Roland Hearn
1st October 2006, 04:19 PM (16:19)
I know this looks like it should be a spiritual post but it isn't near as much as it should be when talking about a Sunday.
However, the longest part of the day was taken up with Brad Mercer and I traveling two hours in to the mountains behind Brisbane to attend a church service with a very close friend who is about to face the vote on becoming pastor of a 1200 member church. It was a good and wholesome service that didn't quite leave me shouting but I did sense God's goodness. He preached a good message and there was a wonderful sense of God's people there. Following the service he took us to lunch and we had Barramundi and chips (fries) it was wonderful. The fellowship was even more so.
Then we took the drive home and I had my best night of the year so far. After 26 weeks of competition and four weeks of playoffs my Rugby League team won it's grand final in front of 80 000 people. I am totally stoked today.
There were two moments that stood out above all the rest of what was a truly wonderful game.
Just like American football in Rugby League you need to punt the ball away at the end of the tackle count (a big difference to regular Rugby). There are no fair catches however in Rugby League. The only rule is you can't tackle a person while both feet are off the ground. In a demonstration of precision timing, when one particular player was catching the punt, at the precise nanosecond his toe hit the ground he was hit in a tackle so hard it knocked him 20 feet backwards and I'm probably being conservative. Remember there are no pads in Rugby League so it was a flesh on flesh hit that just knocked him senseless.
The second was in the final 20 minutes of the game. One of our best defenders was making a tackle and badly twisted his knee. In a rare Rugby League moment they stopped the play while the trainers came on, normally the trainers come on and assist the player while play continues. He happened to be right where the ball was so they needed to attend him to get him out of the road. He looked out for good. But he dragged himself to his feet, hopped on one leg back to his line of defense and less than a minute later was seen to be hitting an opposition player in tackle so hard it left his teeth rattling.
It was a great game.
However, the longest part of the day was taken up with Brad Mercer and I traveling two hours in to the mountains behind Brisbane to attend a church service with a very close friend who is about to face the vote on becoming pastor of a 1200 member church. It was a good and wholesome service that didn't quite leave me shouting but I did sense God's goodness. He preached a good message and there was a wonderful sense of God's people there. Following the service he took us to lunch and we had Barramundi and chips (fries) it was wonderful. The fellowship was even more so.
Then we took the drive home and I had my best night of the year so far. After 26 weeks of competition and four weeks of playoffs my Rugby League team won it's grand final in front of 80 000 people. I am totally stoked today.
There were two moments that stood out above all the rest of what was a truly wonderful game.
Just like American football in Rugby League you need to punt the ball away at the end of the tackle count (a big difference to regular Rugby). There are no fair catches however in Rugby League. The only rule is you can't tackle a person while both feet are off the ground. In a demonstration of precision timing, when one particular player was catching the punt, at the precise nanosecond his toe hit the ground he was hit in a tackle so hard it knocked him 20 feet backwards and I'm probably being conservative. Remember there are no pads in Rugby League so it was a flesh on flesh hit that just knocked him senseless.
The second was in the final 20 minutes of the game. One of our best defenders was making a tackle and badly twisted his knee. In a rare Rugby League moment they stopped the play while the trainers came on, normally the trainers come on and assist the player while play continues. He happened to be right where the ball was so they needed to attend him to get him out of the road. He looked out for good. But he dragged himself to his feet, hopped on one leg back to his line of defense and less than a minute later was seen to be hitting an opposition player in tackle so hard it left his teeth rattling.
It was a great game.