For mine, I've accepted that St Kilda is like a frypan-burn on the kitchen-bench of my soul : it just isn't ever going to go away. I don't follow them because I ever, EVER think they'll win anything - that hope is now utterly eradicated. I don't follow them because they even represent an enjoyable pastime, most of the time - the incessant losses clearly indicate they aren't enjoyable, the vast majority of weeks. I follow them because, it's just in me to do so... well, and because of you guys.
I suspect there's a lot of us in that 30-70yo range who are the same. But it definitely doesn't bode well, in my opinion for the future. Kids have not had this bizarre masochistic love burned into them like we have, and they have far better things to do with their time. I also know many Saints supporters, including me, who have admitted they've discouraged their kids from following the Saints, or the AFL generally, these days - it's just not worth the crap they have to deal with at school, or the sheer hypocrisy and injustice of the AFL machine, or the misery they have to endure when the Saints lose. all. the. freakin. time. We love our kids too much to do that to them. My kids all follow NBA, MLB and stuff like that, instead, these days.
My dad, who was at the G in 66, will die a Saints supporter. So will I. But Saints support in my family will die with me, I suspect. Gotta break the spiral.