“When you win, you don’t examine it very much, except to congratulate yourself. You easily, and wrongly, assume it has something to do with your rare qualities as a person. But winning only measures how hard you’ve worked and how physically talented you are; it doesn’t particularly define you beyond those characteristics.

Losing on the other hand, really does say something about who you are. If you’re willing to examine failure, your internal workings, too, losing can be valuable. How you behave in those moments can perhaps be more self-defining than winning could ever be. Sometimes losing shows you for who you really are”

Lance Armstrong, Every Second Counts (1st ed. 2003) at 38

5 Best

1. Five new Clubmen receiving a tricolour baptism of fire: Tristan ‘Kipfler’ Minter, Euan ‘Dutch Cream’ Pickett, Tyson ‘Nadine’ Hunter, Cam Jones and Ned Kelly Daniher
2. Stephen ‘One Punch’ Clinch playing 2 quarters with a broken knuckle before being given his marching orders by Lewie
3. The “If you prick ’em they’ll bleed” and “they are not Xavier” narrative workshopped by Picky and the best team manager there ever was on the way along the Ring Road – it had a ring of truth about it
4. Our accuracy – 3 straight goals
5. The good turn out from blokes who weren’t playing e.g. The Ginger Stallion de Nataris, 3rd Trimester Ando, Lewie ‘Hi Vis’ Cross, Insider Trading Sting Ives, George and co.

5 Worst

1. Experiencing the pang of defeat for the first and third last time for season 2014 (save ’em till it counts) #rathernotlosetohipsters
2. The diameter of La Trobe’s oval and how difficult it is to find – Did we get sucked out too wide?
3. The harrowing news that both Hamish ‘Coleman’ Christie and Fr Christopher Ives S.J. are a long way off, even if they were to ignore doctors’ advice
4. The Grand View restricting menu options to the steak sandwich, fish and chips, chicken parma or Caesar salad #noKaleorQuinoa
5. Dragons failing to trouble the scorers against MHSOB #easybeats