BY DAN

Have you ever had one of those years that never seem to end? Holidays are non-existent. Days off ruined by circumstance or the folly of human existence. Time slips and melds and melts together like a Dali painting on a hot summer’s day. This year has been that. Nothing dramatic intervened, just fucking life man. The drip of existence on your forehead, wearing you down while your stare into space hoping for someone to fix that leak, or give you a towel, or maybe a fucking cookie. It’s a wonder we managed through the year.

And manage we did. This will be post 243 of 244 for the season, producing the best part of 245,000 words on the Raiders. That’s like three PhDs worth (farkn hell ANU give me an honorary doctorate), or the best part of a 500 page book (when was the last time you read a 500 page book? Shame on you kids with your tik tok dances and your climate change). It was our most read year. Given the Raiders were at best middling, if admittedly compelling, it was really appreciated that you stuck around with us. We even started doing some mailbags. We’ll do more if your questions get weirder. I like weird questions.

Of course we weren’t doing this alone. Rob was back in form this year providing his return-to-usual rumbles, and the additional review for the NRLW. He also did that thing where he fixes the dribble I put forward because I’m too tired/drunk/careless to notice when I get distracted and forget to fi…(that’s a joke about me not finishing sentences….). Ok the cool thing is he’s often literally finishing my sentences. Now that’s true love.

This year Viv also joined the team as a correspondent of the finest type covering the NRLW. I’m really proud (in a hopefully non-patronising way) to be associated with the expertise that Viv has been able to bring to the coverage of NRLW this year. It’s a great competition, and the Raiders are full of talent and characters. In the future when it’s treated with the status and eyeballs it deserves we’ll be able to say the Sportress was there with quality coverage from day dot, thanks to Viv (and Rob).

Of course we weren’t alone in the space. The good people at the Green Machine Podcast kept punching out quality content in their quest to crack 300 episodes like Jarrod, and covered the NRLW also in exemplary fashion. They even let me on a couple of times, which probably was the only major blemish on their record for the year. In addition to making that podcast happen, JB was always in my DMs to help me to spell correctly or keep me in the loop or just generally provide sage advice as to how to not be a dickhead when I got distracted by something shiny. As it is every year it was sincerely appreciated.

Raiders Review with Blake and the Pork kept pumping out one of the more colourful (and insightful) podcasts around. When Hollywood Matt called me out earlier in the year for (I honestly forget what for…there’s plenty of reasons) it garnered me the respect of whole communities of people who thought blogs are for nerds (but for whom Patrick’s death remains an ongoing source of trauma). And of course the Greenhouse, the OG, the godfather of Raiders online fandom, kept being the place most fans go to air opinions as worthy as any we had to offer.

We say this every year but it’s so fortunate for Raiders fans there’s so many sources. Other teams wish they had so many options for news, analysis, opinion, and weird not-popular pop culture references (ok no one wants the last one but me). And without wanting to sound like an airline, you could go anywhere for takes. The fact that you keep turning up here is humbling. Your support in clicking, liking, subscribing is what means we keep doing it this way. It helps us justify to ourselves that staying up til 1am writing a game review isn’t sad and insane (or at least, not just sad and insane). So thank you. You make me feel less crazy. It’s only screaming into the void if the void doesn’t scream back. Yes the road was long and bumpy but it was made easier by your support.

A final note. Be grateful for this time. The meaning of Christmas is that Christmas has meaning. This is a time to hug the people you love just because they are there. Enjoy the moments and the people because they are wonderful and they fill your heart. There will be harder days, tougher times, and these good days and people are ones to embrace. They sustain us. They mend us. And they provide hope, a beacon of light drawing us away from the spirits that drag us into the darkness throughout the rest of the year.

Have a good Christmas from all of us here. Eat too much. Drink too much. Sleep, because you can never sleep too much. At the very least enter the new year with a renewed spirit and faith in humankind. It’s a good place to start.

And for us, maybe next year is the year that the Raiders finally do it. If not at least we’ll have each other.

Up the Milk and Merry Christmas.

Do me a favour and like the page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or share this on social media because love is true and heaven is a Raiders victory. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.