After watching almost six straight hours of Kerry O'Brien and Antony Green in one of the most riveting federal election coverages I have ever witnessed, I thought my weekend couldn't getting any more bizarre and unpredictable.
But then along came Melbourne Victory's match against North Queensland Fury.
For the second week in a row, the powers that be at FFA headquarters decided they would continue their new refereeing experiment - that is to send an incompetent referee to Melbourne just for the hell of it. I thought we couldn't do much worse than Gerard Parson last week, but I am pretty sure we won't be seeing much more of Chris Boyle after his efforts at AAMI Park on Sunday.
His decision to firstly send off Fury midfielder Chris Grossman after bringing down our own Robbie Kruse for a penalty was truly mind-boggling. Yes it was a foul and thus a penalty but it was hardly the stuff worthy of a red card.
Next up was his decision to hand out some yellow cards for what he deemed simulation by both Kruse and Dugandzic and waved away their penalty claims. In both instances there was definite contact by the Fury players, but whether they were either dives or penalties was hardly clear-cut and a simply play on could have sufficed if he didn't believe that it wasn't a foul.
Finally, then came his decision to award Fury a penalty in the dying moments of the match for a bit of push and shove in the penalty area. If you are going to award a penalty for that kind of interaction then you are going to have to award a penalty every time a corner is taken in this country. And don't get me started on the Eric Akoto sending off.
It is rare that one wishes for Matthew Breeze to referee one of your matches but after the performances of both Parsons and Boyle I wouldn't have minded having him in charge for the last two weeks.
Also for the second week in a row, we also saw a Michael Petkovic blunder which cost us an easy goal and again gave the advantage to the visiting team. And again it was right in front of my nose. After being blessed with 'keepers such as Theoklitos and Langerak, the Melbourne Victory faithful are particularly tough task masters when it comes to the men between the posts. and as Glen Moss will attest to last season, once they lose faith in you, then it is a very hard thing to get back. Petkovic needs to be more authoritative in his area and instil a confidence not only in his defence but also those who stand behind the goal he protects.
So whilst two points from three games is not exactly the greatest start to a season, there are a few positives from which we Victory fans can take heart. The form of Mate Dugandzic has been electric so far and again he was one of the standouts against Fury. Another positive was what appeared to be the improved physical performance of Carlos Hernandez who looked much improved on his previous two performances. It was also pleasing to see the return of Robbie Kruse, and whilst I would never regard him as an out and out striker, we will just to have to make do until the debut of Ricardinho and the return of Archie Thompson.
So it's now time to head north for an all-important clash against the crowd-capped Gold Coast United. At this stage of the season, anything but three points could leave us lagging in the chase for the title.
