A special thanks to Loz who stepped up and wrote this week’s Brilliant RA review- in record time as well.

The day started with a seven of the RA Faithful making a convergence on Casa Loz at 1300 on Saturday. Nick, Marko and Scotty were in one chariot and Vicky, Kaity and myself were being chauffeured by KW. The mood was one of optimism and anticipation – anticipation because I had got my hands on a copy of ‘101 Hits from the 80’s’ and I couldn’t wait to inflict it upon others. A new chant was born on the outskirts of Sydney that had a rather distinct NKOTB flavour which, unfortunately, did not get a run at the main game due an imposed lack of mobility on the Raiders Army. More on that later…

The trip up the Hume itself was rather uneventful besides KW bringing to our attention that Collector is having some sort vegetable related festival and then there was the stop over at Pheasants Nest so the boys could load up on minced offal wrapped in pastry.

Our first destination was the Wentworthville Formule One. This was the second time in as many weeks that I had to endure a night in this chain of hotel. I guess I shouldn’t complain, it was my idea to stay there on both occasions after all. At least the Wenty F1 lacked the aroma of purchased love that seemed to permeate throughout the Campbelltown F1. I also didn’t have to share my room with opposition fans this time around. We were a bit concerned about having to sneak seven people in to two rooms that each slept three, but we needn’t have worried as it was a midget manning the check in and she couldn’t see Marko over the desk as he ducked in and up the stairs. What we didn’t know at the time was that the Wenty F1 is the most haunted hotel in the area.

After a quick freshen up in the girls hotel room, we set out to meet the boys at the Dan Murphy’s down the road and stepped outside just in time to see the boys headed to the Parra leagues club without us. So it was back to the hotel lobby to call for a taxi of our own and while we waited we were fortunate enough to be hit on by a pair of midget bikies (there are a lot of midgets in the Parra area apparently…) who were waiting at the lights. These charming gents wished to know which room we were staying in, so naturally we offered that we were sleeping in room 256, which of course was the room the boys were staying in.

When we finally made it to the Parra Leagues club, Vicky and Kaity headed in to the ground to cheer on our Toyota Cup boys while I attempted to find the rest of the RA who I knew to be meeting in the Leagues Club. Thankfully Marko was at hand to guide me through the labyrinth that is the Parra Leagues (needs more pokies IMHO, especially in the areas designated for dining). A particular highlight of the pre-match was when a local Mensa member suggested from the safety of a second floor balcony that Katie, Ness, Marko and yours truly were scum.

It wasn’t long before it was time to head into the ground and I found to my dismay that the ground no longer had a grassed hill and that someone had stolen the big screen. The numbers of Eels fans that turned up was also disappointing. I’m pretty sure I have more friends on Facebook than there were Eels fans at the ground. And half my Facebook friends are from the RA. Speaking of which, it was nice to have finally met some of these friends for the first time. It was also good to see some familiar faces from previous seasons that had not yet made it to a game. Upon entering our bay we were informed in no time that we were to remain seated as apparently, with Parramatta being the cultural centre we all know it is, a night at the footy is akin a night at the opera. We grudgingly obliged and the shameful realisation dawned on me that we were just a few sets of thundersticks away from CSSC-proportion lameness.

As we know, these reviews are less about the actual match so here I will just say we got dudded and everyone knows it. The game was, however, a vast improvement from last week’s effort and I truly believe that we are building to something. Perhaps a win in round eight? The RA once again put on a fabulous show, lead admirably by Souls, Butters and KW, for the Eels fans who looked baffled at having the noise of non-recorded chanting at their ground. Unfortunately for Souls his singing was so good he had to be escorted out of the ground. Another RA member who was in line for a frog-march was Pickle, a prime candidate for a place at Eggleston Hall if ever there was one.

The original plan after the match was to head back to Parra Leagues, but for some reason seemed the place enforced a closed shoe policy only… I guess someone could do some damage if one of the 3,427 pokies were to fall on their foot. So now the post match was spent with Bay53 driving us around the bright lights of Parra trying to locate the mythical PJ’s and once finally located were promptly told that the boys could not enter as they were wearing shorts. WTF?? Why not?? Is there a problem with the Parra midgets slashing the calves of all shorts-wearing males at the local nightclubs??

So it was back to the F1 for a change of clothes for the boys as I had decided to throw in the towel and hang out with the girls (inc Marko). It was worth it because they had ordered pizza. Things soon took a little turn for the boring and it was decided that we should go and check out the boys digs and discovered that they had scored themselves a lumpy waterbed and the maids had hung their clothes for them. It was about this time we ran into the local ghost and some Gangstas roaming the hallway, we were so scared we actually locked ourselves out of our room. While searching downstairs for a way to get back in, we noticed a drinks vending machine which looked like it stocked beverages from the 1990’s. The orange juice had curdled and had turned a strange brown colour, while the Pepsi Max had virtually become transparent. All the display bottles had warped into amusing shapes.We decided to call it a night once access was regained to room 258 as I was pretty excited at the prospect of sleeping in a bunk bed, which I had not done since I was nine and could not wait to test out the oversized scouring pad that was my blanket.

Sunday morning was a pretty uneventful one, although KW was fortunate enough to have the wonderous experience of having a shower in pitch black. Why one earth the light switch the shower is placed outside the room I will never know… The trip home was even less eventful than the trip up but it’s always a great feeling knowing that you’re returning to gods country and the home of the mighty Raiders.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the Cowboys match, Monday, 6 April.