This time next week, I will be getting my gear out of the cupboard, sorting what I will be taking with me and what to wear. I will take a peek at the weather app to find out if I need to take a raincoat or not. Given the sheer unpredictability of Melbourne weather, a raincoat will be packed. I will make sure that I have my digital ticket ready, along with my parking confirmation. I will make sure that I have prepared some snacks to pack and that my drink bottle will be filled with water and kept in the fridge until ready to go.
I cannot remember feeling the emotion of both sheer excitement and bloody trepidation. Is it because over the past two years, we in Victoria have been messed around in going to watch a sport that is the very lifeblood of who we are? Is it because of what our club has gone through last year and in previous years, it finally seems to all be coming together, and we are not sure what to make of that? It could be one or the other, or just both.
All I know is that right now, I am exceedingly emotional about the prospect that next week, I will be at the G watching the Blues in their new feel, new look and a new mindset. I’m not going to go over what has led us to where we are now, as it is time to draw a line in the sand, sorry the footy field and step over that to make 2022 a year that we Carlton supporters will look back with satisfaction that this time we have got it right and we have the tools to be successful.
I have missed the game that I love so very much and would make social plans around a match. I have missed the hype leading into a game, a big game, which, this time next week, it will be.
Because it is this match next week, where we have to make our mark on the game itself. We have to show that the ‘horribilis annus’ that was is no more. That we are going to be the club that we all want it to be and know it can be.
The game next week is an opportunity to show the footy world that Carlton is back and back with a vengeance that should hopefully obliterate the past years of gloom.
We must never forget this past because, in the end, what pushes us down, gives us a chance to rise again with a determination that will leave the footy world gasping for breath and feeling scared. That is what I am nervous and excited about, as I believe we have the talent to do just that. We just need the belief that we can. We need to settle our nerves and excitement and show what we can become. I need to calm my nerves and excitement.
This time next week, I will be decked out in navy blue, my flag in hand, my backpack on, hoping that when I wake up on Friday I will be unable to speak due to losing my voice chanting, screaming and singing the song that starts…we are the Navy Blues!
#TheTimeIsNow #GoBlues
SPORTZ 