West Coast Eagles versus Brisbane Lions

I was invited to attend a dinner and football match this weekend - the West Coast Eagles versus Brisbane Lions. Even though I have no affiliation with either team the company, the meal and the match are too good to pass up. My former work colleague, Rob, invited me and I took Miky with me. She's not too keen on football but wanted to see what the meal was about.

Early at the ground

The Barry Cable Roo(m).


Tony Mac from 6PR with the Eagles' Daniel Kerr.

I thought that it was pretty fun when the meal to be served was lamb. Miky hates lamb. I've only eaten lamb on a few occasions since we were married. She did enjoy it though as there is a lot to be said for the way that it is cooked. Before the match started we filled in some betting forms - who would kick the first goal, leading team and lead at half time, winning team and margin at the conclusion of the game. As four people didn't show up to our table there were some additional forms that we made use of. My first pick was for the Eagles to win by 18 points and for my second I chose the Lions to win by three points.

Brisbane Lions warming up

Nic Naitanui (9) at the opening bounce.


Ash McGrath (L) and Jonathan Brown (C)

Early on in the match and the Lions didn't appear to have brought their kicking boots. They let a lot of goals go missing with their inaccurate kicking. David, sitting next to me, mentioned that "Jonathan Brown will be the difference between the two sides." I asked, "Would that be by one point or five points?"

Throughout the match Miky would make comments like, "Who was that kicked to?" which is exactly what the crowd and the commentators would have been saying. She reads the game quite well in fact. Maybe she's a closet football lover.

Jonathan Brown - The Brisbane Lions captain

Decent size crowd

Happy Eagles fans after a goal was scored.

Pensive Eagles supporters.

It was a pretty scrappy game with lots of turnovers by both sides. Skills were down somewhat on AFL standard and it wasn't too difficult to see why the Eagles were sitting in last place (16th) on the ladder and the Lions occupied 15th.


Tony Mac with Eagles president Mark Barnabas.

Close game during the third quarter

Happy Eagles fans.


Unhappy Eagles fan.


Very unhappy Eagles fan.

Back inside the room at the conclusion of the match where the winner of the $50 betting voucher for picking the winning margin was announced. I had already seen the winner as I was standing next to Tony Mac when they handed him the sheet - it had my name on it. The Lions had won by five points with the last kick of the game by Jonathan Brown and my pick by three points was the closest. Miky was able to take a photo of me.

Very happy $50 betting voucher winner

Betting voucher

Empty ground

West Coast Eagles versus Fremantle Dockers - Derby XXXI

Today I was lucky enough to have been invited to watch Derby XXXI between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers. Was a bit lucky to make it nearly on time as there were no trains running on the Armadale line as there was a body of someone who had died at the Carlisle station still on the tracks underneath a white blanket. Not sure what the story is because I can't find anything on the news. Police everywhere and TransPerth had to put replacement buses on. I don't think that I've ever been on such a crowded bus before. The game included a Captain's Club Luncheon in the Bill Walker Room prior to the match. There were guest speakers, a raffle and some nice food. Must have been some 300 people in for the lunch. Speakers included Michael Thompson, Sam Butler, Glen Jakovich, Andrew Strijk and Ian "Serge" Miller.

Took our seats after lunch and we were only six rows back from the fence on the northern wing. Not a bad spot really although we were in the Eagles Members area. Not that that stopped quite a few Dockers supporters getting in. I'd never attended a Derby match before so it was a bit of a buzz.

Good game for the first one and a half quarters then Freo dominated. After that is was a great game. I'd tipped the Dockers to win and was very pleased to see them playing to their potential. There were some big hits during the game and you could hear the bodies of men smacking together. I think that I got a few decent photos as well.

WCE vs Freo Dockers Photo Album on Facebook.

How To Embrass Yourself In Public And Get Away With It

I received an email newsletter from Essendon Football Club late Friday night. Of course, I didn't notice the date as it was in my inbox early on Saturday morning. The newsletter article stated that "Tonight's practice match against West Coast at Subiaco is a crucial test for the Bombers in the lead up to Round 1". The email came to my inbox at 10:35pm on Friday. So, with good reason I expected that the match would be on Saturday evening.

We had tea and then I had to chase around after the boy who is like an old woman when you want to go somewhere. You have to tell him to go to the toilet, brush his teeth, put some warm clothes on, bring a hat, etc, although not simultaneously. Finally we got out the door and drove to the train station. As we climbed the stairs to the platform I noticed the train coming. My ticket was taken care of but I had to purchase a ticket for the boy. I heard the notification, "Doors closing" just before I grabbed the ticket out of the machine but we managed to get on before they closed on us. Lucky.

It turned out that we were even luckier as we had caught an express train and there were only four stops until we arrived in the city and had to change trains. Some guy even asked me, "Are you going to the footy?" which seemed rather stupid as we had our Essendon gear on. He also wanted to know who was playing.

Didn't have to wait too long and managed to get to the ground a couple of minutes before bouncedown. I was more than a little surprised by the lack of supporters at the ground. Normally for a game between the West Coast Eagles and Essendon there are thousands of crazy people in attendance. And there are usually lots of Essendon supporters also.

Nobody. The ground was deserted. The doors to the stadium at Subiaco Oval were open - not much to stop any would-be terrorists. We walked in to see what was happening. The sprinklers were on and the ground was set up for an upcoming rugby match. And here was the boy and myself kitted up in our club colours all by ourselves. What a prize dill I felt like.

At least we managed to get home on the same train ticket and didn't have to pay twice.