It was difficult to watch, in more ways than one. Those familiar with the sporting itinerary of your columnist will know that the Derby Day weekend is spent in Melbourne, but an earlier flight than usual had the lads refreshed and ready to watch the Jets v Sydney FC game live on any one of the multiple big screens at Crown.
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Not bloody likely! Is there a Melbourne version of Bondi? Hundreds of Kiwis pretending that the third v fourth play-off match in the Rugby World Cup was meaningful and important!
Not content with that facade, they wanted to sit in comfy lounge chairs, and have an uninterrupted view across the venue to the three big screens all broadcasting the same pictures, while we fans of the round-ball game craned our necks around corners to view the modest screen above their heads, after pleading for consideration.
Perhaps they were trying to do we Novacastrians a favour? What unfolded before our eyes wasn't too appetising, despite the open, end-to-end exchanges in the opening stanza.
Back to those precious Kiwis a little later ...
Games like that are often fantastic entertainment for the players and fans, particularly if your team is noticeably more talented individually than your opponents. Realistically, and without denigrating the Jets players, how many of their current starting 11 would displace their opposite number (in a positional sense) in Sydney's starting side, in your eyes?
If you answered any more than two or three, or even on the best of days four, you are a very loyal and parochial fan. The relative budgets of the two sides ensure this should be the case.
That is not to say that the Jets didn't cause Sydney their share of problems defensively. They certainly asked a lot more of the Sky Blues in a defensive sense than the Wanderers did a week prior, but the Western Sydney side sat deep, scrapped for everything in their own half, and got a result with 33 per cent of the ball.
Which approach is more effective, long term or short term?
Should you sacrifice your beliefs and principles to get a result, after trying to instill confidence and positivity in your squad? That is the conundrum facing Jets coach Ernie Merrick at this moment.
As he noted: "I'm struggling up front for experienced, quality players to bring on."
Yet the ideology is never far from the surface. "I think it's very important that we play attacking football" and "our boys tried to score goals right to the end" both appeared in the same interview.
Philosophically, Merrick believes, I think, that sitting deep, flooding the midfield, and snatching something on the counter is taking the easy option, and a little anti-football. But he would be acutely aware that football is a results-driven business.
Coaches face challenges like this all the time and, to be fair, there are number of them who won't be totally satisfied with their team's form at the moment. Not the least Tony Popovic, whose Perth Glory side travel to McDonald Jones Stadium this Saturday for a 5pm engagement.
To say it is an important game for both sides is very much an understatement. Despite the 4-1 loss to Sydney, this very winnable for the Jets. Keeping Fornaroli, Castro and Ikonomidis quiet is obviously vital.
I read with interest Jimmy Gardiner's column last week, which pointed out how well the central-defensive pairing of Nigel Boogaard and Nikolai Topor-Stanley were faring in several statistical components, and it didn't surprise, because both have been very good operators for multiple seasons.
But if those two are so prominent statistically in the league, in such a key area, why does the ball reach the danger areas so often? Are the Jets too open, or too easily outnumbered through midfield?
If the answer to that is yes, then adjustments need to be made before the weekend, because Castro and Fornaroli can be deadly.
I am going to stick with the Jets and predict a first win of the season.
The Melbourne Cup will be won by an import, trained by an O'Brien (I'm not quite sure which one) but I've narrowed it down to about eight for you!
And getting back to those Kiwis,the boys vacated their seats for a couple of vivacious and well-mannered mature ladies from The Shaky Isles on the train home from Flemington.
Just after we advised that we were from Newcastle one of the pair asked: "Do you know Mickey D?". I strained my mind and blurted out Mickey Devon, who played for Australs and Azzurri, in my era. "No , the jockey," she replied. "Sure," I answered. "Rides well."
"This is his nanny," she replies proudly pointing to her aunt.
"Any tips?" we inquired politely, and, as she thought for a moment, I asked if there had been a day of grieving in NZ since the semi -final.
She stood up, looked me straight in the eye and said something that sounded like "Far Cough", but I couldn't see it in today's fields!
Still, I believe in omens, and M. Dee has some good rides.
Maybe it's in on Saturday? Lovely lady all the same, and a proud Kiwi.
