This time last year, we were again the feature team of the Herald Sun. The Blues had been on a trip to Malaysia, with Mike Sheahan invited. We were the 'golden boys' of the Herald Sun, with article after article pumping up our tyres. The positive press continued well into the season, with the notorious article written by James Hird titled "The Fab Four", ahead of our round three clash against the Bombers.
Being a young, developing group, the positive press became too much and it was evident in the attitudes of many who played in that match that night. This is where I can see extreme positives in all the bad press written about the club lately.
The underdog mentality has helped us to achieve the impossible over the years (1999 Preliminary Final comes to mind), where the players simply do not have to worry about the pressure of living up to the hype of several articles written. Along with all the negative press, the departure of Brendan Fevola further provides us with this "underdog mentality", as most of the uneducated football world (and believe me, that's a lot of people) think that without Fevola in the team, we will be absolutely hopeless. This invites the players to embrace the challenge of proving the footy world wrong, and sticking it right up the Herald Sun.
From a marketing perspective, this negative journalism could potentially be damaging. However, from the perspective of the inner sanctum, the coaches and of course the players, it will do wonders. At the moment, each and every sprint done, dumbell lifted, lap swam, and training drill undertaken is fuelled by the sheer determination of some of (if not, all of) the players to well and truly hang the Herald Sun, and the "holier than thou" footy world out to dry...
I can't wait, I think this bad run with the media has a silver lining, and this silver lining will deliver fantastic results for us in 2010 and beyond!
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