After another long, record-breaking heatwave, with bushfires still raging across three tinderbox states, the result of Friday night's football game in Adelaide must have seemed highly inconsequential to many Australians.

As it was, the heavens opened and the blessed rain came pouring down in buckets at Hindmarsh Stadium. Even the boys from Jim's Plumbing couldn't turn the taps off, at least not until the 93rd minute.

For Gold Coast United players, the soaking rain was a reminder of our long wet pre-season. A few other things looked oddly familiar too. The "Modern Solar" billboards, for starters. And the big "United We Stand" sign behind goals (thanks Red Army, but next time in yellow please).

Playing with ten men is also becoming far too familiar. I thought Rees deserved his red card, and young Zac Anderson (who made a brilliant debut) was very lucky not to join him for an early shower. Both incidents looked like "professional fouls" to me.

But that's the nature of the modern game, isn't it? As the last defender, you are expected to take out an opponent who will otherwise have a clear run at goal. The fans can boo and hiss, but the coach will give you a pat on the back.

And the proof is in the pudding: despite these two offences, Gold Coast went to the break nil-nil rather than two goals down.

Like it or not, in professional football, the result is what matters. Sad but true.

So I was disappointed but not really surprised to see Jason Culina publicly endorsing Thierry Henry's blatant handball against Ireland this week (link: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/jason-culina/i-have-to-hand-it-to-henry-258947).

"While it's devastating for Ireland," wrote Culina,"at the end of the day Henry set up the winner that got France into the World Cup and although it's something I don't like seeing, it's part of the game.

"When we're bombarded with this notion of 'fair play', it's hard to swallow incidents like this one. Having said that, Henry got away with it and now his country is playing in the World Cup.

"If you can get away it, why not?

"Had that happened to me," Culina continues, "I wouldn't have said anything in the heat of the moment and I probably wouldn't have said anything after the game either. It's something I wouldn't want to bring up and I'm sure Henry is embarrassed about it."

Well, at least he acknowledges that it's embarrassing. Like Henry, Jason is an ultra-competitive professional and he knows how the game works. FIFA and the French Football Federation are set to reap a multi-million-dollar windfall from the result.

Still, the comments sound strange coming from a guy who has turned his back on a bigger pay-cheque in Europe to come home and follow his dreams. If there's more to life than money, isn't there more to the game than winning?

Maybe I was exposed to too many phthalates (link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/17/2745230.htm) as a kid, but personally I've never had that win-at-all-costs mentality. That surely helps explain why I'm a poor man writing blogs instead of a rich bastard playing for Barcelona. It might also explain why I am getting frustrated with Miron's new defence-first tactics.

Whatever happened to the Gold Coast's special brand of Jogo Bonito, eh? Is this grinding, long-ball game the dream that Culina wants to pursue? Are we going to keep trapping the ball in the corner instead of going for the extra goal? Will it all be worthwhile if we can win the league?

Of course you can't complain about defensive tactics when you are a man down. But the truth is that Adelaide were running rings around us from the opening whistle, as Sydney did two weeks ago. Against Melbourne next week, we'll be missing Rees and Traore against Melbourne next week. So will Culina drop back again, or will Clive Palmer pull a big-name guest defender out of his pocket?

We'll have to wait and see. But meanwhile, Clive Palmer's pockets are getting a whole lot deeper. Resourcehouse Ltd, his new IPO listing on the HK Stock Exchange, is set to reap a cash windfall of up to $16 billion (link: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/wealth/20091116-clive-palmer-could-become-australia-s-richest-person-with-new-float.html). That will make Clive the wealthiest Australian by a very, very, very long way.

It's funny, you know. We've long been ripping metals out of the ground, selling them to China, and then buying them back as toys, tools and kitchenwares. Now Clive is ripping thermal coal out of central Queensland and shipping it to China. I'm sure the Australian government will reap some cash dividend from the deal, but I doubt you, me or my kids will ever see much of it.

More likely we'll just see more heatwaves and flooding deluges when that coal is burned. The irony is that Skilled Park itself could end up underwater (link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/14/2742769.htm). Meanwhile, the politicians who fast-tracked Clive's deal will loudly tell us what they are doing to combat global warming.

Oh well, what can you do? That's the modern game, isn't it?

Win at all costs! Get away with it if you can! And bugger the consequences... Right?