Pollies at the Foota

Is today's Dragons vs Eels NRL match a footy game or a chance to go on the hustings? The camera lingered on both John Howard and Morris Iemma before the match got underway (unlike his predecessor, I doubt Iemma will walk out at half time assuming the game is over, as Carr is rumoured to have done).

It's quite interesting to examine the massive influence of the St George-Illawarra Dragons on Australian politics. It's well known that John Howard has been a fan since boyhood - ironically, they were also Mark Latham's team of choice. According to Bernard Lagan's recent book, Latham mentioned the team's ousting from finals contention to Howard shortly before the lights came up on the televised Leaders Debate during the Federal Election - adding `But don't let that worry you, mate'. Judging from his shambolic performance in the debate, he must have been shattered ...

But so too did the Dragons play a part in Latham's elevation, as it was a mutual friend of Robert McClelland and himself, a former chairman of St George Leagues Club, who finally convinced McClelland to make the fateful vote - for the maverick Latham and against Beazley - in the 2003 leadership challenge.

But we're losing sight of the really important thing here, which is this: the Sharks are about to slaughter Manly over at Shark Park. HA HA HA. :D