Penriff Beachside Tour

By Nick Townsend

After a piss poor showing in round 1 on the paddock, there was a lot of anticipation about the round 2 game against Penrith. Both sides were terrible the previous week and keen to bounce back. With a good showing from the Raiders Army in round 1, those able to make it were keen to keep the momentum going for round 2, but the challenge would be made difficult by the lack of regulars due to Easter long weekend.

Far from 100% after a Good Friday mishap on the booze, I was confident of a good showing on and off the pitch and set out for a big day and night at about Midday, Picking up GH member Peter Garrett on my way, we donned our green and headed to Panthers for some pre drinks. We met up with RA regular Souls 04 in the sports bar along with some ring-in’s i brought along from St Clair.

After a few rounds…2 or 3… maybe 10. We slowly made our way over to CUA stadium, most of us nicely toasted and keen to cheer on the mighty Green Machine in a mouth watering clash of two big guns of the U/20’s Toyota Cup. It didn’t take long for security to become very watchful on the Army. Which could have had something to do with the immediate berating of the Penrith U/20’s winger.

The Army was impressed with the CUA facilities, the pies were hot, the beer and bourbons were full strength and to my surprise, the vodka and cokes were flowing. In stark contrast to the shipping containers and construction sites that greeted us at Newcastle.

The numbers continues to pour in, with Greenheart and his mates coming in and Toby not far behind, ready and able to lend their voices to the cause. Along with GCR and Pickle, some reminiscing of Mad Monday was had and some very dubious remarks made by GCR about my actions that night. Apparently some of which I still have no knowledge of.

We found some voice early to help rally the U/20’s to a stellar performance over the highly ranked Panthers. Moruya local Butters was over joyed by the performance of Jared Kennedy, a home town hero for Butters. Big props also to Mick Picker, Brock Dunn and Josh Dugan who were stand outs in a very good team performance. Well done lads.

During the U/20’s the numbers were slowly building, a bus load of fans from Canberra came up. We hadn’t seen them before but they were there in numbers, and boy did we need them. Shortly after Wizmor and Believer turned up to add more numbers and a touch of class to the hill.

By the time FG rolled around the numbers of random’s had swelled nicely and we had a solid group of 30+ strong. All keen to sing their hearts out for the lads. I gathered Souls and Toby, and we started getting the Army condensed, and distributing confetti.

KICK-OFF… and some bad news early with Logan being put on report and Penrith going to a 2-nil lead, but this was not to stay this way, as with our next touch of the ball, Zillman split the panthers from the back and raced 80 metres to score almost untouched, sending the fans on the hill into a frenzy.

Three minutes later and we were all at the disco! I started the obligatory “2 f’s in penriff”, which being a Penrith local, I copped a few raised eye brows about.…

A beautiful backline movement, set up by another clean bust from Zillman, saw Bronx Goodwin go in near the sticks. The Army had found their voice, and gleefully informed the Penriff faithful they had “the worst coach in the league” and if my eyes did not deceive me I believe when we went for a 2nd chorus, we were joined by some disgruntled Penrith fans. 12-2 to the boys in green.

But the game then shifted momentum on the back of some ordinary Raiders play combined with Willy Zillman going off with an injury… which now appears to be an ACL and the end of his season, on behalf of the RA, id like to say we’re all gutted for you Zilly and all the best for a speedy recovery and we look forward to cheering you on when you come back!

Jared Sammut inspired the Panthers to a half time lead of 16-12 with a 40-20 which led to the Brad Tighe try and some very good ball playing to put Rhys Wesser in for 4 pointer. On the stroke of halftime TC potted a penalty goal to get the difference back to 2.

The second half was a grinding and very tense affair, the Panthers continued to surrender possession and the Raiders couldn’t find the line. With exception to a nice backline play that saw everywhere man Marshall Chalk cross out wide. Todd Carney converted beautifully to put the score to 20-16.

The final 20 minutes were absolutely nail biting stuff, I gathered the Raiders Army regulars and decided we’d do all we could to inspire these lads to victory, Soulsy led us off with an “Every where we go” and a big burly man at the front took some lead and got some solid Raiders chants going. The Army were pumped and in fine voice… our voices were struggling but we were determined to do our part.

Finally after some tense moments, including the last scrum, the full time whistle blew. Much to the delight of Butters who had completely lost his mind by this point, and im not ashamed to say i was spotted with my hands together looking at the skies, praying to the football gods. And the hill erupted into random hugs, cheers and hi fives. The Army rushed the fence and the lads were all too happy to oblige. Bronx Goodwin was first over the fence and was greeted by a wall of exuberant Raiders fans, followed by the rest of the squad. Captain courageous, Alan Tongue was last. Some scattered chants went up but at this point, the euphoria of a win had left us with zero collaboration. The job was done.

The Army slowly departed the ground with promises of a good back up for Canberra V Dragons next week, but most of all a sense of relief! Our 2008 season was under way.

Just like to say a big thanks to all the girls and boys who showed up on the hill and sang their hearts out for the boys. I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Toby and Souls did a fantastic job firing the crowd up and keeping them all in fine voice.

A reminder to make sure you’re all booked in for Round 9 V Roosters, it is a must be at game! Until next time…Go the Raiders! Believe!

Cheers
Nick

Share on Facebook