#50 – Back in Blue (and a bit of red too)

How will they go this year?

They should win it again. The core players and coaches have stuck around, so the quality is still there.

Hopefully crowds are back, so they’ll be spurred on by the colossal roar.

It’s a really exciting time. Of course last time I was this optimistic, Melbourne crashed to second-last place while the price of mid-strength beers soared to new heights instead.

But where do we go when we’ve just reached the summit? What is the motivation, pulling us from the clutches of complacency?

Now I don’t want to pile the misery on Bulldogs supporters – I’ll leave that to the last 30 minutes of the Grand Final.. but they also had a disappointing 2017 after reaching the apex in 2016.

Similar things happened to Hawthorn after 2008 and Collingwood after 1990.

Meanwhile, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin won back-to-back cups as a player and footy boss Alan Richardson talks to the Melbourne Storm staff in the next office who enjoyed repeated success.

Richardson played in the 1990/1991 Collingwood teams. He says in 1991 the team ‘just got back to training and they were off. And it didn’t go well’.

Keeping ‘business as usual’ doesn’t generate repeated success. It was time to innovate and raise standards.

From all reports, the players are training even harder than last year and are motivated to recreate their feat at their spiritual home – the MCG.

So that’s what you do when you reach the summit. You find the next one a little higher.

So yes, I’m still excited. Bring on 2022!

Next week: Pick Up 52