Three sleeps to go...

Wednesday morning, and now just three sleeps to the Grand Final. If you are not familiar with Australian sport perhaps you might think the finals fever demonstrated in Australia is a little over the top. Simply, there are only two or three events in the Australian sporting calendar which capture the imagination of the nation in quite this way: the Melbourne Cup, Rugby League Grand Final and the AFL Grand Final. In Victoria, the Rugby League doesn't cut it in the same way as AFL, but there is some enthusiasm now that we have a Melbourne based team. There is nothing that I write can capture the buzz in the air in this week of build up to the Final, but I will have a go!

A trip down to Geelong will demonstrate the passion of that city for their footy team, and in St Kilda there is a building wrapped in a red, white and black flag, as well as many manifestations of enthusiasm for St Kilda across the city of Melbourne. Ian (Molly) Meldrum, famous Australian music guru, and die hard Saints fan, who apparently fainted in the last few minutes of the 1966 grand final, and consequently did not hear the final siren or see the winning point scored, regularly redecorates the brick walls in front of his house in the St Kilda and Melbourne Storm (Rugby League) colours on either side of the gate. Molly Is just one of some celebrity supporters of St Kilda, including Shane Warne, Marina Prior, Eric Bana and Kate Langbroek and not forgetting Alicia Molik and Geoff Ogilvie.

In the long years when the Saints were a downtrodden team, who admittedly had a really good time, despite the lack of success; this year they appear much more focussed on the job at hand, realising that the end goal is not to win lots of matches during the year, but to win the big one.

On Friday there will be a parade of competing team players in the city, and even our work place is entering into the theme with wear your team jumper day....not that I hadn't been splashing around the red, black and white for months!

Saturday morning is traditional for grand final breakfasts, and the afternoon set aside for viewing the match from wherever...Only one hundred thousand people can actually go to the game. Most of the rest of us will watch on TV...

I guess I am going to get through the week, and the supportive emails from friends give me the general feeling that lots of people would like St Kilda to win.... Sentiment is all very well, but in the end, the performance on the ground is what will count....

Go Saints!