Haven't updated for some time, been busy lately. And lazy. Just lazy. Fine. Nothing of note has happened really, as I undergo the quotidian part of my existence routinely and unflinchingly [is a student's life really as boring as it sounds? Yes. Yes it is]. Until Sunday that is.

Remember the league? After being stood up in the first week [a mix-up in booking times by UQ Sport meant the event was called off], we finally played our first game, and duly lost 3-0. First day blues and blurs you might think, except when the comparisons are weighed, The Offsiders really had no excuse. Firstly, the football team we played against were everything but. Even the name Havoc With Hiddick [sic] betrayed their real make-up: a team of big-boned Aussies averaging 6 feet 2 who seriously looked like they came directly out of an AFL team. To get all Simon Cowell about it, they had basic skills, were out of shape [one begged the ref for half-time with 10 minutes gone], no cohesion as a team, rudimentary knowledge of the rules and a cool arrogance to boot. Their redeeming factors were their size and the fact that they at least knew how to kick, and even though we were all very much smaller, we really should have run rings around them. Instead, we looked disjointed and cowed.

Secondly, we have had multiple trainings in the past couple of weeks, trying to groom everyone into shape and work on their form and positioning. Of all the trainings we have had, only seven of the team have consistently showed up, and the seven unsurprisingly were the ones who, incident and personal reason aside, made it on the day. Maybe people really are that busy, or maybe people don't yet realise the effort Gabriel has invested in this endeavour. Whatever the reason, people just don't commit to training. We have made it clear that while we are playing for fun, we still aim to play well. This is the mentality that has to be present in a ragtag throw-together team such as ours. How can a person enjoy playing when they're losing 3-0? Granted we are for the most part, short on skills and fitness, but that's what training is for. I for one have utilised Gabriel's training faithfully, and while I know I'm not even nearly there, I can see I have improved. In a sense one could loosely divide this team into two halves, the Committeds and the Non-Committeds. The former seems to want to improve the team learn to play well, get some sort of cohesion and have fun winning, while the latter seems more inclined to just show up on the day and 'just have fun'. I'll leave whoever knows these people who's reading this to judge for themselves. It speaks volumes for the teamwork of this squad that I have been unable to put up the squad photo on this site. I'll be sincerely harsh, if we couldn't even come together for a 40 minute game, let's forget all notions of progressing anywhere, and call this the biggest waste of everyone's 50 dollars.

As it happened, we lost, and lost badly to what must certainly be the weakest team in the group. We can have few excuses for what transpired that day. Defence-wise, we held pretty firm, and were maybe unlucky to be 1-0 down at half-time, having restricted the oposition to long-range pot-shots. However it has to be said that every one of the goals we conceded were down to sloppiness in the defence, the last one an especially bad piece of marking allowing their striker a free run on goal from an over the top long ball. It is said that greatness is built on a solid platform, and on the day, ours was shakier than the Mid-Atlantic Faultline. I raise my hand and volunteer that I didn't do as well as I would've pleased, but I can definitely say I marked better than just about anyone, and when I left in the second half the marking fell apart altogether.

Midfield is another real worry: it just wasn't there. Whilst the opponent's shortcomings allowed our disjointedness in midfield without adequately punishing it, it worries me as to what will happen when we face better, more cohesive opponents. We may be excused however for the fact that our first-choice central midfielder didn't show up, forcing our central defender to effectively have to do two jobs. Up front was really the team's only strength, with Gabriel orchestrating everything. The strikers were incisive and had more shots on target than I remember. The strikers in truth suffered from a lack of supply from midfield, with Gabriel literally having to run back in order to run forward. Another painful reality was that none of the team, apart from the strikers, ran. Personally this was down to first-day nervousness more than anything. I felt stiff in my position and was unwilling to leave it. Even when I had a chance to maybe run upfield and create something, I didn't for want of sticking to the gameplan and not leaving any holes in the back. The rest of us may have felt the same, but we will need to definitely find a system in which we can conjoin and play in a flow.

In truth we couldn't really complain. This was a result worthy of our efforts and we can only hope for a swift improvement by the next game. But what can you do about a team with no subs, cannot pass, can't defend, and cannot run?