"South Melbourne - heading for another championship, South Melbourne - we're gonna win the league" blurted the CD player in the Champions Sports bar at the BJS after the Lakers had made the grand final by defeating Carlton in the two-legged major semi-final. Nothing unusual about that - Frozen Tears' unofficial anthem was on high-rotation at the BJS during the finals. Although reaching the grand final was only one step towards the club's ultimate goal of winning the premiership, the mood amongst the fans was fairly ecstatic. Five preliminary final losses since 1991 had made Souths fans pessimistic that their side would ever make the jump from pretenders to champions, so to actually make the final was cause for celebration as well as relief.
Many also felt a little nervous tension with the realisation that South Melbourne would never have a better, or even another, chance to win a third championship. Most people favoured meeting Marconi in the grand final because it was felt they would provide an easier opponent; an opinion borne out by the Stallions terrible showing in the preliminary final. Bresciano's goal put paid to that and set up the first all-Melbourne grand final since 1991.
Newspaper interest picked-up during the week with an endless amount of interviews and previews, culminating in a street parade on Friday and a breakfast on Saturday.

At last all the formalities were over and we could actually sit back (or for the economically challenged, stand back) and watch the game. And what a game, but that is covered elsewhere in this issue. Boutsie's winner may have been controversial but it was South's fourth win over Carlton in their five meetings and nobody could deny they were the NSL's best side during the season. Regardless of the legality of the winning goal, the incident is history now. As with the 'offside' goal at the 'G' in November, no amount of talk can change the fact that Eugene Brazzale waved 'play on' and South Melbourne won 2-1.

It also preserved the club's seven-year championship cycle, winning its first title seven years after joining the league in 1984 and triumphing for a second time in 1991. Angie Postecoglou isn't the type to allow success to go to his head but South Melbourne's ability to build on this latest premiership ultimately depends on the board's willingness to embrace change, attract more non-Greek support (to complement not replace the existing Greek base) and develop a strategy to attract more sponsorship. It could start by developing a marketing strategy (we are still waiting to see the five-year plan they keep telling us exists) and producing more merchandise. Carlton's range of gear puts South Melbourne's marketing efforts to shame.
It also needs to streamline its board which has, according to who you believe, 17, 18 or 21 members. Regardless of the number, it's far too cumbersome and needs to be culled to seven or eight dynamic people with a clear vision of the club's direction. Such a large board makes decision-making a nightmare and ensures that anyone with new ideas could easily be outvoted. In any case, its difficult to change the board's numbers when the club's constitution was written before the Magna Carta and would keep several top constitutional lawyers employed trying to decipher it.

The problems facing the club are no different now than they were before the grand final so the board shouldn't wallow in its on-field success, thumb its nose at its detractors or pretend that the grand final victory is a reflection of their competence. They should take a closer look at events in Sunshine where the Knights won premierships in 1995 and 1996 (and made the grand final in 1991, 1992 and 1994) but have had to since sell their 'stars' and face an uncertain future playing in front of tiny crowds.
The Knights current predicament could easily become South Melbourne's. On-field success can be fleeting in the NSL and will not guarantee the club's future in the long-term. The board needs to embrace change to ensure the club is still around to scratch its seven-year itch again in 2005.