Sure, we all have a swipe at our opponents, particularly those that are interstate. Even with certain Sydney sides we can summon forms of ire.

Manly springs to mind - My observation has been (and I'm far from alone with this) that there are that special brand of weirdos that support Manly (the 'silvertails') and then there are the rest of us barracking for absolutely whoever else it is they are playing.

This stuff tends to be tongue in cheek though. The derision towards the Storm seems to occur on another level and, I reckon, it is misdirected.

The Storm are an organisation that, as I've stated before, are doing so many things right, both on the field and off.

It's probably an offshoot from the old Sydney-Melbourne rivalry and, it has to be said, the uncomfortable truth is that Melbourne, as a sporting city, is a Flemington straight in front of Sydney.

Their facilities are better and their attendance figures leave ours in the dust.

I've been to three AFL grand finals and nothing I've ever seen in sport has compared.

And they don't stuff about: Their grand final this year will happen at two-thirty on Saturday afternoon, just like it always has; the Friday before it is declared a public holiday with a massive AFL parade through the city...

The President's Cup golf in December (at Royal Melbourne - rated in the top 10 golf courses in the world), the Australian tennis Open, the Melbourne Cup, the Formula 1 Grand Prix... I could go on.

In my opinion we should be following Melbourne's lead, attempting emulation, rather than this ridiculous taking the piss out of them.

The big news in Sydney is that it is finally relaxing its notorious lock-out laws. Been out in Melbourne recently?

Moving right along - what a rugby league season it's been, and if week one of the finals is any indication we're in for a tumultuous couple of weeks.

With all the dramas before even a ball had been kicked - and with some of the more serious issues still before the courts and unlikely to be resolved until sometime next year - I stated earlier that I wouldn't be surprised if, for the first time ever, this year's premiers may very well come from the bottom half of the eight finalists.

Despite my eminently sensible anti-Sea Eagles sentiment as stated above, I had a feeling that Manly (15th last year), under Hasler's guidance (of whom I am a fan), would improve.

They not only improved, they've made it through to the finals and, in the process, and against all odds, sent fellow seasiders, Cronulla, to an early waxing of their boards.

Manly's opening finals performance against the Sharks, coupled with their season proper, must surely have substantially shortened Hasler's odds for coach of the year.

But, having said that - stop the fight!

Even more amazing than Manly were the Eels, last year's wooden spooners, who began their finals campaign with an unbelievable all-time record-setting finals winning score of 58-nil over, what turns out to be, the over-rated, under-performing Broncos.

From my prediction that a team from the bottom half will win, nobody was as impressive as Parramatta, who haven't won since 1986.

In closing, a few thoughts on this farce that is the Bunker and the DRS and the whole trend towards technology based decision adjudications.

I understand the desire for flawless decision making, for sports refereeing to be transparently error free.

But the thing is, that is not what we're getting.

The Bunker continually gets things wrong, and the set-up is such that things they could get right and subsequently correct (such as that incredible lines-man's stuff-up on the weekend) they are unable to play a role in.

Annersley openly stated on Monday that in the Storm-Raiders game there were two incidents where a Raiders player should have been sin-binned. They weren't.

What then is the point of the Bunker?

In the cricket, the scribes are being critical of our captain's failings concerning his utilisation of the DRS.

Do we really want the ability to work the decision review system to be one of the most important tactical tools in a Test cricket captain's arsenal?

It doesn't quite sit right for me.

And, also, I don't see this type of technology being used at Robin's Oval in the Maitland cricket competition any time soon.

It separates the nature of the game from its traditional grass roots, and, it's sort of just not cricket.

You have to ask, are we better off with the DRS and Bunker?

If these systems are so flawed, as would appear to be the case, then perhaps the games were better - they were certainly more organic - with humans on the field calling it as they see it.

And the fans and armchair experts arguing about it at the pub.