The truth behind Tryhard
Once upon a time the St George Illawarra Dragons won the premiership.
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And I started up a footy blog called Tryhard. Because obviously that grand final victory in 2010 would surely be followed by a few others.
Life's better since Dragons losses don't ruin my weekend
Well, that didn't happen. Sixteen years later and we haven't won another comp. Haven't even played in a grand final. Hell, in that time we've barely even made the finals - which I think you'll agree is a necessary precursor to winning a premiership.
And yet, Tryhard has now made it's long-awaited (not really) return. Why?
Well, I don't have a good answer for that. As illustrated above, there hasn't been a whole lot of success going on in the Dragons camp.
Besides, expecting commonsense and logic when you're a fan is just dumb. There is no logic when it comes to supporting a team (unless you're one of those mercenary types who have been supporting Penrith for the last few years, only to forget about them this season. If that's you, sucked in).
For better or worse (more of the latter and nowhere near enough of the former) I've been saddled with the Dragons since 1976. And I have no idea why. Others have great origin stories behind their fandom - the team was passed down from their father to them, the family took them to matches when they were a baby. Stuff like that.
Me, I have no explanation for why I picked this team. Sure, it could have been worse - back in the 1970s I could have chosen Newtown or North Sydney.
There is no thought to switching to a different team - that's just not how being a fan works. You pick your team and you stick with them, through thick and thin.
Though after 15 years of thin, I wouldn't mind a bit of thick sometime soon.
Read our weekly St George Illawarra Dragons musings as Glen Humphries dissects the good, bad and ugly of the NRL season.
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