So with the curtain falling on the 2012/13 season for The Lady Reds and the Westfield W-League semi-finals involving Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne, it's a good time to look back on the Lady Reds season.

The season started with a bang and three points from a home game against new side Western Sydney Wanderers.

The win came on the back of a stunning hat-trick from Kiwi import Sarah McLaughlin and was the least the side deserved from this game after going behind to two long range cross/shots from Servet Uzunlar. 

This win created unprecedented media interest in The Lady Reds and undoubtedly raised expectations of the team.

Unfortunately hat-trick hero, Sarah McLaughlin, picked up an ankle injury during training the next week and was unavailable for the following two away games against Perth and Canberra. 

Despite that set back The Lady Reds went agonisingly close to picking up points from both of these matches. 

A few below par performances followed and much soul-searching took place until the team responded brilliantly at home against Newcastle Jets. 

The Lady Reds dominated this game from start to finish and produced the teams biggest ever victory, winning by a two goal margin for the first time in the clubs history.

Unfortunately we could not use this second win as a catalyst for further points, although the performance against finalists Perth was deserving of something in my opinion.

So in the wash up of another season when The Lady Reds were resigned to the wooden spoon on the last day of the season, where are The Lady Reds? 

Well there are some huge positives. The side has an average age of around 20, which means this team can only get better if they can be kept together.

With youngsters like Jess Waterhouse and Emma Checker already grabbing National team recognition and others surely capable of following suit, the future is promising. 

Off the field, more sponsors have become involved with the team and even more have shown an interest for next season, so again the future looks brighter.

The one big negative I can see at the moment is the negativity from certain elements of the football community, which seems intent on bringing down The Lady Reds. 

No one is happy with the results at the moment but without considerable investment, as in the case of Perth, which allows for recruitment of experienced Matildas, the journey is going to be a long one, not an overnight success. 

So why the negativity? Good question – especially since this negativity was not around last year, when results weren’t as positive as this year.

Well I think it is due to expectation. When I took over last year, the side was, 'the worst sporting team in Australia' and was on the back of a 30+ game losing streak. 

When we broke that streak and secured the first win since 2008, the local media afforded it approximately 20 words, something along the lines of "Australia's worst sporting team, finally break their losing streak" and this was hidden away in news column. 

Less than a year later after that opening day win over Western Sydney, the media provided numerous full page colour spreads and highlights packages on the TV. 

Suddenly people were aware of The Lady Reds; they knew them and they wanted them to win.

So was that hard for the players to deal with, was that greater expectation a burden? Probably yes, but it is something the players have learnt from and it is something they want to continue. They want the expectation and they expect that of themselves.

I thank everyone who has supported the team; as a fan, as a sponsor, as a player, as a parent or as a volunteer and I wish all of you well in the future as I move on.