With Tony Abbott riding high in the polls, it was a headline that could have summed up the state-of-play two days out from the election.
The possibility of "Abbott holds whip hand" floated tantalisingly before the media, as the opposition leader inspected goods made from leather at an outer Brisbane factory.
Which - manna from journalistic heaven - included a whip.
"You can try the whip, Tony," a photographer called out hopefully to an understandably wary opposition leader, who has been praised and criticised in equal measure for his no-risk campaign.
"I was wondering when that suggestion was going to be made," Mr Abbott replied with his trademark laugh, before leaving the whip untouched on the table.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
It was much safer to be snapped with the Sherrin footballs on show.
The Packer Leather factory in outer Brisbane was just one stop during the Abbott blitz of the capital in Queensland, which is crucial to the scale of the coalition's expected victory on Saturday.
If reports in the city's only metro newspaper are true, even Kevin Rudd could lose his Brisbane seat of Griffith as Labor falls.
The Murdoch-owned Courier Mail blared with a "Rudd free zone" headline on Thursday, providing Mr Abbott with added encouragement, if he needed any, at this late stage of the campaign.
Sport provided an unlikely theme for Day 32 of the election campaign, after Mr Abbott's deputy Julie Bishop described him as "captain-coach" of the coalition, and talked up his "talents" in the change rooms.
"He's out on the field playing as hard as the rest of us - he's often the best on ground," she said, before providing an image of her sometimes lycra-wearing leader that will stick in the mind.
"But it's when the game's over, when we're back in the change rooms, that Tony's real talents come to the fore."
She told reporters at a Brisbane transport management centre he was a tremendous asset who brought out the best in them.
Mr Abbott also blitzed Wayne Swan's seat of Lilley, at risk for Labor, undertaking a rare mall walk in Stafford Heights where he spied a poster for the Courier Mail, emblazoned with its dramatic headline.
"Has this issue been a big seller? Has the paper walked out the door this morning?" he couldn't help asking.
Yes, the owner replied.
"Good. Good," Mr Abbott declared.
He was then off to Melbourne - and most likely more marginal Labor electorates - for the next stage of his campaign.
