Spare a thought for Jack Watts this weekend.

Watts slogged through nine AFL seasons with Melbourne after the 2008 draft then was traded by the club after they missed the 2017 finals by a percentage gap of 0.5.

The Demons are now one victory away from the grand final.

Their return to finals, coming after 12 much-maligned years largely filled with miserable losses, is the undoubted feel-good story of September.

Watts, who joined Port Adelaide during the off-season, isn’t taking part.

The former No.1 draft pick now risks joining the likes of Richmond life member Brett Deledio, whose first season at GWS ended with the Tigers winning the 2017 premiership, in an exclusive club that no player wishes to join.

Watts and Deledio’s departures were triggered by different circumstances.

Deledio wanted a fresh start.

Watts, who transformed from whipping boy into cult hero during his 153-game stint at the Demons, was told to look elsewhere in what Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin described as “one of the toughest calls” of his career.

But they have shared the mixed emotions that come from watching close friends celebrate success in September.

“I’ll find them some time late in September for a cold beer and I’ll give them a hug,” Watts said three weeks ago.

“Naturally there’s a bit of that feeling that ‘jeez, I’ve put in nine tough years and all of a sudden they’re on fire’.

“The Dees can do as much damage as anyone in September, and it will certainly hurt.

“On the flip side of that, I’ll be watching my good mates … and these boys that I just love to death.”

Deledio, whose Giants lost to Richmond in last year’s preliminary final, couldn’t bring himself to watch the ensuing grand final on TV.

He instead went to the zoo.

“It was still so raw,” Deledio said last year.

A select group, the majority of them fringe players, has been on the wrong end of mistimed trades that involved their old club winning the next flag.

Lance Franklin, Clinton Young and Xavier Ellis all left Hawthorn as free agents prior to the Hawks winning a premiership while former Tiger Ty Vickery recently did likewise.

Brent Guerra requested a trade to Victoria in 2003, missing a golden chance to be part of Port Adelaide’s maiden title, but 2008 and 2013 premiership medals would presumably have soothed any regrets.

Jarrod Molloy and Steven Lawrence exited Brisbane in 2000 while Alastair Clarkson was traded by North Melbourne in 1995.