Outsourcing - South Melbourne 2 Melbourne Knights 1

South Melbourne FC maintained their perfect start to the season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Melbourne Knights on Monday night at Lakeside Stadium. Due to an athletics meet that took over the stadium over the preceding weekend, the match between South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights was played as a one-off Monday night fixture at Lakeside Stadium. However, it is unclear if the move made a difference to the number of people attending.

The hosts started brightly and were rewarded in the 23rd minute when Marco Jankovic rose highest to head home off another Max Mikkola long throw-in, much to the delight of the home fans. In the second half, they doubled their lead with Pat Langlois pouncing on Chris Oldfield's save from Marcus Schroen's curling shot.

The Knights pulled one back from the penalty spot after goalkeeper Javi Lopez made a desperate attempt to collect the ball in the box, resulting in a foul. The remainder of the match saw South Melbourne revert to overly defensive tactics. While the victory was cause for celebration, the disheartening prospect of goalkeeper Javi Lopez winning the club's MVP award again looms large. Lopez was once again instrumental in South Melbourne's win, making several crucial saves to keep the Knights at bay. 

The match saw South Melbourne's star striker Ajak Riak being kept well in check by the Knights' defense, but Langlois was a standout performer in midfield, scoring a goal and creating several other chances throughout the match. The victory also raises questions about whether South Melbourne fans should be happy with the team's style of play, given their excellent start to the season. Some argue that the club's winning record should be enough to satisfy fans, while others maintain that the team's tactics should reflect the club's traditions.

Next game
Away against Dandenong Thunder on Saturday night. I almost hope that we lose so that Esteban stops wearing that non-club branded polo top. Very superstitious man, I'm told. Me, I abhor superstitions, and especially sporting superstitions. It implies a lack of trust in your ability to get results on your own merits. Leave the augury and haruspicy to the mug punters, I reckon.

There was a cup draw
Yes, I know. Came home from work, fired up the old laptop, launched Twitter, and saw that we'd been draw as the home against Kingston. Then I went to check out the tail end of the live draw video on Facebook, and the person commenting on the draw kept saying "verse" instead of "versus", and I couldn't shut off the video quickly enough. 

What's a truck?
What's an AGM? By the way, if they don't announce a date by tomorrow, the earliest the next AGM can be held will be April, a full month after the last AGM was held, which itself was held way later than it should have been. Maybe this is all part of the plan to align our financial reporting with the actual season, rather than the financial year. Maybe I just made that up.

Amway! Amway! Amway!
32 consortia - mostly single clubs, but also a handful of group efforts or partnerships - have put in an expression of interest for the National Second Division. The expression of interest is merely a first step of course, because afterwards you actually have to make a bid. Eight Victorian clubs have put in an expression of interest, and South Melbourne is one of those eight clubs. 

Of the 32 consortia, 15 have some connection to National Soccer League participants, almost all of them as standalone prospects. Consider the numbers I suppose. There were about 40 odd teams which played in the NSL. About a dozen of them are no longer in existence; another three are in the A-League. So of the 25 odd remaining NSL clubs, fifteen are still keen on taking another stab at something approximating national league football. You can take out of that what you will.

Without going into this too deeply, showing mock shock at the gumption of some of these upstarts thinking that they can compete at that level, I will make note of a couple of interesting absentees. Queensland Lions, objectively one of the wealthiest clubs outside the A-League, are sitting this process out, figuring I suppose that once bitten, twice shy. The other surprise absentee, considering the, er, "caliber" of some of the Victorian clubs who have expressed an interest, is Oakleigh. Who knows what their rationale might be in making that decision.

Uh, excuse me, Professor Brainiac, but I worked in a nuclear power plant for 10 years, and, uh, I think I know how a proton accelerator works
Of all the... look, let's get the disclaimers out of the way. I only got to see other people's responses to whatever the original comment was, because the original comment maker has me blocked on Twitter, which is absolutely their right to do so; that is what the block button is there for. Anything else then is me inferring what was said, which was probably something to do with how great it would be for South Melbourne Hellas and its fans when the new Anzac station is up and running when the Metro Tunnel project is finished in a couple of years, and how convenient it will be for getting to and from Lakeside.

Maybe. Look, I love public transport, even when it hates me. There is no one at South Melbourne that's more gaga for more trains and more non-car ways to get to all the grounds. And as someone currently living within the catchment of a station on the under-construction Metro Tunnel line, I can't wait for the project to be finished, even if it will mean an additional interchange to get to my workplace, assuming AI hasn't made my role redundant by then. But will Anzac station make getting to Lakeside Stadium easier by public transport? 

Well, yes, kinda, sorta, under one very specific set of conditions, and even then only if you're coming in from the south-east and you don't mind a vigorous constitutional, ala Sideshow Bob. That's it. If you're coming in from anywhere else, it'll do diddly for you, because you'd still be better off getting the number 12 or the 96 or even the bloody no. 1 from the CBD, unless you really, really like walking. 

Let's assume for argument's sake that both stands and both gates are open. The no. 96, whose nearest station to Lakeside is Albert Park, is a 700 metre odd walk. The no. 1, which stops at the corner of Park and Clarendon, is about 600 metres away, though you also have to deal with slow meander through the theatre and arts district. The no. 12 is about 150 metres away, with the main bit of awfulness being the very bad tram stop, which fortunately (from a safety standpoint) rarely has to deal with large crowds.

The future Anzac station/former Domain interchange site is over 1.2 kilometres away from Lakeside. Being that far along a busy road, there are also several traffic lights which need to be crossed. The average person takes about five minutes to walk 500 metres. Realistically, you're looking at a walking journey of over 15 minutes. If you're walking along the north side of the route, it's not exactly the most pedestrian friendly pathway. If you're walking on the park side, especially within the park itself, it's not the best lit place at night. 

A few years ago now, I walked from Lakeside after a match to the now defunct Domain interchange (which is slightly to the north of the future Anzac station) in order to go watch The Godfather at The Astor with my brothers. What a slog, and I'm not just talking about the movie. I occasionally walk between Sunshine station and my house (when public transport lets me down, or when the weather's nice), which is about five hundred metres more than Lakeside is from the Anzac station site, and my goodness, what an awful experience. Looking back at my Google Maps data from the day, it says I traveled 1.6 kilometres by foot, and that I ran. That's how fast I was apparently walking.

And I mention this because it seemed to be that someone was making the claim (and I hope that I am wrong about that) that it was merely a four minute walk from the Anzac station site to Lakeside. That's pure nonsense. From Sunshine to my place, it's a leisurely 15 minute stroll, with just one set of lights and a couple of small pedestrian crossings to navigate. And one could, of course, more often than not choose to catch the bus. There is no bus or tram service between the future Anzac station and Lakeside. So in short, the eventual arrival of Anzac station is actually going to be of negligible benefit to South fans.

The answer to none of your questions
So, why was Pat Langlois' goal from the corner against Moreland not filmed by the NPL cameraperson? Because they are under instruction to film all substitutions, and being inconsiderate, we decided to take the corner quickly.

On the streams
Everyone has a vice
Someone goes to me the other day, "you seem to watch a lot of NPL TV"; a comment which sounded to sit halfway between observation and accusation, and that's the way I've decided to take it. If there was somewhere to go, I would've gone. If there was something else to watch, I wouldn't watched it. If there something else to do, I would've done it. Or maybe I'm just kidding myself? Maybe I'm sick enough about this league to stay home, and watch Gully pick up three points in a grey away with indecipherable green numbers. The flick it over to watch the Bergers look hopeless against an energetic St Albans. The next day, there was some spiciness behind the goals between Avondale and Hume supporters, and once again no one in Avondale's little shed stand; I'm told that this is because its safety permit has lapsed, and they're awaiting council approval to let people into it again. And they want to join... well, who knows.

Final thought
Sure we used about 40 odd players that year, but of all the things to lie about, claiming to have played for South Melbourne in 2011 seems like one of the more stupid lies to come up with about yourself.