It was the beginning of March. I had that extra skip in my step, the footy was around the corner and I could not wait to see what season 2012 had in store. It was around the time that Richmond demolished Geelong at Simonds Stadium during a practice match, and my confidence couldn’t have been any higher.

I began studying my Postgraduate Diploma of Primary Education early this year. Throughout this diploma I met a few decent guys - now they’re great mates. We spent much of our free time playing Ping Pong and talking absolute dribble. I call that a great time! Did I say free time? I meant time where we should have been working on group assignments…

Anyway, back to my point.

One discussion too many and this bet was made.

If Richmond finishes above Essendon on the ladder, the reward benefitted me both financially and dare I say, egotistically. I would win $50 and Wooly would have to place a Richmond bumper sticker on the back of his Honda until round 1 next season. I wouldn’t let him hear the end of it.

If Essendon finishes above Richmond on the ladder Wooly wins $50 and I’ll have this ghastly looking piece of sticky paper on the back of my Commodore.

Throughout the season it really did look like I made a terrible mistake. We all know Richmond performed admirably this season, the Tigers lost a few un-losables but never can we say they lacked that endeavor that has haunted them in the past - they just lacked polish.

Essendon on the other hand absolutely smashed most teams off the park. It was after the Port Adelaide contest in Round 16 that I was considering conceding defeat. The Bombers had another convincing win and stood at 44 points for the season whilst the Tigers had just lost to the Gold Coast and stood at 28 points for the year.

Seven rounds left, Wooly had a four-five game advantage, 16-20 points.

Richmond kept losing by a point or two, highlighting the fact that this season just wasn’t meant to be. During this time however, the Bombers began descending. I kept the bet going.

Richmond and Collingwood both defeated Essendon back-to-back. The Tigers only needed to defeat Port Adelaide by 1 point so I could win the unwinnable.

I’ll admit guys I got really cocky. You should have seen me strutting the Richmond trash talk. I let the boys know how this bet was going.

Then we drew.

Wooly messages me saying, “Suck ”. It may have been a few seconds after the siren went but I began to think philosophically. I realized that we’ve come a long way in the last three years under Damien Hardwick. We all expect that with young kids that are jets, the wins will just suddenly come. The problem with that theory is that this path the Richmond Football Club is taking is totally new. We don’t know how to win the big one; we seem to let them go. Even when this Richmond supporter had something on the line, we can’t get the job done when it counts.

That’s what needs to happen next year. It’s what they call that ‘next step’. We need to win these games, or else this misery will come to fruition at our first finals appearance in 10+ years, maybe even a Grand Final.

Whilst this off-season gets under way, I’ll learn to keep my money in the pocket.

Sadly that won’t save me from that bumper sticker, one point makes all the difference.

GoTiges, 2013 looks promising to me.

Constandinos Bouliopoulos

Follow me on Twitter - @conmjj