Thoughts

Winning and pressure does funny things. It can change you - for the better or the worse. And this weekend's game is about as much pressure as this team has ever felt. The reality is, if we win, we are one win away from taking out the league. It's a position I didn't think we'd find ourselves in after losing to Olympic, and it's a kinda odd feeling.

I was talking with Heath before the game last week and we were talking about how winning has it's down sides. It's great to win, and it's great to play well in doing so, but the pressure that it creates sometimes isn't a good thing.

The Stallions have never taken ourselves seriously. It's why we're called the Stallions. There was an Italian student that was in our team in the first year and we did it to take the piss. We've always taken the piss. In the early days (before kids and wives) there were fine sessions that would go on for literally hours. People would rack up $5-10 worth of fines a week for the stupid things they'd say (Hodges), do (Hodges) and any other things like bad throw-ins (Butch), turtles and twizzles (Jules), uniform fines (Rob) and the like. At the end of the year we'd have literally hundreds of dollars worth of fines which went towards a night on the booze (remember that night at Willie's flat on Bond St? Carnage), or in later years a dinner out.

As we've gotten older with more responsibilities after the game, the fine sessions dropped away, and perhaps with it our ability to laugh at ourselves. We've still managed to do it a bit with the pink headband but even that has gone walkabout this season! I think we've been pretty good this season being able to keep that sense of who we are with such a large number of new players. All the new boys that have come into the team have been up for a laugh and are happy to take the piss out of themselves which is what we want. Our team is essentially made up of people who enjoy getting out there for a run but can't be assed going to trainings. We play to win but we have to keep in mind that we play to have fun. I feel that the danger is that if we start to take ourselves too seriously then we start to lose that fun aspect.

Which brings me to this weeks game. I'm torn between doing what we've always done and asking who wants to start on the sideline and selecting the team based around that, or selecting what I think is the strongest line up. I had thought about saying that the key players should stay on the field for the whole game with everyone else rotating in and out but I'm not sure that that's in the spirit of the Stallions. One part of me obviously really wants to win, but another part of me says that it shouldn't be at the expense of what that Stallions are about.

I see my role in this team as more of an admin type role. I liaise with the club, I organise balls, gear, people and whatever, but as far as the coach/manager type stuff goes, it should be a team thing, especially when it comes to weekends like this one. So, I'm gonna leave it up to the team. Feel free to post your thoughts. I'd be interested to hear what you have to say, even if you say it anonymously. If you don't want to say anything then I'll take it that you'll be happy with whatever the team decides.

Sorry for the long email, we're just in uncharted territory here!