Hello again everyone!

I’ve had a pretty busy few weeks since I last wrote.

The weather has warmed up a lot so as you can imagine I’ve really enjoyed that! School has also been pretty hectic with a few exams and assignments being due over the past few weeks but I’ve been doing pretty well!

As I said in my last piece, my team had some games coming up.

Last weekend we travelled to the University of Western Michigan to play two friendlies against Detroit University and Western Michigan. We played both games back to back.

In the first game we beat Detroit 2-1 and unfortunately we lost 1-0 to Western Michigan in the second game.

As a team, we could be reasonably happy with our performances. We dominated the first game and were completely deserving of the win. In the second game we had the better run of play in the first half. In the second half they were probably the better team.

It was tough to play 2 games back to back this time of the year because we aren’t as fit now as we were during the actual season, so the tiredness was expected in the end.

On a personal level it wasn’t the best of days for me.

About ten minutes into the first game I copped a pretty hard knock to the ankle and had to come off. I didn’t go back on until the second game against Western Michigan.

Then, once again after about 10 minutes I was off again after receiving a yellow card. My coach has a pretty strict policy when it comes to cards (and so he should). There’s no point in taking a risk with someone on a yellow card when you have unlimited subs.

I was subbed back on with about 10 minutes to go to give us a bit of extra width as we were chasing the game being down 1-0. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the difference in this game. Overall it wasn’t the best day ever, but I’m looking to produce some better performances in our next few games.

Over the weekend just gone, I had trials with AFC Cleveland, the team I will be playing for over Summer Break. On Sunday the squad was finalised and the 25 players chosen signed the paperwork and committed themselves to the team.

I’m looking forward to playing over the summer against some very good teams and it will be enjoyable as well since there are seven or eight of my teammates from school who are also in the team.

Sadly, this means I will not be going back to Sydney until Christmas. I miss everyone back home a lot and I’m already looking forward to that Christmas break!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the things you are doing. I love the life I have and I think it’s important to love what you do to get the maximum benefit out of it.

I appreciate all of you who take the time to read about what I’m up to and if you ever want to ask any questions or need advice I’m always happy to listen!

Also if you have any requests or ideas for what you would like me to talk about apart from what I’m up to with the football, I will take your thoughts into consideration!

Thanks again for reading and don’t be shy to leave your thoughts!

(ps. A special shout out to the entire Prems squad at Glenmore Park FC who take on Bondi FC in the New South Wales State Cup tonight! Best of luck boys!!!)

It's a losing battle... Just let them go!

The battle of Hastings, the Somme, Gallipoli; they all resinate in my mind as great battles in history; yet the whole State of Origin battle doesn’t seem to reach that level for me; maybe I just don’t get it.

Yes ladies it’s that time again – and no I’m not talking about the end of financial year sales- State of Origin is upon us once again, and once again my care factor is hovering around zero. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a keen NRL fan – being a Tigers fan since birth – but the hype that surrounds these three games is beside me.

It’s just a game like every other game. It could be my countless disappointment in the Blues over the past five years that has turned me off the game – considering the last time they won I was 14 years old! And a loss to their name after game one only confirmed my disappointment in the Blues.

My boyfriend and I decided to watch the first game on the lounge in front of the heater, I could deal with that – just as long as he’d let me cuddle up to him in the process. But 20 minutes before kick-off he got a call from his mates to join them at the local leagues club; at this moment his eyes lit up and looked to me for approval – not that he needed it since he already made up his mind. So I put on my good-girlfriend pants and let him go.

Feeling quite inspired – and not bored at all…honest (I wonder how well sarcasm translates online..?), I thought I’d write a pre-warning for game two for all the girls to prevent any heartbreak or complete and utter frustration towards the guys tonight or in the coming weeks.

Don’t bother organising a night out with any individual carrying the Y chromosome because the answer will be no. Anything that could hinder their ability to wholly commit to popping their bottoms on the lounge or ducking down to the local pub to watch the game is a no-go.

So before you book a romantic dinner or hire The Notebook to snuggle up on the couch with your guy, forget about it because it’s not gonna’ happen. Just like our need to straighten our hair, the need to watch the State of Origin is almost genetic in males and goes against human nature not to have their eyes glued to that screen.

Since federation there has been a rivalry between the New South Welshmen and the Queenslanders that can only be resolved on the footy field. It’s the NRL’s best of the best battling it out for 80 mins to determine which state is superior; I mean how else would you figure it out?

But is it really about the football, or an excuse to share a bromance with friends? A friend of mine, Brenton McIntyre, revealed to me that State of Origin is “good chance to catch up with mates and have a few beers.” Well that makes sense seeing as boys aren’t the type to ring each other and have a chat about their days.

But rest assured I’ve compiled a list of activities for you and the girls to fill up these lonely Wednesday nights.

> You could just watch the game (aghh blasphemy!)? There are plenty of good looking lads on the field (I would know I’ve enjoyed doing my research), keep an eye-out for Mitchell Pearce, Josh Dugan (even if he isn’t there tonight!) and Billy Slater; trust me they are man-candy when it comes to the squad.

> If you haven’t jumped on the Angry Boys bandwagon then what are you waiting for? Conveniently airing at 9pm Wednesday nights on the ABC, you’ll be able to laugh yourself silly or sing along to the Glee finale on TEN, rather than sobbing in your room reading Twilight for the 7^th time.

> Check out a movie at our local cinema – I checked out Water for Elephants last weekend and it was fantastic, plus if you can’t find a plus one, no one will notice you sitting alone.

> Go out for dinner – girls never need an excuse to catch up and have a gossip over a meal so why not send out some texts and escape the NRL frenzy.

> Opt for a girls-night-in, considering no guys are home. I’m feeling a Gossip Girl marathon, mud-masks and lots of chocolate.

Spare yourself the heartache and prepare for a night away from the guys; although as the old saying goes “if you can’t beat them, join them!”

At the end of the day it’s just sport, girl!

This week we have Brian D’Lima and Brendan Burke on the panel as we dig into the following issues in sport over the past week:

Show Outline

Tennis

• Australian Open
  • Women’s Final
  • Men’s Final Preview; Federer vs Murray
• Hewitt Forced into hip surgery, lengthy injury

Cricket

• Australia looks for clean sweep over Pakistan
• India win series vs Bangladesh
• India vs South Africa – Dravid most likely out, cheekbone injury
• U19 World Cup Final (AUS v PAK)

Football

• Transfer Wrap Up
• EPL Wrap Up
• A-League Wrap Up
• Arsenal vs Manchester United Preview
• African Cup of Nations – Ghana vs Egypt Final Preview

NRL

• Willie Mason Saga – 7 teams ruled out signing
• NRL All Stars v Indigenous All Stars