Mike Delany brought up 50 games for the Bay recently against Hawke's Bay and scored all the Steamers points. Delany made his debut in 2005 after outstanding club form, initially when incumber first five Murray Williams was injured. Despite always being the favourite amongst Mafia faithful, neither Delany nor Williams was given the rights to the jersey until after 2007 when Williams moved overseas. Delany was the Mafia Rookie of the Year in 2005 and Player of the Year in 2007 and is sure to be in the frame for the 2009 awards. The most impressive thing about Delany's career has been his willingness to work on his weaknesses. His one-on-one defence was suspect early in his career and his goalkicking fell apart in 2007, but both of these are now strengths in his play. Let's hope Delany sticks around long enough to make 100 games for the mighty Bay.

In my preview on Friday I commented "the unjust defeat to Hawke's Bay has taken the steam out of us and we will limp to an embarrassing defeat." Unfortunately I was correct and the only bright spot on the night was that we didn't surrender and cop a second-half thrashing. It says a lot for the morale within the team although the first half performance highlighted our weaknesses all too well.

After possession and multiple phases ended in a "holding-on" penalty (which we often seem to do as we run out of ideas), the next 25-30 minutes were a nightmare. Iron Man Junior Polu limped off within minutes of the start and was joined by winger Ben Smith. So a reserve half-back and a rejigged backline at the start of the game. Our lineout was hopeless again and the scrum was either being monstered or giving any penalties and points.

A devastated Steamers side was beginning season post-mortems two weeks early after crashing 28-7 to North Harbour on Saturday.

In a month, Bay of Plenty have gone from semifinal certainties to mathematical outsiders. With two games to go, against Manawatu and Taranaki, skipper Colin Bourke conceded pride was their foremost motivation for the last two games.