‘Makes you sick, doesn’t it?’ The brutal truth about missing out on a premiership

July 16, 2026 — 9:45am

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Stewart Loewe, the St Kilda great, walked past me a few years back at a grand final moments after the final siren sounded, and commented wistfully, “Makes you sick, doesn’t it?”

It begs the question: if you give every morsel of your being to achieving something for a decade or so, and you don’t achieve it, have you failed?

In a world where we like things to be binary and without nuance, of course the answer is yes. But let’s explore a little deeper.

A premiership is what players play for, but that’s not the way the journey begins. You ask any junior footballer what they want in their life, and they all say one thing: to get drafted. There’s no talk of premierships at such a tender age. They simply want the opportunity to train and play with their idols. To set foot onto the MCG or SCG or the Adelaide Oval, to live the professional athlete lifestyle.

If they are lucky enough for that to happen, the next goal remains just as simple: to play a game.

Everyone is different, but........

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