Year_of_the_Tiger
Well-known member
The tigers this year learnt to play grinding footy. We wrote them off (you all did at some time) and yet we found ourselves near the end of the regular season with a shot at the finals for the first time in 5 years. Without winning many pretty games we managed to finish 3rd and we were flying under the radar and receiving little respect from other teams. Then we had last night. For those first 60 mins I watched a team that was inspired. It was remarkable, for the first time since 05 we played like a unit, a machine that would not let the other team in the game. And even after 5 missed tries we dominating and put 3 tries on a team full of stars who had smashed us 3 times this year. It was beautiful, like a dream. It was 05 again and I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting with my fellow tiger fanatic shaking my head - how did we turn up like this? This is exactly what we had been waiting to see for 5 years. Everything we could have asked they gave. Then the 60 min point came and Carney injected himself. You could feel the change through the TV screen. You can try to explain it in footy terms but it was just a massive shift in momentum. We started to look like the team that the Roosters believed we were. And they pounced. Even after the Mini missed his try I was still confident. But every minute saw us lose our edge. I cannot understand how a team can give the performance of the year for 60 mins and then effectively shut down. That said, we hung in and with 30 seconds to go we saw the greatest hit of the season. I can’t remember shouting so loud. My grandmother was in the room and I shouted so many obscenities it was terrible. But she was clapping! Young dwyer who had been rubbished about his aggression smacked that ahole back to hell. It was glorious!! Our young forward had won the game!! It didn’t cross my mind that something could happen from that scrum. Surely our key men would just finish what they had done, despite the comeback. The tigers deserved to win! It was clear and justice had prevailed. But the football gods did not think that tigers fans had spent long enough in the wilderness … Heighno stares, waits, stares some more, waits and bam! The Roosters prop dives on the ball with 20 seconds to go. When that happened I went into shock. It was slow motion. When anasta got the ball it was always going to go over. I had to walk outside and yell to the football gods! DEVASTATING!!!! I was a kid in 88 and 89 and this was the hardest loss for me by a god damn mile.
