The morning began is miserable cold, damp fog. We should have known. It didn’t get much better until the sun came out in the early afternoon, but the horse, and the game, had long since bolted by then.

SFX was in outstanding first quarter form: they ran, they found space, they moved the ball with the speed of the big blokes. They were unstoppable. The Roys were stunned. Who could blame them?

The defence could not withstand the pressure and a slope that for the first quarter meant that it was all downhill for the home team.  The ball rolled, bounced and soared through the goals. Terry swung an extra man in defence, giving Patrick the responsibility of sweeping across the half-back line, which helped but SFX had seven goals by quarter time.

It’s a long way back from such a deficit, but the Roys refused to surrender. For three quarters, they were competitive against a team that is clearly destined for finals football. Kent was busy, Adam Mac found his pace the longer the game went and Darcy won some hard balls.

But it was cold and dry in the Roys’ forward line, where the opportunities were few and far between. When Josh and then Martin limped off, it looked like the Roys were destined to have an ugly day, but the pair returned later when the Roys started to find some form in the last quarter.

Sebastian let SFX know that the Roys would not give up easily with some stirring tackles and Max was fierce at ground level. Down forward, Lewis kept presenting and Nick N took a good mark on the half-back line.

It was James T who managed to register the Roys only score when he hit the post after another one of his searching, tackle-breaking runs.

The final margin was 71 points, but after quarter time the Roys had held SFX to 4.3, a terrific achievement against a strong opponent,