Round 18 - Eels vs Panthers

I sniffled my nose as I rolled over onto my side to hastily find my phone to turn off the ear screeching sound of my alarm. I was only awake for about 20 seconds and I already knew I was going to have to spend a fair bit of time trying to convince my parents, my mother in particular, that I was well enough to attend the football that night. I was feeling better than I had before, I'll admit that but I most likely wasn't quite football attending ready. This didn't stop me though. I popped some panadol, washed my Parramatta Eels polo shirt that I had only just warn 5 days before at their game in Brookvale and hoped that throughout the day I would feel better. And I did. I should've realised that there would've only been so much luck going my way that day so of course the team was going to loose, but as long as I got to be there still cheering them on, I was happy.

I made plans with my full blown Manly Sea Eagles supporting friend Emma, who has lovingly become my buddy for games that my dad can't attend due to work requirements and we quickly agreed that we would be attending the game with a family friend of hers, Matt. I was a little hasty of the idea purely because I was concerned that I wasn't going to be able to "fangirl" over the players if he was there, but shortly after I arrived I realised I wouldn't have a problem and considering his die hard fan attitude towards the eels, I was going to have a very fun night. I wasn't wrong, and we spent the majority of the game chatting instead of really paying attention. We did watch when it mattered though, and walking away from that Northern Terrace grandstand I can honestly say it was one of the better performances by the boys. The scoreline proves that. 7 points difference isn't something to shed tears over.

After the game, Matt got to experience what Emma and I do after games and why we really, honestly enjoy attending games together. He was like a little kid in a candy store. Football players and officials everywhere and he couldn't decide just one person he wanted a photo with and chat to. Through time though and after hearing my story about Darcy Lussick giving me his shorts after the sharks game, he became very set on the idea of getting Jake Mullaney's shorts or jersey purely for one reason: Jake is small and Matt is small. With that, we had our plan. See Darcy, get Jake's shorts. Now we knew that seeing Darcy was much more likely to happen than getting Jake's shorts, so we settled for the idea of at least seeing Jake and getting a photo.

We waited around for quite some time and after some short encounters with Mitchell Allgood in which Matt expressed his love for "what he did to Steve Matai" and Hindy where he was too scared to even say anything, we were told that the players weren't going to be coming out. Finally, I thought my luck of seeing Darcy so quickly after games had run out before my friend Kasey, who was standing in the friends and family bay near the sheds told us about the secret form of escape for the players. Again, we waited. And waited. Until finally, from a distance we saw a small group of men all wearing the same navy blue tracksuit approaching our direction.

I relaxed myself because I knew that Darcy would most likely recognise me and I didn't want to get a reputation with him as that freak that can't contain herself around him even after meeting him multiple times. I allowed him to interact with a few fans and watched on patiently as he graciously took photos and autographs. As he began to walk away I gently called out his name and gave a slight smile. To my disbelief, he gave me the biggest smile and headed in my direction instantly while greeting me. Before either of us got to say anything about taking a photo, we were distracted by a little boy who was obviously caught up in the commotion of all the eels players around him as he just stood there like a deer in headlights. Laughing, I looked down at him and then back up at Darcy. Shaking his head, Darcy ruffled the little boy's hair and gently moved him out of the way before wrapping his arm around me for a photo. I've really grown to love that concept of him wrapping his arm around my shoulders for photos. It's such a simple gesture, but it's so nice. After the photo, I looked up at him (I really do have to look up, that guy is a giant seriously) and smiled while thanking him, assuming that he'd quickly leave as I've become so accustomed to with multiple players. Instead, he asked me how I was and thus began an actual conversation between him and I and quickly joined in by Emma and Matt. We actually shared in some joking around with laughs ranging from me teasing him that he couldn't play a full 80 minutes like he had against Manly to him teasing Jake Mullaney and Matt for being small. After he was long gone I was still astounded at the fact that he had asked how I had been and continued to talk to us when he easily could have walked away like other players around him were doing. Each time I see him, and it's only been a few times so far, I'm growing to love him more and more.

Matt never did end up getting to see Jake, and Darcy explained to me on twitter later that it was because he was picked for a random drug test so he was held up, but regardless the three of us had an awesome night and Emma and I have officially turned Matt into a fanboy I think. Once again, I'll continue to say that I don't love my Parra boys because of what happens on the field. It's all about what happens once they're out of their uniforms and boots and off that field.

Happy reading! Stay well and Go Parra!
- Victoria