I had a better day than I expected on my birthday, not only did we win in the land of the very long white cloud but the boys bought me a cake and sang happy birthday to me when we got back into the sheds.

Wags had “Happy Birthday” on his iPod I don’t know why, I think that’s just Wags being himself. He’s a man for all occasions.

I was further spoilt by Bonnie, Buster, Archie and my family when I got home receiving a pair of Cons, a hardback book on the world’s best houses (I would live in any of them if given the chance), a National Geographic DVD on the Great White Shark, some lazer guns which are awesome; if you get shot in the pack you get a shock through the trigger, so there has been some snipering going on, and the 80’s version of Guitar Hero, and I am looking forward to playing some Poison!

I actually missed the kids a lot while I was over there, but it did enable me to get some rest, right now Archie is starting to speak a bit more and notice when I am gone, and Buster is unfortunately discovering what his lungs are for.

Anyway back to footy and while I was happy to win the game, it was one of those where the handling wasn’t great and a tight one, which we could have lost. Which means it’s heart attack stuff on the field.

Like any game there were some calls I wasn’t thrilled with, but that’s footy and at the end of the day they didn’t cost us the game, but you could guess which ones they were.

I think the SBW versus me approach to the game is a bit ridiculous but it’s just the media hyping it up. The team and myself have to worry about all of the Bulldogs, they have Luke Patten, El Masri, Tonga, and a forward pack full of internationals including Willie, Sonny Bill, Ogre, Bobcat and Reni Maitua.

They’re gonna be a handful and it’s the first time in a long time that hey have had all of those guys available.

We’re not too worried about Tim Smith getting targeted, he said he is big enough and ugly enough to look after himself, and he has been carrying that shoulder problem for a while, so we know he will be right.

I feel bad for Ben Smith, but it’s a one week injury. We just have to win so he can come back the following week against Melbourne. Joel Reddy comes in for us and he has plenty of first grade experience, so we know he will handle the step up.

I heard Timana say he wanted to win the comp for all of the older guys, and the mentality around the club is similar, we all want to win for each other, which is important, and in my case it would be really sweet to send Ian out with a premiership.

I also noticed there appears to be an issue made out of playing at Telstra Stadium, and while we would like to play at Parramatta, I don’t think Telstra is a home ground for anyone, even the Bulldogs, besides we get to play in front of 50 000 people and that is a huge experience for the players.

Hindy