Raiders V Panthers 

With our intrepid reporter Ultra lying in a foetal position in the corner of his bedroom as a result of Southampton (Crouch for England? HAHA) forcing a last minute draw against Crystal Palace, it was up to Ben to deliver this week's review in his own alcohol inspired style

Well, what a weekend. Some have called it one of the Raiders' best wins of all time; others were just too delirious with joy to comment. Either way it was a fantastic night for all Raiders fans. 

It started off innocently enough when I and one other Army member scrambled into the battle-worn Pajero for another trek up the Hume Highway to Sydney. It only took around 5 minutes for the jokes to start running wild. As we left God's Country and rounded Big George, we discussed what we were going to do for the night. One thing became apparent: By Goulburn, we had not even discussed the football. We were obviously preparing for another epic Army road trip. After one army member rolled a cigar at Marulan, it was then just a quick squirt up the highway to another member's home, where we were to stay the night. 

After eating all of his food and drinking all of his beer, we discussed what we thought might be the average tooth count in Penrith. One army member suggested that they might all share them, who knows. After winding our way into the stadium and being abused by various 14 year olds with a "ciggy" in one and a Fanta in the other it became apparent that Penriff was a working class town where their idea of a holiday was a cigarette brand. 

It was a fairly decent showing by the Raiders Army, who seemed to outnumber the SGB by about 10 to 1. It is worth mentioning that the relatively small crowd of 14,000 provided great atmosphere as the "Penriffians" always do. After downing a few Pilsners, we revved ourselves up. The hill was abuzz with quietly confident murmurs. As the players ran out, the hill erupted and it didn't take long for the "Raiders Army" song to kick into full swing. By about the 25th minute though, it was all quiet on the southern front, as the Raiders had conceded four tries due to some awful refereeing. The Army sang up though and the players hung in tough, systematically scoring try after try for 26 unanswered points. 

It was gratifying for all of the fans when the team came over to the fence to thank us for our support where I could easily have broken my pelvis against the fence in the resulting crush. David Howell asked if I was ok and I said the fence would break before I did. It was very disappointing to see that the Raiders Army was breaking the law by standing and cheering their team 10 minutes after the final whistle when I was pushed and verbally abused by a police officer to "Remove myself or be removed in the back of a van". The Raiders Army knows never to be so fanatical again. 

I still can't speak and have been banned from answering telephone calls at work. Whether this is due to excessive yelling or excessive drinking will never be known. A couple of Army members stayed up until 3 in the morning drinking beer and designing what they thought would be a hilarious line up of sitcoms. 

After a quick breakfast and staying around to watch the Germ on Channel 7 (great, well researched interviewing there from White and "Griggsy") it was back on the road for the Raiders Army.

On the main road, one of our oriental sisters gave us an advertisement, telling us that the wonders of religious television were on TV all over the world at 3 in the morning but for some reason, refused to take a Raiders Army pamphlet. After passing what seemed like a convoy of Kombi vans, myself and the other Army member realised that we had never laughed so much in one weekend before. My abdominals still hurt. 

It was another fantastic win for the Raiders and another great road trip for the mighty Raiders Army. Next week we have the Sharks in a top of the table clash and we will be on Channel 9, we need more numbers than ever to get our name out there. I hope to see you all on Sunday. Ben