Probably the most unexpected thing in Burlok's career was the painful plummet back to Earth that the S54 Falcons felt. We had just come off a whirlwind S53 where we, arguably, over performed with a 4 star cup win and a historically successful first season in FHM. I think people remember how dominant that team was, but it wasn't even supposed to be our peak. the S53 class which made up half-- or more than half-- of our roster was at our 350 cap, not 425. So returning to S54 felt like it was truly going to be our year, like we would somehow hit even bigger heights.

Obviously, we did not. After a shocking sub .500 regular season, we somehow made the playoffs by just a handful of points in the 4th seed. We were then ousted in 7 games by Newfoundland. Any other season that's just a rough season and a playoff loss to a good team-- but I think everyone on our roster was going into season 54 with sky high expectations. We all knew S54 was supposed to be our peak, and we had already won the dang cup BEFORE we peaked. How could we not steam roll that season?

But alas, it was not to be. Call it a cup hangover, or bad luck, or any other combination of things, but to me the S54 Falcons were a wildly unexpected surprise. A bad surprise, to be clear. Very bad.