Let me get these platitudes out of the way first. To the Central Coast Mariners, congratulations on pushing us the hardest we have been pushed this season. You were a worthy opponent and tactically you were set up to nullify our game and it worked for the majority of the contest. Zwaanswijk was immense and so was your young keeper Matt Ryan who continually rebuffed out incursions on your goal. I thank you for helping give me one of the best nights in my life.
YOU LITTLE BEAUTY.
Everything about the grand final was awesome. Now just a little note before reading the rest of the blog, I am discussing the game without the aid of watching the replay yet, so most of my ramblings are based on emotion and the sincerest happiness.
The basic 90 minutes of nil all agony. It's a cliché but I think it rings true in this occasion. There was enough tension and open play of that initial 90 minutes to rival the enjoyment of a game involving several goals. It's not like both teams were knocking the ball around lulling the other team and the crowd to sleep, it involved the Roar taking the bulk of the possession and the Mariners trying to hit them on the counter, a tactic Arnie had employed in earlier encounters with the Roar, and let's face it, it was kind of working again. As Ange has stated over and over again, his team will not change its style of play, the Roar will attack you for 90 minutes and beyond (they will find this out later). Ange has stood behind his ethos all season, and once the rise of the Roar was discovered after watching them early on in the season teams knew how Brisbane were going to play. Now the only problem was stopping it. A feat only 1 team managed in the entire campaign, and that team sacked its coach. I defy anyone to say that the first 90 minutes were "boring". The Roar had their chances, as they usually do, and the Mariners had theirs. Never the less we went into extra time with goose eggs on the scoreboard.
The first period of extra time could only be explained as the worst time I have ever had watching a Brisbane Roar game live. That's including the exploits of last year, because this time around they made me believe, they got my hopes up and made me think we would win only for Kwasnik to tap the ball in and a second goal shocked me so much that I went catatonic. I watched as the Mariners ran to their bench and celebrated as that was the nail in the coffin, and at that point I felt like it was a nail into my frontal lobe as a head ache dawned on me the likes that has never been felt before.
I remained in my catatonic state, with permanent frown on my face as the doom descended around Suncorp. I watched as people started leaving the stadium, but I am a devout supporter, I will never turn my back on my team, I am there till the final whistle. Then Ricky knocked in a goal, and we celebrated (not over elaborately), we were 2 nil down with less than 5 minutes remaining, and now there was a glimmer of hope. We beckoned the boys to get the ball back quickly, hope was ignited and while there is time on the clock there is hope. The rest is kind of a blur. I remember getting the corner; I remember the crowd raising to fever pitch the likes has never been heard before at Suncorp as we were preparing to take the corner. This was our last chance. Then Erik the big blonde beautiful Viking struck the ball into the net with his head and Suncorp was elevated. 2 months ago Suncorp was below water; right now we could have walked on water. No restart, to penalties we go.
After the game I looked at the Tweets on my find and in a post grand final retrospective glow had to laugh at a couple of tweets, at least one or two by an eponymous 442 alumni, who hailed the Mariners as victors and commiserated to the Roar on how this lose may tarnish their extra ordinary season.
I had a feeling as penalties approached that we would win, with Theo between the goals, his experience would get us over the line. He was unlucky not to save Hutchinson's attempt as the Roar players all coolly dispatched their penalties, despite the news that they had not practiced penalties in the lead up to the grand final. McBreen stepped up, and I said he would miss because he's shite at pens. Theo saved and gave him a gobful because McBreen was mouthing off at Theo during the game when the Mariners were up....ahem...KARMA. Theo again stops Bojic, and up steps little Ricky, who gave us hope, who since he has come back from a broken arm has made telling cameos from the Roar bench, often scoring and adding some zip. He walked in......he stuttered.....BLISS. Ricky gave us his heart as the players celebrated and the crowd went bezerk, 49000 (people who were left in the stadium) all sharing this moment and coming together as one. I later heard stories of people on the bus on the way home getting texts and absolutely hating themselves for leaving early, well that's what you get. The Roar had repaid my faith in them, they had repaid me for being a member all these years without reward, and they embraced the community that had embraced them. They rewarded all the people who showed up to make this one of the most, if not the most memorable grand finals in history capping one of the best seasons in history.
I later found out that Bozza had promised to shave his head and go on a nudie run around the stadium if anyone picked the score. Slater did, so it seems after all the controversy Brisbane did end up getting Bozza's head shaved, not for the goal celebration that SHOULD have, but for the score that will. Last I heard he was trying to organise the nudie run, but I think maybe he should leave that alone in the interest of good taste.
Despite the manner in which the Mariner have been defeated on this occasion on grand final night, no one can deny the Roar their victory and their claims to the premiership as we have truly been the best team all year and deserve to be recognised as such. As much as the stats and the records and the trophies will be there to recognise our reign I would like to think that more than anything our team will be remembered for the way we played football, and the fact that we kept going in the face of everything that was put in front of us even if it is flood.
Never give up on the Roar, because they will never give up on you.
We never give up, because we are Brisbane
