.
But there is also a different bunch of 17 guys plus their coach that want to win today too. An awesome side, the storm. They never lack for leadership, and their momentum all comes from their tight forward pack. If they play for each other then they are hard to beat. Leaders all of them really. They set the standard and rarely crumble. Storm have been in a few grand finals, but i suppose on the other hand we've played so many ''grand final'' pressure games this year already - half the season was a ''lose and you're out'' mentality.
It's been an amazing year. I don't know if we'll win today or not. That's my nerves talking. But if we do win then i know it'll be for the best reasons. This season for parra has been about trust. We are not a really fancy team. We are not a particularly complicated team. We just trust each other, back each other up, try to beat each other to the workload, when someone makes a break, we all want to follow, when someone is tackling we all want to help, and i'm not sure it gets better than that.
Thanks, enjoy the game. Go parra, and see you afterwards back at the club. - hindy.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/...1254418751782.html?page=fullpage#contentswap1
