Despite narrowly missing out on a finals appearance, the season was far from a failure for Mick’s Magoos.

Eleven wins from 18 games, including eight from our last 11, was a great return for a young side which was hit hard by injury, especially during the middle stages of the season when we seldom ran out with 22.

We started the season in brilliant fashion with three wins on the trot, beginning with an eight-goal win over St Kevins.

But talk of finals proved premature as the club was hit hard by injury. And 2s teams are often the hardest hit by them. The 1s call on the 2s for back up. The 2s then have two options. Persuade past players to strap on the boots for a kick or settle for less than a full quota on the bench.

The latter applied and losses followed against Beaumaris, St Bedes, Uni Blacks and Caulfield. In hindsight, the loss to Caulfield, who won just six games for the year, by five points when we played well below our best and nearly stole the points proved costly.

As the seniors regained their best players, the 2s swung their season around. We beat Marcellin, who at that stage were second, on the Junction by four goals, recorded a 91-point win over Ajax, then avenged our loss to Caulfield with a 38-point victory.

Now fourth, we were faced with our biggest test of the year - St Kevins. Skevs had only lost twice since we beat them in round one and were third on the ladder. A win here would have put us equal third.

The scoreboard looked pretty at quarter time, 5.1 to 0.7, but it was all downhill from there. We managed just one more goal for the game and were towelled by 35 points.

There was now little margin for error if we were to make the finals. We overcame a stern test to win by four points over Marcellin, posted our biggest win for the year against Melbourne High but then blew a huge chance to consolidate a spot in the four when we started slowly and lost to Old Essendon by 22 points.

Then came our finest month of the season. We had everything to play for in round 15 against Beaumaris. Had we lost, we would have been two games out with three to go so our season would have been over. Trailing by five goals after a goalless first quarter, we came back to keep our season alive and win by 10 points.

With our confidence up, we took on flag favourite St Bedes. For all but six minutes, we were clearly the better side. However, St Bedes kicked the last three goals of the game to pinch the points. We were still a chance with the final play of the day when Cheesecake marked dead in front but the umpire ruled the man behind also had a fair bite and called a ball up. The siren sounded and we trudged off the Junction five-point losers.

We played with the same ferocity and courage the week after but this time we did not lapse in concentration to emerge victorious by 34 points, arguably our best win of the year.

However, we were now not in control of our destiny. Marcellin had won five on the trot to be fourth entering round 18. To make the four, we needed to beat Ajax and Marcellin had to lose to St Bedes.

While we honoured our end of the bargain and beat Ajax by 22 points, Marcellin, because they were safe from relegation and not in the finals hunt, had the luxury of loading their twos with senior players and edged home by a goal against St Bedes.

Viewed by many as the competition’s smokey, instead it was our premiership chances which went up in smoke.

On the positive side, we’ve stayed in B-grade and need only a few more players on our list to be a genuine contender in 2008.

Special thanks to Jozza who was our goal umpire every week, rain, hail or shine, and our water boys, Matty Lovejoy and his buddies. Thanks also to all the players who put their hand up to run the boundary and the trainers, Jimmy, Lawrie, Fi, Mark and Chaz.

To Mick Carty and Mick Lovejoy, thanks to all your efforts this season. We have all become much better players under your astute tutelage in the past two years. Our season should not have ended in round 18 but we’ll be back bigger and better in 2008.

Tags: Carty, Chaz, Fi, Jimmy, Jozza, Lawrie, Lovejoy, Mark, Matty Lovejoy