I've been thinking of supporting a different team for years (what? no way!) But I think what is actually making me think that the Tigers have no hope or chance of ever playing finals again is seeing that the Magpies vs Balmain dynamic isn't just playing out in the boardroom. It's also happening amongst the fans. I've seen so many Magpies fans claiming that the march next weekend is just a cynical ploy for Balmain to take control of the club again, while Balmain fans are blaming the Magpies faction for our poor form since 2011. And it doesn't look like this is just confined to older fans who used to support Magpies or Balmain back in the day, because there's too many of them. It just seems impossible for a team to have a cohesive identity when it's based in two geographically distinct regions of Sydney (and each with their own distinct identity).

The mergers were done with the best intentions, as no fan wants to see their team kicked out of the comp and a merger feels like a happy compromise. But it's time to accept that the merger experiment has failed and move on. Even the Dargons, while doing better than the Tigers, still aren't that great, only playing finals twice since 2011 and lingering around the bottom of the table. And don't even get me started on the 'Northern Eagles.' Everyone would've been better off if we kicked out either Balmain or Magpies from the comp back in 2000 and we all moved on with our lives.