Viv Paasi's squad entered the Blowes Clothing Cup campaign with high hopes, but after a brutal stretch of narrow losses saw it slip to the bottom of the ladder, an unrelenting toll of injuries and misfortune ensued.

As a result, The Lions ended their campaign on a 13-match losing streak, the final defeat coming at the hands of Bathurst Bulldogs on Saturday, Mick Leseberg's men winning 31-0 at Pride Park.

And even though it reads badly on paper, City has had to overcome so many hurdles this season, something forward Kieran Bonin is proud of his side for dealing with.

"If you consider that only two of the players that took the field yesterday play in last year's grand-final, it was always going to be a challenging season," Bonin said.

"Most of our games we lost by 7 or less. We never had the same team list once this year so I think consistency throughout the playing group really hit us hard and stopped us from winning those tight games."

A shining light at Pride Park this year was the performance of Josh Tremain, the veteran putting together one of his best ever campaigns.

"It was lucky that Blocka had the season of his career," he said.

"He was a real foundation for first grade this season. But overall, I don't think the ladder represents our overall performance this year and believe we did challenge teams."

Saturday's defeat also marked the end of Viv Paasi's tenure as first-grade head coach. He'll leave an immense legacy behind.

"When he got here, grade was only getting 4-6 players to training and now we have our Colts and 3rd grade team looking like hot contenders to win their respective comps and the women's team have improved out of sight," he said.

"Viv has really built up the club in only three years. With a new president and head coach (John Nunn) next season and most of our first grade players returning, we as a playing group has set it as our goal to win the 1st Grade premiership in our club's 50th year in 2023. I honestly believe this is achievable and this season has set a great foundation to do it."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Send us a letter to the editor using the form below