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Are we watching the most spectacular slow motion sports team collapse of the ages?  

The protracted spiral of the Warriors has been stunning.   

Last night’s stumble against the Sea Eagles wasn’t surprising, or frankly that upsetting, as this team has made fluffing their lines an art form.  

The myriad of ways the Penrose Mud Dogs have managed to soil their bed sheets is impressive, the mercurial manner in which they play is rollercoaster exciting, sadly the car always seems to part ways with the track, leaving a smouldering wreck for the coaching staff to pick through.   

Cruel? Sure. Not as cruel as having your hopes slowly eroded throughout the back end of the season. Death by a thousand cuts. Spectacular one moment, spectacularly bad the next.  

The only comfort here is that this is not an outlier. This is not unusual. This is life as a Warriors fan. If you expect anything else, you’re new to the bandwagon and you’d better get used to it.  

To be fair, the NRL is an incredibly tough comp to win. It took Cronulla 50 years to win a title. 50. And they’re based in Sydney.   

The Wahs must deal with many a hurdle, the endless trans-Tasman flights being one. They’ve had a pretty rude casualty list. They tend to be rhubarbed by the officials. They’re used as a stepping stone back to Australia for promising young talent. The list, like the team, staggers on.  

The beauty here is the Forrest Gump in them. At any given time, their box of chocolates might produce a gem, this is why we keep watching.  

Oh, and they’re our team. That’s why we follow them. We don’t follow them because we know they’ll win; we follow them because they’re ours. As distressing as it can be, it’s part of being fan.  

It’s looking sad AF right now, but hey, dum spiro spero. While I breath, I hope.