More people were arrested in Geelong following the Cats’ victory over St Kilda than faced court when the diggers staged the Eureka stockade at nearby Ballarat in 1854.

We suspect the law will be less lenient on this occasion; all of the Eureka rebels were let off scot-free.

One witness reported central Geelong resembled downtown Manhattan at one point, with a cacophony of car horns and people’s screams continuing through the night.

At least 35 Geelong supporters were done for public drunkenness, while the balance copped a free ride to the cells for anti-social behaviour.

Let’s just hope the local Victorians manage to keep it down to a dull roar in the admittedly possible event Storm manages to do Parramatta – the hope and pride of the home state – on Sunday.

Just because it will be the long weekend is no reason for the Mexicans to get carried away in the event of a win, loss or draw.

Naturally, we are urging all Parramatta supporters to exercise the same level of restraint. And, for many reasons, we are expecting a higher standard of conduct from them.

Rugby league, as we all know, is a great game.

It encompasses skill, talent, endurance, the ability to shine in adversity and – perhaps most importantly – a high pain threshold.

New South Welshmen are generally imbued with an appreciation of the finer points of the code from within moments of their conception, and team loyalties are generally tribal.

What we don’t have, however, is the absurd cult of football that has turned the AFL into a recognised religion – something akin to Wicca, we believe – south of the border.

Sport is, at the end of the day, still just sport.

Unless – and this goes without saying – it is rugby union.

• editor.ndl@ruralpress.com