I have lamented the downfall of my team, the Richmond Tigers, this year, and now it appears their decline is complete. In the must-win penultimate game of the season, the Tigers are down by fifty points and unlikely to win tonight's game. A loss tonight means they can't make the finals, and their season is all but over.

It's only natural to get caught up in the emotion of competition. When that happens, even the most mature supporter can slip back into acting like a sore loser. There's nothing wrong with wanting to win, but losses are guaranteed to come Richmond's way eventually, so I need to keep this in mind when my team gets on a run of defeats.

It's okay to be competitive, and nobody ever said I had to enjoy losing, but it's important to keep things in perspective. Winning and losing are just very small parts of the whole experience. Losing is an opportunity for the team to learn, get better, and prove to others that it's not how we lose but how we bounce back from it. 

So, I will take this losing season in my stride and put all my hopes on my team lifting their game again next year.