Defeating Phoenix 3-0 at the Cake Tin AND a FourFourTwo picture special of Pedj at the gym....now that's what I call fantasy football. (By the way Aidan, didn't you promise I could carry your tripod ?)

Yes, it's been another fantastic week for the Mariners : a memorable result and yet another clean sheet for young Matt Ryan.  We're sitting third with 3 (yes - THREE!! ) games in hand on Roar and Adelaide and I simply cannot remember when I last felt this positive about our prospects halfway through a season.

Even Andrew Dewhurst (bless his totally unbiased Kiwi heart) had to admit "The Mariners are playing a really attractive brand of football." In fact, according to Andrew and Fred de Jong, 'Harmony' is currently one of our most entertaining players (the afro helps).

Fred also has a bit of a theory why CCM have been doing so well lately.  Apparently, Arnie has been "imparting a lot of the learnings he got in Holland" and that's made an incredible difference to the team.

I think he's onto something there, because as Bozza noted, Arnie's working with "pretty much the same players" as we had last season. Yeah - it's pretty much the same players......if you don't include Ryan, Rose, Zwaanswijk, Griffiths, Bozanic, Amini and McBreen who make up more than half the starting line-up these days.

Is it just me, or are commentators missing something about The Mariners right now ?  They're a NEW team, with POSITIVE tactics and a CONFIDENT attitude.  If they were a caffeinated soft drink you'd be craving them all the time because they are "The Real Thing". Yet everywhere I turn, people are telling me to turn down the volume.

Last week Harps warned us not to get too excited about Amini because he was very young and now even the gaffer says we should curb our enthusiasm because the team are "not ready" to reach the level of the top two.  Give us a break, Arnie !  We've waited years to watch our beloved team play this well week after week and I for one refuse to put the parade on hold.

Mariners beating Wellington at the Cake Tin ?  As far as I'm concerned it was a minor miracle.  I was punching the air and annoying the cat with my Yellow Army scarf . I really believe we will look back and realise this was the moment when our season took a sharp turn upwards and never looked back.  I can get excited and I will - but don't expect commentators to rate us until we've won another six straight games.

If I hear one more comment on Fox Sports that we're "flying under the radar" I'll scream.  You call it flying under the radar, I call it being deliberately ignored.  So many journalists have spent the first half of the season dissecting (with ever-increasing tedium) the woes of Sydney that they're missing what's right in front of their noses : it's all happening up the F3. 

Hey, here's a little tip ! Next weekend why not grab yourself a soy chai latte and a sourdough from Bourke St Bakery and head on up to Gosford if you want to see some genuinely exciting football. You might even like to write about our "football renaissance" (yes, Coasties read books !)  Beats watching another dismal performance at the SFS, followed by some pointless soul-searching about where it all went wrong.

Yeah, I've written about this before, but I still believe there's a love-affair between Sydney FC and the commentators, sometimes to the detriment of other teams in NSW.  Alex Brosque only has to break a fingernail to get ten articles written about how it might psychologically affect his performance. Yes, Sydney are failing this season, it's sad and so are their crowd numbers - now move on! 

Because, despite Arnie's calls for caution and calm the Mariners are worth getting excited about - right now! Call me reckless but I'm throwing all my hopes into this season and I refuse to keep a cool head or put away the exclamation marks. 

What's the point in being a fan if you can't get carried away?  Bring on Victory (hope Kruse is back so we can see him whining again when he gets booked) and can't wait to hear Miron's crazy wild west analogies when we 'whup their hides.' (half-time : Marvin in a dance-off with Joel Porter.... to the music of "LAME")

Yes, The Mariners are "playing an attractive brand of football" right now - isn't it about time we got a bigger share of the limelight?