The last-minute penalty try (fairly awarded, unfortunately) that sunk us in the '99 decider against Melbourne.

There are two things I've learned while suffering the pain of those disappointments:

1) The Footy Gods don't like us much.

2) Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

I can't do much about number one, but number two is much easier. This year, I've been taking a Zen approach to the Dragons. I stay in the moment and enjoy what's happening right now rather than getting ahead of myself and thinking about a premiership.

Oddly enough, I can't say the same for some other Dragons fans. I regularly read a Dragons fan forum and am shocked at the number of people already making plans both for and after the grand final.

There are people buying grand final tickets, asking where the Dragons fans will be sitting. There are others wondering how long our winning streak will be when we make the grand final. Others still are asking which leagues club (St George Leagues or the Steelers Club) the victorious team will visit first after the grand final.

If that's not bad enough there are even people asking for recommendations of good tattooists so they know where to go to get their Dragons 2009 premiership tatt.

Have these people learned nothing from losing the last five grand finals we've been in? They're showing exactly the sort of arrogance rivals fans know us for - the assumption that the premiership is ours because of some sort of divine right.

Really, guys - we've won absolutely nothing at this stage. And by planning for something that might never come they're setting themselves up for a huge disappointment in a month or two.

I can only assume that most of these people became Dragons fans recently and don't fully comprehend our painful premiership history.

For their sake (and of course, my own) I hope they don't have to experience it first-hand come October.