Something really struck a chord in me yesterday – it all started with the lone trumpeter reverberating ‘It’s a Grand Old Flag’ around the ground and much to surprise, leaving me on the verge of tears.

The mood was somber and I felt quite humbled to be amongst people who I know only by face, but love, and pain for this club as much as I do.

Although, 16,000 was a disappointing turn out, if there was ever a time to get behind them it’s now. If you’re there when they’re up, you’ve got to cop the down times too.

I take my hat off to the old bloke who sits behind us and travels from Morewell each and every week. Unfortunately he was forced to leave at half-time as the regional trains had been cancelled and he was on the bus for the long ride home.

I attributed my emotional state to my sense of feeling that we’ve been served some kind of injustice. Every season there’s a side crippled by injury and this year it’s us, so we’ve just got to wear it, but it doesn’t seem fair.

We had a red-hot go and you can’t fault the boys for trying. There was definitely an intensity in their game that’s been missing the last month – they tackled harder, they tackled in packs, they ran the ball, and hallelujah they kicked it long and posted a respectable score.

Byron was a welcome return, as was the four quarter effort of Davey and Yze (not to mention Yze’s absolute freak, yet I’m sure he meant it, contender for goal of the year. It’s good to have you back boys) and Lynden Dunn’s got a good footy head on his shoulders.

But it’s tough to make an even four-quarter contest when 7 of your best 22 are hobbling, in plaster and probably close to a wheel chair. An unworkable bench filled with bruised and concussed bodies wasn’t going to make the task any easier.

The coming weeks are going to be testing and I am struggling to see us winning a game, but we will, it’ll come.

At times like this I take a trip down memory lane and there have been some ripper moments over the years.

Queen’s Birthday 2004 – The Pies were giving us a bath and it was looking bleak. We managed to narrow the margin late in the third but were still trailing by roughly 25-30 points. Yze tore them to pieces in the last with some of his vintage best and I don’t know by how much, but we got up and it was epic.

Kardinia Park 2005 – Hadn’t won down there in 17 years and after starting the season with such promise we’d gone well off the boil. For three quarters we looked like the Under 16s and were trailing by five goals going into the final change. But something clicked, Robbo went berserk and we got home by a point.

For five years I’ve been going to the match at KP and every year I’ve heard that bloody Geelong song. I belted ours out so loudly that I gave myself head-spins and was abused by an 80 year-old man wielding a walking stick.

So maybe find your stand-out game, bust out the highlights reel if you’ve got one of good times gone by, be patient and know there will be more, but for now we’ll just keep trucking.

Please Note:The views and opinions expressed in the above article are that solely of the author and do not reflect the opinions of MELBOURNEfc.