A victory for footy

I was just thinking how amazing it is that the 2 sides in the grand final, and 3 of the 4 prelim finalists, did not play finals footy last year.

Looking at the Cats, they basically made a leadership decision that they wanted to win the flag and nothing else was going to be good enough. So huge congratulations must go to them. They stayed focused, played team footy, and did not accept mediocrity. All of a sudden, no-one knows how they will ever be beaten, and people are talking about a "Cat Empire". Players that were not rated by some now have premiership medallions and wicked hangovers (the best solution for which is to get drunk!), and all of a sudden there are 9 All-Australians in the side and the West Coast Eagles are yesterday's news.

Now on to the dees.

Surely 2007 serves as an enormous motivator that no matter what happened in the past, it's the future that matters. There is no limit to how well a side can achieve with focus and a bit of luck and momentum. There's a saying I love, which is "In footy, nothing is as good or bad as it seems." It applies to every side (maybe except Brisbane during it's era!!!). We have a huge opportunity to come out next year and right some wrongs. New coach, new trades (hopefully the biggest fish of all!) and the memories of 2007 behind us, we can really build in 2008.

We have some genuine optimism through a core group of youngsters coming through, we have some developing key position players, and about 6 "new recruits" including Rivers, Whelan, Bartram and a fit Brock (who now knows how to hold his own in a fight).

This is what will keep me going from the end of trade week to Round 1, 2008!