The NRL will claim there's two more weeks to go in the 2009 season.
But for me, it finished last Saturday night.
Once the Dragons were rubbed out for 2009, my interest in the NRL season went to zero.
From here on in, I simply don't care what happens or who wins (unless the Dogs lost the grand final on the bell courtesy of the video ref - that would be absolutely hilarious).
Read more Try Hard blogs I'm not motivated by spite and it's not because I hate the remaining teams - though the Dogs and Storm do fit nicely into that category.
It's not even because I don't want to see other fans celebrating a grand final win that could have been mine.
It's just that I'm a Dragons fan, not a footy fan. They're the team that I care about, they're the one I've followed since I was six. Take them out of the picture, and there's no reason for me to care anymore.
I don't watch games in which the Dragons aren't playing during the regular season, so why would I change that in the finals?
I'll pay attention to the Dragons Toyota Cup kiddies, who are vying for a grand final spot this Friday night. And I'll try not to smile every time the commentator calls Dragon Wes Suckley's name (sorry, but there's something about that surname that brings out the immature schoolboy in me).
But that'll be as far as it goes.
As far as I'm concerned, the off-season has started. And I hate the off-season - months and months of no footy (known to other people as "summer").
It'll take me another few weeks to get used to the fact that there's no game on the weekend. Another few weeks to change gear and rediscover that there are topics of conversation that don't involve the Dragons (I'm a crap conversationalist and have been known to use the Dragons as a fallback quite often).
Another few weeks to work out what to do on the weekends. And another few months of watching those old 1977 and 1979 grand final videos.
So, when's the Charity Shield on next year?
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Incidentally, I've already checked to see when the 2010 season kicks off.
It starts on the weekend of March 12 - and the Dragons' first game is away to the Parramatta Eels.
Which has highlighted a very neat piece of hypocrisy from Eels CEO Paul Osborne.
When the Dragons' boss Peter Doust rightly refused to move their home ground semi against the Eels to ANZ Stadium Parramatta CEO Paul Osborne said "In all honesty, his decision is madness".
But yesterday he was asked if the recent surge of support for the Eels would prompt him to move the game to a bigger ground so more people can go to the game.
He said, "we're pushing hard to sell memberships, and part of the attraction is that the fans can come to Parra Stadium to see a game like that to open the season."
In other words, he's happy to do exactly what he criticised the Dragons for doing.
Jeez, what a hypocrite.
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