Imagine you've had a really bad week at work. By Friday, all you really want to do is hit the pub or go home and hide. Instead you have to get up in front of an audience and discuss what went wrong (without swearing or blaming anyone).
Such is the lot of the professional footballer whose work continues off the pitch where they must put on a brave face even when feeling completely devastated and physically drained. Hats off then to Griffiths, Rose, Swaanswijk and Simon who somehow found the guts (after harassment from Lawrie) to get up in front of fans at the post-match function on Sunday night.
Even at the best of times, post-match "meet and greets" must not be high on the list of a footballer's favourite jobs. Let's face it, how many footballers really want to come off the pitch, cram their aching body into a suit and tie and smile into numerous fan cameras ?
Difficult enough after a victory but after a crushing defeat surely it's like pulling teeth. But from a fan's perspective, nothing could be more important than turning up to show support when your team has had a bad time. If you love your team, accepting the odd catastrophe, however painful, just comes with the territory.
Still, it was a dismally small group of Mariners tragics that gathered behind the Kendall Bar on a wet Sunday evening. Lawrie attempted to jolly up the crowd as usual with his Hale and Pace routine while the Mariners younger players hung around the back of the room looking shell-shocked.
You can't blame them. Things have simply gone pear-shaped this week and we find ourselves with only one point from three games, despite a lot of hard work and some great individual performances.
We dominated the Jets until that damned goal-poacher Sash Petrovski stole two points from under our noses. It was never going to be easy to play Brisbane but who could have predicted such an outcome ?
Sure, we were totally outplayed in the first half when Arnie's midfield heavy team formation just didn't seem to work but things looked very different after half-time. Arnie's substitutions proved successful : Kwassie grabbed an early goal and we kept them at bay for 40 minutes.
It was not until 85 minutes that the match became a horror story when McBreen's goal was wrongly ruled offside. How might things have panned out had we entered the last five minutes with a 3-2 scoreline ? Call me optimistic but such a scenario has frequently had the consequence of inspiring a shot of adrenaline for the team and an exciting finish for the crowd.
As it was, the next five minutes disintegrated into a cascade of disasters for the Mariners that left us all in shock : goal 4 to Roar, own goal to Wilko, McBreen sent off. Pain heaped upon pain.
Luckily for us other results went our way and our position on the table is still looking healthy, but the effect on the team's confidence is a worry. Not to mention the prospect of heading into our match against Sydney without McBreen and with Matty's leg in an ice pack.
Surely it's time to give Kwassie a start and bring Perez out of cottonwool, otherwise our only option is to unleash "The Mrdja" from wherever he's been hiding (Youth League). OK, that's going a bit far.
As for team morale, it's the more experienced players that will need to step up and help our very youthful side to put this result into perspective. Speaking after the match, Zwaanswijk was a model of calm and confidence and his vast experience will surely prove an asset as we rebuild our team spirit.
Wilko must be feeling totally gutted but in the next few weeks his leadership will be crucial in maintaining and building our campaign which has been such an overall success. However bad we feel right now, fans need to get behind the team and bring friends on Saturday to show our support is undiminished.
As for me, I have no trouble empathising with my team's current situation. Like The Mariners, I've had a really really bad week at work. The job I once loved has turned into a nightmare and I just want to go and hide. But football, unlike some other things in life offers constant hope, constant renewal.
We will face Sydney on Saturday, with or without our two big forwards, and we will win. We will wear our Come Play scarves to the match because the day before Australia will win the 2022 World Cup. Our tired ecstatic faces will shine out under the Central Coast sun as the future of football opens up for all our generations to come.
And dear Uncle Frank might even give me a job. (Well, I do write for the "Website of the Year"...)
