Welcome to the first edition of the weekly look at life without Rugby League.
Take this as a bit of fun, satire if you will. It's in no way meant to make light of the current situation or act as though missing out on footy is more important than genuine struggles.
Dear Rugby League,
Monday 23rd March, 2020. The day you were put down, just momentarily. For many of us, the day when everything became real.
My distraction from the real world was gone.
The week earlier the most I had to be concerned about is the Sharks blowing an overlap and losing a game that they should have won against the Bunnies. Just a few days earlier it was a 50/50 refereeing call that had me and my close mates frustrated with the world.
Oh what I would give to be back in that frame of mind!
Despite their best efforts, Peter V'landys and Todd Greenberg conceded that, for the safety of the players and staff, the NRL would cease its 2020 season until further notice.
I've always been one to hide behind sport as a distraction. When a previous relationship broke down, the Sharks won that weekend and for the next 13. It wasn't until the Raiders beat us that I let the gravity of the situation settle in.
I couldn't hide behind the win streak that I was clinging to, which largely dictated my happiness.
It's not healthy but speaking to friends, I'm certainly not the only one.
The whole gravity of the current world situation is not a fun one. It's there every which way I turn. The empty office floor, the ghost like trains, the fact I can't take my kids to the park on the weekend.
It just got that little bit more real on Monday night. NRL was gone. Supercoach, gone. The Monday Power Rankings, gone. The invites to watch the Sharks vs Knights, no longer there.
Social media went from banter to an absolute punish before Greenberg even finished his statement.
Waking up on Tuesday morning it felt like a breakup, except with a partner I actually liked. I usually bounce out of bed (to a point), say hello to the friendly bus driver and put the earphones in and escape into a rock playlist.
On Tuesday I slumped out of bed, almost missed the bus, couldn't find my earphones and instead sat there in a foul mood all the wall to work. Turns out the earphones were in my pocket the whole time.
I know it's stupid and I am one of the lucky ones. I'm in no way complaining, but I already missed the game.
For the first time in literally years I topped the tipping at work. One game short of a perfect round and almost perfect margins. I'm two points clear at the top.
Supercoach went very well too. I jumped roughly 10,000 places and sit inside the top 1000. That's about as high as I'll rate all season.
I lost my draft league opener but you can't win them all.
Most importantly of all, the Sharks were about to beat Newcastle and get their season started.
It was going to be a good week, until the announcement; which on a rare serious note was always coming and was obviously for the best.
Instead this week I had the unfortunate luck of finding out what a 'Tik Tok' is. Tell ya what, if I never see another 15 second video of an NRL player dancing with his partner only to swap attires after a light switches off then on, it'll still be too soon.
What's with that weightlifter? Who or what is a Tiger dude?
I wonder what everyone did with their weekend?
Mine was kid free so I slept. On Saturday night one of my mates "live" tweeted the Sharks 68-6 win over Manly. Good game that one, although I'm still at a loss as to why we didn't opt for the two points on the siren to make it a round 70.
Remember when the Sharks use to beat Manly? Thanks to the week off, I do. It was nice.
Another mate "live" tweeted the Grand Final in 2016. Even after 320 (almost legit number) viewings, that last play still runs 30/40 seconds too long for me to take.
That Paradise PD/ Brickleberry crossover is TV genius, although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with a serious sense of humour.
I've had worse weekends but I was a little bit lost without the greatest game of all dominating my viewing all weekend.
NSW Cup was cancelled, which means the Jets remain undefeated since September 2019 and will hold onto both trophies, but I was really looking forward to seeing the boys run out at Henson in a few weeks to a monster crowd.
Again, small things compared to what is happening across the world, but it's going to take some getting use to.
This week, the first without you, I learned two things; that I'm too old for Tik Tok, and that this is going to be a really long second "off-season".
Until next week,
Dan
