NRL Grand Final: The mighty mighty Melbourne Storm!

NRL....You beauty! A sport usually dominated by Queensland and NSW has been dominated for the last 3 or 4 years by a Melbourne club! the only Victorian/Melbourne club! The mighty Storm! It was hard for the biased commentators to admit that their beloved sport has strayed so heavily South of the border...but the truth hurts. And after last years poor performance in the final, the Storm were determined to create a better memory, like the Cats in the AFL. Ahhh Redemption:

Melbounre started with the first try, and had 2 by the end of the Half. The Eeels on zero were sweating it out. Billy Slater was used as a decoy while his team mates scored. Going into half time it was the Storm 10-0.

After half time Paramatta finally broke through with their first, but the comeback didn't last very long before Ingliss scored again. Storm 16-6.



The NRL managed to get some quality International half time entertainment in 'The Script'....Hrrm I was wondering why the AFl could'nt bag them on Grand Final Day, guess Rugby Aus. are more on top of things....The Storm pulled away again and it looked to be over.

Then once more the Eels came charging home, and got within 6 points! with 5 minutes to go!
The ball spilled free from an Eels player and the Storm pounced. Seconds later an interesting tackle forced the ball free from Billy Slaters arms. It looked to be a penalty to the Eeels, but Billy Slaters acting was convincing enough as a dubious penalty was payed in favour of the Storm. The Ref decided the ball was knocked from Billy's arms after the tackle was completed. The Storm went forward instead and scored a field goal to put the game out of the Eels reach. They would now have to score twice to win. Let the celebrations begin:

Victory confetti

Traditional Gatorade drenching for the coach:
Why don't we do this in the AFL huh? Don't tell me we're too civilised?

Jarryd Haynes mother is clearly not happy with the loss. She lets him know with a post game strangling:

Oh the trophy of Champions:

Billy and little Billy. *chew on this n tell me if its real bub*:

Hayney recovering from mothers clutches, or maybe just the loss:

Share it with the fans Storm:

*Who cares about court? woo hoo*:

AFL....Ooh its trade time again and it's shaping up to be the most aggressive trade period in History. Everyone is trying to sink their claws into everyone, as they have to get in before the Gold Coast steals any player that isnt nailed down. GC has declared their intentions to go after Gary Ablett Jnr. I will personally chain myself to Gary in protest if they try to touch him.

Carlton have bigger problems at the moment though as Brendan Fevola has been told to Vacate the premisis! After his classy drunken behaviour at the Brownlow, Fev is now on the market! At first it looked to be an empty threat, but the club has even offered to pay half Fev's salary at his new home. Carlton supportes are proetesting in disgust outside Blues Headquarters as they want Fev to stay, knowing full well they wont score any goals without him. Carlton are slowly coming to this realisiation, and the realisation that nobod'y else is showing any interest, so they just might be forced to keep him.

*D'oh!.. my only friends now are shoes*:

Carlton have already snatched Melbourne captain Brock McLean. Gibson looks set to leave the Roo's, and Melbourne look set to take Tom Scully in the draft even though he is injured and can't prove he is the best at this moment in time at camp. Blake Caracella will fill Ken Hinkleys shoes as assistant coach at the Cats. Barry Hall may not join the Bulldogs for sure, stay tuned...

Oh and did we mention Geelong won the Premiersip?

Just in case:

Cricket....Australia has signed off on three months of combat against England with the most emphatic of victories to march into the final of the Champions Trophy. After a narrow win against Pakistan to get into the Semi we were a bit nervous. Mike Hussey hit 64 but it all came down to the last ball with Hauritz and Lee making a diving run off a leg by.

The Poms started bragging that they were a new team in South Africa....they were wrong. Watson 136, and Ponting 111 off 155 saw to it easily. And Mitch chipped in with 3 wickets.
We now wait on Pakistan and New Zealnd to play on Monday.

F1....Mark Webbers bad luck continued as he was ruled out of Japanese Grand Prix qualifying after a crash in final practice.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel brought his world championship hopes alive again with a superb victory in Japan on Sunday afternoon, winning as he pleased and leading Jarno Trulli's Toyota home by 4.8s despite a late safety car intervention. Lewis Hamilton was third for McLaren, another 1.5s adrift, after losing out to Trulli in the second pit stops.

Seventh for Rubens Barrichello, just ahead of Brawn team mate Jenson Button, leaves the points table as Button 85, Barrichello 71, Vettel 69 with two races remaining. Can Vettel knock off what he calls' those white guys' (German accent), to win the Championship!...Stay tuned.

Racing....The Spring Carnival kicks off with Effiecient making a big return, winning the Turnbull stakes at Flemington. The quality of the horses this year could be the best ever. Speed Gifted won the Metropolitan and Randwick on Saturday and should be assured of a Caulfield cup start.

Mr Ed Interview update:

It's been a while since we have caught up with Ed. We followed him earlier in the year after he left his table tennis Tournament in Peru. Still trying to get that elusive interview

Ed leaving the tournament:

We think we are close...Stay tuned.

Soccer...We will check in with Andrew for all the latest in the A leauge and Australia's friendly's with Holland and Oman. Oman is a must win game for the Aussies.

All that n more on the show that goes through more balls than Roger Federer.

Peace out*


.*Disclaimer: The Sports Lounge may contain 2/3 of your daily fibre intake. No this does not mean we will give you the shits. Warning this last paragraph may not be accurate. Conditions apply and portions of this blog have been edited for your discomfort. Spoken by Tan for the Sports Lounge Party Melbourne (say that last sentance really fast).All that n more on the show that goes through more balls than Roger Federer.