Not sure where to post this but thought here is probably appropriate.
Well this is my 5,000th post quite hard to believe really.
When I first came to the forum I thought it would be short lived but it has been fascinating to say the least.
I have thought about what I should post and that has had me in several minds, so I have decided to just make a general observation.
Most in here would know I am a very opinionated and at times argumentative poster but people would also recognise I do have a deep love for St George but not withstanding that it is time to be brutally honest with myself.
I think that my beloved St George Dragons began to die back in the mid 90's when the Superleague fiasco started and St George actually died when the shot gun wedding took place with Illawarra.
In hindsight I think the jumper and emblem should have been retired and the new venture should have been forced to create its own identity.
So much heritage at St George and to say that it now belongs to a forced joint venture is actually IMO quite wrong.
The joint venture is neither nor in respect of the 2 former clubs, it is very much its own entity and should be therefore treated as such.
I have often been critical of this new club and IMHO correctly so but I have mistakenly premised much of that criticism on what previously happened at St George especially in its hey day.
Any blame or criticism levelled at the new club should be recognised as being of its own making and is only relevant to the time since the joint venture was formed and any references to pre the joint venture are probably meaningless.
St George doesn't exist anymore and what we have is a pale imitation.
Often the threads we have, the players that are rumoured to be coming and the results we achieve are IMO testimony to that fact.
Some of the pie eater players people get excited about could never have come to the once great St George club let alone the clowns in the coaching department but they are well suited to and well entrenched in this new entity referred to as St GI.
I will enjoy the off season looking at youtube of the golden era of St George and will again re read all my books about the great club.
Next year I will probably post a lot less but will still look to see how the new club is going but to be brutally honest can never feel the same way as I did growing up.
Being both a curmudgeon and an Old Timer I will probably spend time analysing why we didn't go down the Norther Eagles route.
No doubt I will pop in from time to time and I take this opportunity to wish you all well as you work out where to from here for the club.
Last but not least I was incredibly lucky to live through the great times for St George and hold that very dear (lots of great memories) and my time in here has helped me to realise that moment is yet to arrive for the people that really only know St GI and you are just entitled to your passion and heritage as I was to mine.