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Gee I would have liked to watch those two eager nigglers Will Chambers and Sam Kasiano exchange a couple of haymakers in last night’s Storm-Bulldogs game.
Except at 5.30pm Brisbane time I was still chained to the desk at my weekday job – like I expect thousands of other office drones around the nation would have been.
By the time the second half commenced, I was still on the Riverside Expressway trying to make my way to an appointment.
Lucky I had the car radio on to catch any of the game at all.
“I can’t believe this early kick-off on a Friday,” said one talkback caller, as if telepathically connected.
“I’ve missed half the game already.”
The NRL came under fire back way in November when they first unveiled 6pm Friday kick-off times, equivalent to 5pm in the game’s true spiritual home of Queensland.
Never content to let the sport rest on its laurels, the NRL found it appropriate to trial yet another obscure time slot.
At the launch of the 2017 draw they described it as “family-friendly ”.
That, my comrades, is what you call publicity spin.
Indeed, the early kick-off was so family-friendly that just 8712 people bothered to walk through the gates at Belmore.
When I finished my after-work appointment and arrived home at 7.30pm, my wife hadn’t even realised the early game had already been run and won (nor realised the Tigers versus Rabbitohs game was approaching halftime).
She, like many others in this neck of the woods, counts the Storm as her second team.
She doesn’t mind the Bulldogs either.
They’re two attractive, tough teams who could be counted on for a close contest – one that should have been firmly in the spotlight.
Whoever decided the early Friday timeslot was a good idea, go stand in the corner, turn towards the wall, think about what you’ve done and don’t come back until you’ve seen the error of your ways.
This is only March after all.
At this time of year, bosses still have unrealistically high expectations of a full eight-hour day.
They have yet to have been ground down by the slacking tendencies of Australia’s working masses.
This isn’t October when you can slide out the door at 3pm wearing your jersey with some vague excuse about collecting kids from childcare.
It’s too early to call in a liquid lunch with suppliers that extends into the evening.
And with the toffs in power and Mr Turnbull pinching workers where he can, now’s certainly not a good time to be getting out of your seat early.
It’ll be filled by the time you reach the door.
Even with the hour’s headstart in Sydney, surely the southerners would’ve still been battling traffic at 6pm their time?
One hour is barely enough time to work your way across Anzac Bridge.
I still have PTSD from the last time I braved Parramatta Road at that time of night.
Even if we dismiss the workers, what about all the ‘bros’ who would have been heading to the gym at that time to get their pump on before hitting the pub?
They’d either have to miss the match or turn up for drinks in their skintight tee with embarrassingly flaccid biceps.
There are no winners from this tragedy.
A 6pm (or 5pm) kick-off is one of those unfathomable decisions that reminds everybody what time of year it is again.
Welcome back rugby league.
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