September 29, 2014: The season in review...

It was hard to imagine the devastation. The pain that Sydney would have experienced leaving the hallowed turf at half-time, knowing that glory had eluded them, would have only been compounded by the awful knowledge that they had to go back out there. That they needed to spend another hour playing the rule of animated witches hats, humiliated by a force that - on this day at least - was as great as any to have graced a football field. Even when that subsided, they would be forced to watch as the cup - the cup they believed was rightfully theirs - was held aloft by other hands.

Hawthorn's dominance on Saturday was of the order we haven't seen since ASADA played Essendon in the Federal Court, the only saving grace was that they weren't forced to pay costs - a bill that included Tom Jones. Any who protested this teams place among the greats must surely now be assuaged. We are privileged to have witnessed it.

It was one bright spot in what has been a dark year for a our great game. ASADA rolls on against a backdrop of disastrous fixturing and other ill-fated tinkering with a formula that has worked perfectly fine for decades. Goal review controversy, inaudible sirens and the perennial cases of drunken misadventure have absorbed ample column space. At times the game itself was seen as a corollary to an arsenal of alternate narratives.

We finish the Smother's first season with gratitude for those who talk about footballers on football grounds, rather than footballers in court rooms. Those who advocate for curtain-raisers rather than fireworks and all-star dance troupes. Those who remember, however much life distracts us, the simple pleasure of that walk to the 'G, those precious few hours when nothing else matters.

Thanks for reading in 2014. The Smother salutes you.