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* Russell Howcroft did a bit of a warm up plugging the mfc.com.au site and the club's face book page but he loses marks for his failure to mention Demonland - for heaven's sakes man, get your act in order * Club Chaplin Cam Butler was awarded the Volunteer Award for his service to the club since 1997. Great effort for a bloke who started off as a Bulldog supporter. Spiritually, we're in good hands. * We learned that the MFC has the highest rate of conversion of supporters to members in the AFL. Knowing this will help me win a trivia competition one of these days. * Board member John Trotter (also an accountant with Deloittes?) went through the accounts. We made a modest profit, had a positive cash flow and our balance sheet looks healthy. Our level of expenditure is trending upward from the bottom two or three to the middle of the pack but still well behind the big spenders. The audience was so bedazzled by the presentation that there were no questions. This is usual at football club AGMs - we all sit around like stunned mullets waiting for the footy stuff. * Don McLardy talked in brief about our tough year and the issues we faced. The AFL investigation in particular, has been costly and hard on the club and the people asdociated with it. He said that despite the troubles, we have a settled, united and focused club and football department. * Cam Schwab was interesting and as articulate as ever. He went through our main objectives, spoke about the continued investment in the football department, in particular recruiting and explained the concept of "first and forever". It recognises that we created the game but our absolute objective is to finish first and that when this is achieved it is a lasting notion. He also said there is something special and unique about how our members and supporters relate to our Club. Redleg who was sitting on my left said, "Amen". * At this staged I checked the cricket score on my iPhone and the Bravos were causing some flutters with their run chase against Australia's big score. * Todd Viney was next up and thanked the loyal supporters and members for their generous support to help them recruit to the best of their ability. He then introduced 12 of the 14 newcomers to the club. Absent were Dom Barry who is with the indigenous training camp in Alice Springs (along with Aaron & Nev) and Dean Terlich who was in SA attending a funeral. There was a big of by play between the shorter players led by DRod, Shannon Byrnes and Jimmy T and Jack V (the latter isn't as small as I thought - perhaps he's grown a couple of cm's?). * Revelations of the evening - Jesse Hogan will possibly play in a NAB Cup game this year and both he an Jimmy T are living at the Viney home. On that basis, I reckon Todd's wife is crucial to the club's future and I hope she's a good cook (male chauvinist comment # 1). * Mark Neeld was interviewed and wasn't keen to give much away but he did say we were doing things faster and longer at training this year and the intensity was 15% greater. There was more purpose in the way we trained. He said that we were still well behind the leading clubs in terms of vital games played. Swans averaged 130 in the grand final, Hawks 113 - we're not even close to that. Neeld said he's not selling fairy tales but is looking at getting better. He explained that the club put in significant research before deciding on Darwin for the training camp. The camp tested the players both physically and mentally. * There was a wide range of questions that covered everything from the players' facial hair, a female chauvinist () comment about how good looking the players were to questions about our improvement, the future of indigenous players in the game (brilliantly answered by Neil Craig), our continuing role in China and the fate of the Hankook and Kaspersky sponsorships. All handled well and, as I mentioned above, no avoidance of any issues. * We were reminded about the first intraclub practice match on the morning of Friday 15 February at Casey Fields, the Family Day @ Luna Park on the morning of Saturday 23rd February and ... oh, we happen to be playing our first NAB Cup game the night before that. * got home to watch us beat the Windies. And in the end there were no revelations about the tanking inquisition (although I can say that tempers are fraying among some of the supporters at the way we've been treated by the AFL). Nobody sang the club song at the end either which was a first but I don't mind that. We can sing the song when we win a flag, not when we win four games, three against Mickey Mouse teams and one against a club being investigated for using something that might be prohibited.

Consistent with this, I signed up my kid yesterday. He's not even born yet. Due 6 May.

I have utmost confidence in Craig. When he says "high performance with high integrity" he means it. In 2006 Dank approached the Crows with his "services" and in no uncertain terms he was told they were not required. He recently got knocked back by us, common denominator is Craig. We're in good hands.

Well, maybe the Demons have been a really good side for the last few years. Just looked awful because everyone else was cheating.

IF we were sold performance enhancing drugs any time over the past five years, I would be demanding (i) drug analysis and (ii) a refund

Do you have yourself on 'ignore'?

I'm not sure how anyone else feels about the AFL and world sport in general at the moment, but me, I'm starting to get a bit sick of it to be honest. Being a Melbourne supporter all my life (30-40 years), like most on here I have never experienced the ultimate success. 1987 was heartbreaking, 1988 was embarrassing, 2000 was expected but still bloody hurt. All I wanted growing up, and all I still want to this day, is to celebrate my beloved Demons winning a flag. At stages in my life, I've probably been guilty of thinking that I'd do anything to see us win a flag, and hoped that the Club felt the same. But to what extent does a team have to go to to reach such heights? I look back in my time and remember the dominant Hawthorn team of the 80's, the power of the Eagles in the early 90's, the brilliance of Essendon in 2000, the Brisbane legacy of the early to mid 2000's, and the recent Geelong era. But did I sit back watching in admiration and jealousy under false pretense? I read on here recently about the rumour of the 80's Hawthorn team being on the juice. The Eagles were always rumoured to have had assistance, even to the point where one of their premiership players hinting to me a couple of years ago (in a private conversation) that there was a great deal of fact behind some of those reports. Essendon in 2000? Based on the past 48 hours - who knows? And given the connection between then coach, Mark Thompson and the men of the moment, "The Pharmacist" and "The Weapon", questions have to be raised about the Geelong team. The only one I'm yet to hear anything about is the Lions (although Alastair Lynch's treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome wereas questionable), which I sincerley hope their 3-peat is squeaky clean, because I have no doubt that team was the best I've seen in my life time. So, it makes me wonder, is it really worth winning a flag? Are we going to be able to legally compete against some of these top sides, especially if we keep our noses clean (pun intended), when at various stages others don't? I don't know what would be more heartbreaking, going through life not seeing a flag, or finding my team that dominated an era and created its own legacy did so under the assistance of drugs. Luckily(?) it's not just AFL that is under the pump. However, it is a terrible shame that elite sport has come to this, and hope that either the senior figures of all codes can stamp it out, or that I'm overreacting! I was told a quote one day out fishing when I lost the standard "big one". It is better to have loved and lost, than not to have loved at all. I guess we would all love to feel that sensation of winning a flag, even if years later it was found that we had assistance. To leave here one day not knowing what that feeling is like, good folk like ourselves shouldn't be put in that situation.

Clean up the [censored] sport. You guys talk about Lance. You want true success? Go and watch Cadel's first proper presser after winning the Tour de France. All the journos got up and gave him a standing ovation - not because he won, but because they knew he was clean. It's worth it to win clean.

The can of worms has just has its lid blown clean off. I'll start with taking a swipe back at our so called expert sports writers, not all of them, but we all know who they are. Seems they have been all too busy slandering the MFC and demanding we had the book thrown at us,they have missed leaking or alludiing to a story, that is the biggest in Australian sports history. They were all pretty good at throwing and digging up mud to support their agenda. I wont rehash it all over again, but you'll understand my point. Speculation: I would guess that the AFL / Essendon knew the news on this drug investigation was on the verge of breaking and therefore gave the EFC a chance to announce any concerns that they had before this Doping investigation was blown wide open. In other words, announce their concerns and do it now.or face harsher penalities if anything un-toward is found to be within their club. Not a get out of jail free card,but lessen the penalty if any proven. My hunch is the AFL informed the EFC, the best we can do for you, is warn you, its in your best interests, to come out and make a statement on your own accord. After that its out of our hands. My 1st thoughts when it was announced by the EFC was you beauty!! I hope you go down big time, if proven illegal drugs have been involved within the club. Probably because we have just been put through the wringer re our 'tanking'. It was nice to hear someone else in the gun. But having digested most of the facts and the penalities that can be invoked, I hope they are clean. I also hope no other AFL club get hits hard over this. I pray like hell, the name of the MFC doesnt even get a mention in passing. Even though McLardy said we have nothing to worry about. Reassurring as that is, I'll rest easy when an offical announcement to made known by ASADA there is no mention of the MFC or any parties assocciated with it. Then they announce who they will be targetting, then who faces penalities. I HATE C'wood Essendon, Carlton as my top 3 teams, made no mistake about that. But wishing any of them to face these charges, is NOT something I would want to hear or see . If the Dees were confronting this, I would be well past shattered. Lets remember, when the MFC was looking down the barrel, Eddie / CFC were one of the 1st to help with a lending hand. We as a code, should at the end of the day, stand side by side when support is required. But I'll take thrashing them on a footy ground and 20 goals and not blink an eyelid. Anyone that has a teenager hoping to play AFL or any other sport, would like to know that their kid isnt about to be pumped full of drugs, to keep in pace, or make them better than someone else. Use natural ability, not reliant on drugs to perform. If ,and it doesnt sound good at stands atm, Essendons lifeline may be beyond help, if its proven. It will be a sad day. It makes our tanking investigation look like a ripple in the ocean. I welcome the stand ASADA / AFL has taken to stamp out drugs in sport. it should make anyone think long and hard when managing players etc. There is no place for drugs, organised crime, gambling running our game. I hope for a good outcome for all that have come under investigation. But if found guilty. They can only blame themselves, and they get what they deserve.

I can't believe some people are angry/dissapointed and perhaps even saddened by the fact that they didn't play "the club song" at the end of the AGM. Save it for when we win and a game and have EARNT the right to sing it. Not at the end of a meeting so those that attended can go home and be full of "sunshine and lollipops" and feel like the MFC are gonna stroll into the finals. We have a long hard road, and have plenty of work to do but we are on the right track. And when it's played, and we have earnt the right for it to be played by winning, by golly I will sing it loud and proud!

I am an Irish Catholic who hates Meth Coast more than I hate Glasgow Rangers such is my contempt for their club

Exhibit 1 your honour....I give you Cale Morton Exhibit 2 Jack Watts Exhibit 3 Lucas Cook Exhibit 4 Jordan Gysberts We rest our case

might just be me, but when Mark Neeld first came to the club, in the videos uploaded on the MFC website he would often remark "the Melbourne Football Club", whereas now he says "we".

I thought the AGM was a well run and professional affair but if anyone went there to learn something new in this age of the internet, social media, twitter et al, forget it. Notwithstanding that, I left with a little warm and fuzzy feeling about the future. Notable to me was the fact that nothing particularly critical came up from the audience in question time and there was not a single attempt to muzzle any questioner and all questions were answered in a forthright and as far as I could judge honest manner. So to those critics who were cynical about one or two questions being avoided last year for sensitive reasons, that didn't happen tonight. Perhaps the audience used their discretion in some areas but there should be no complaints. Conspicuously absent were those who bag the way the club is run from the top in terms of finances. I expected someone to get up and eplain why it was better for the club to be $5million in debt (as we were when the Stynes board came in) than $6.4 million in surplus as we are today. It didn't happen. Personally the most pleasing aspect from my point of view was Mark Neeld's comment that the club still has people who are in touch with Liam Jurrah and offering them our support even though he left the club because he wasn't in the right space to be concentrating on his AFL career. Of course, the second part didn't give me comfort but the fact that as a club we remain loyal to a former player in trouble is a mark of what we should be aspiring for (and that's not a comment on all of things of which he's been accused. He's a troubled person from a troubled community and it's good to see the club wishing only the best for him. A brief comment was made in relation to the enquiry into Essendon over the use of prohibited supplements. The club has done it's own internal investigation and does not believe it has anything to worry about. Phew, phew. I didn't make notes tonight but I'll report some points later (with the aid of some tweets I've read on Twitter. Anyway, as I said above, I remain warm and fuzzy and I really believe that the club's in good hands. And by the way, the young 11 year old who asked the first question in question time is a relation of mine. He's my cousin's grandson and it's the second year in a row that he asked Mark Neeld a question. This time it was whether he thought we'd improve. He's already working on next year's question but in all modesty I say he's an even better footballer than questioner and he's likely to be the first family member to play AFL. Go Dees!

Bring on the footy I say. Politics is taking over the game. Cant wait, till the game speaks for itself after each weekend

At the beginning of this saga I was just glad to see the focus of the blood-thirsty media personalities turning to another club. I'm still glad of that but this issue could really hurt the games image. I really feel sorry for the bombers fans, I know they can be real [censored] but end the end of the day they love their club like we do and they don't deserve the sh!t that's raining down on them.

That's why Evans, Robson and Hird were looking "ashen-faced ©" at their press conference. But there's quite a few "possiblies" in there.

I find the charge of forcing players to accept injections against their will, absolutely heinous. I'm not a parent ... but few things would be more repellent to me if I had kids and was in the process of guiding them into a particular sport. The scribes are right. This is the biggest scandal in AFL history.

I posted the following in the Essendon drugs related topic: "I really think that the AFL will want the Tanking issue out of the way now post haste so that they can concentrate all of their efforts on this latest debacle, and what better time to sweep our case under the carpet than now. They know that if they bring in a guilty finding against us, they will have a long and protracted court case to deal with... what do you think they would rather deal with, a few journos bad mouthing them over their relenting (I think you will find there would be a few clubs breathing heavy sighs of relief if the accusations are dismissed), or the serious business of cleaning up the drugs issue? The changes to the way in which priority picks are handled has virtually ensured tanking will no longer happen, so in a way that problem has already been solved, but the drugs issue is not going to disappear unless a genuinely concerted effort is made across the whole comp (and even that is no guarantee)."

When the fans demand it ... Range Rover obliges!

With the amount of crap we dished out....we must have been on Metamucil.

DAMN, I knew Morton and Cook put on too much muscle...

If anyone wants some light entertainment, then i'd suggest visiting the 190+ page thread on Bomberblitz, some serious denial in there ...

An answer to that relies on reflexive thinking, but I've suspected for a while that mjt wouldn't pass a Turing test. As Sue's attempt to explain using something as difficult as analogy shows, it's best to avoid anything complicated.

Pot, kettle etc.

I think it would be more heartbreaking to learn we spent the last decade being rubbish AND we were on drugs. Now that would be disastrous.

I would have thought that the Eagles, who incredibly bulked up over two years would be at least looked at in some depth. Maybe that picked up Cale as a decoy to put ASADA off the scent? :-))

As a young footy supporter in the 80's my intense Hatred for the Hawks & Bombers spouted and grew. I agree with others sometimes it can be great to see other supporters wallow and cop a lot of heat over their club and my initial reaction when this was announced was thank christ we are off the back pages for a day or two. As more news came out I realised two things we will be off the back pages for a fair amount of time, but I also like many of you understand how bad it is when you as a supporter cop it from opposition supporters. I have a lot of empathy for the Bombers fans think back how you felt when in 2007 our future looked very bleak. All I wanted then was for my two sons and hopefully grand children to have a Dees team to follow. This is big make no mistake every Bomber fan will be coming to realise the worst case scenarios could see their club struggling for many years to come, depending upon how they fare they could even become a sponsorship no go area for years to come. That along with a massive debt and interest they will have with their new facilities could see them be looking for handouts for many years to come. I really hope for the sake of footy in general the worst case scenario of systematic doping being uncovered, players outed for two years and Essendon being unable to field a side for two years does not eventuate. Whilst I still hate the Bombers and always will it is not good for the game, fans or sport if this happens

Judge: "The jury has announced it needs more time to deliberate". OldDee QC for the Defence: "Permission to approach the bench, Your Honour ..." Judge: "Granted". OldDee QC for the Defence: "Listen ...we didn't think we'd need to submit Exhibit 5 but here it is ..." Judge: "Case dismissed ... Next!"

Neeld is like Malthouse, dependent on the circumstances AGM - does not want to create a headline, wants to look professional and completely in control, with a bit of humour DEETV (with Robbo) - trying to show his 'human' side TV internews - does not suffer fools Chatting to him at Training/Family Day/Function - a really nice guy, if you ask a question you get an answer The most important is the Coach's Box and this year he will show how good he is

Hilarious selection of comments from Essendon supporters in the 'Hun today. "As a lifelong supporter of the Essendon Football Club I will be tearing up my membership." "As a 71.y.o lifelong supporter, I am finished with this club. To imagine these practices could go on unnoticed by club officials on the scale it appears to have done beggars belief. 100 years of proud tradition wiped out." "As an Essendon supporter I think the club should not be able to play for premiership points this year and should be stripped of all draft picks. You do the crime you do the time." Talk about perception becoming reality!

A bit off topic, but: You've got to hand it to journos. Here is the first few sentences by M Robinson today: UNQUESTIONABLY, James Hird would have asked himself in recent days whether he should resign as Essendon coach. The answer is no. Resign for what? That Hird even contemplated the question tells us the weight of responsibility he feels. Sentence 1 - speculation Sentence 3 - written as if the speculation was fact. It may be that I've missed seeing elsewhere (and before this article was written) that Hird had said he had considered reigning, but then sentence 1 is wrong.

I don't particularly like or dislike Andrew Demetriou but I think he's presided over a pretty successful period for the AFL. Certainly there are some issues of concern, but I reckon when compared with the NRL and FFA, the AFL has been managed extraordinarily well. I used to wonder how David Gallop got out of bed each day when he was CEO of the NRL - that was a much harder gig. And lets keep in mind that our club still exists and according to reports of our AGM last night, we're in a pretty good financial position. Demetriou has consistently wanted to maintain the core clubs in the AFL even while expanding the competition and has managed a complex financial equalisation program (although some clubs are still more equal than others). Is it time for him to go? Personally, I think he's earned the right to go at a time of his choosing. Disclosure: In a previous role I had to deal with Demetriou. I found him, er, difficult. But he was only doing what he thought was the best for the AFL.

Hmmm...the only club to have had a longer wait between premierships than us is the Bulldogs...are you sure we are in good hands, or does this tell us there is no god?

I started reading Would you want your son playing AFL footy? on Wednesday 6th February, 2013 at 11:10 PM and then I noticed this - ... and I thought well FMD, I'm in the Twilight Zone. She's writing stuff in the future now which probably explains its closeness to science fiction except I find that most Sci Fi is clever and this shyzen is plain dumb, mean spirited and pathetic.What about if your son was playing at Richmond in 2007 under a coach, who in clear contravention of an AFL rule downed tools and didn't coach the team on its merits because he was so desperate for his club to secure Trent Cotchin? Or would you want your son to be playing more recently for the Toigs sleeping in with a mate and missing a training session? (BTW don't expect any of this to be covered by The Shrew in commentary) Would you let your son or daughter become an AFL official so that they could turn a blind eye to the activity of some clubs and pick on others? We know what that means? Would you allow your daughter to become a journalist and make prejudicial comments about the guilt of others before an investigation is completed? To pick on people she might be running a vendetta against? I've got her pegged. A good journalist at times when it comes to gathering facts but when she does "comment", she's all over the place and not particularly logical or smart. And if this is an article on ethics ... One of these days people might start digging into some of the things that happened at Richmond in the past. I wonder what items of interest they might uncover?

Spoke to several coaching staff and players at the AGM. Paul Satterley particularly impressed me. He said that Jimmy Toumpas and Jack Viney would possibly improve enough by the end of the year to negate the need to target a player like Daisy Thomas in theTrade Period. He said we probably only needed one more premiership player from another club in Trade Week to help us push towards a future premiership. He also suggested that we might be more interested in a player like Buddy Franklin in trade week. Maybe we are only going for one big name in the Trade Week at the end of the year and we will use the draft for the remainder of our requirements. Anyway it will be interesting to see how the year unfolds and the AGM was impressive at every level.

Report page 17 is dynamite..... Elite Athletes 15 Widespread use of peptides has been identified, or is suspected by the ACC, in a number of professional sporting codes in Australia. Although the use of peptides appears to be more widespread in some major codes, individuals from a number of other sports are also suspected of using peptides. Multiple players (in one code) from a number of clubs are suspected of currently using or having previously used peptides, which could constitute an anti-doping rule violation.16 Some players have also been identified as sourcing peptides for personal use. An instance of team-based doping, orchestrated by some club officials and coaching staff, has also been identified. Apart from the peptide’s anabolic effects, it has been found that injured elite athletes, particularly players from one sporting code, have been using peptides to assist in rehabilitating soft tissue injuries. While the level of suspected use of peptides varies between sporting codes, officials from one club have been identified as administering, via injections and intravenous drips, a variety of substances, possibly including peptides. Moreover, the substances were administered at levels which were possibly in breach of WADA anti-doping rules. This activity was orchestrated by some club officials and the club’s high performance unit. While intelligence confirms the use of peptides in major sporting codes, it further suggests that individuals in a range of other codes may also be using peptides.

Cos it doesn't happen....

Awks. I searched for his name, must have spelled it wrongly. OK. Back up plan. Round 8, Pick 57 - Jackson Bird (Australia) Need an Aussie anyway.

I actually find those comments a little sad, because I know how I would feel if it was the Dees in that position.

Oh jeez, i hope no other club gets really caught up in this.... Ok maybe Collingwood

Is Don Not good !!

Some may argue tanking comes under gambling. Personally when there was a priority pick, I think gamblers should have taken into account a team's position and goals as well as form in placing a bet. Ditto for that pre-final match when Freo fielded their reserves. Given the current press conference, it is unlikely that it is a coincidence that Essendon asked the AFL etc to investigate 2 days ago.

I'd say the opposite OD...and this is for mine, why. Currently the 'tanking' fiasco is still in house as far as they're concerned. The AFl can limit damage etc whilst it remains so. Its greatest worry would have to be us forcing it to court where they no longer hold sway and things are exposed to natural justices etc. It ( afl ) now has a much bigger , potentially, fire on another front and already the Sherrif has weighed in suggesting this isnt your fight laddy, its ours, step aside. Now the AFL has a major, major logistics and more importantly (though it ought not be ) PR disaster on its hands. This will tax the resources of even the dark empire. Id actually go to the idea that the drug thing couldnt have come at a more opportune moment if someone had planned it lol The AFL has the option , plainly before it , of calling it quits on tanking, no foul-no harm, lets move on. It has no such option with the drug issue. Right now Vlad and co better be practising their swimming ...a tsunami is on its way.

The corporate mantra is one of winning at all costs. If you don't someone else will. Simply change the corporate creed of profit at all costs to one that encompasses several other reasonable factors and change would be swift. Problem is, greedy shareholders want more!

This is precisely why the choice of the previous CEO by the former board was such a disaster (Jonathan Brown indeed) and why his dismissal by the Stynes Board was such an important move at the time. If CS "meddled" in 2011 then he possibly did the wrong thing at the time but that, like the McNamee fiasco, is a thing of the past. Since the overhaul carried out after Dean Bailey's departure, we have a new football department and things seem to be working very well on all levels from administration to our core business as demonstrated last night. Now we need to get the results on the field but with the third least experienced list, its not going to happen overnight. I agree that we need to go past this "tanking" situation which has been going on for an obscenely long time and which IMO has been handled appallingly by the AFL.

From a financial point of view, Trotter reported that a financial surplus is a good result considering the challenges faced this year and the increase in football dept spend. As far as next year is concerned, MFC are budgeting conservatively. They joked that they're expecting Neeld to march into the Board meeting and ask for further funding to expand the Darwin experiment further (perhaps a half joke). Apparently the Bentleigh Club is paying off it's mortgage repayments in positive cash flow. The social and moral conflicts associated with profits gained from poker machines were ackowledged, but it was said that fiscal realities nessescitated the use of gaming venues to raise revenue for football clubs. We are also looking at acquiring a third gaming venue in the long term.

NIce work WJ. Also noted that Neeld said that the boys were training faster, and maintaining that speed for longer than this time last year. The mentality of the boys seems more football focused and they're actively looking at ways to improve. Neeld also acknowledged that 14 players was a high turnover (by MFC standards), and that the Sydney loss was a catalyst for change (I believe he was referring to the list and players who could execute the game plan, but could also have intimated a tweak in game style). When asked whether MFC would be targetting any premiership players in the free agency period, Neeld didn't think Tim Harrington and Viney would even have thought about that yet (I don't believe that for a second). Cam Schwab acknowledged Todd Viney as a good breeder, also said that MFC want to be at the forefront of the equalisation debate. No surprise there, we stand to either gain or lose greatly depending on how things fall. Also said that while it's a great achievment to have moved into the mid tier range of teams (in relation to football dept spend), the gap between the top 4 and the rest is growing very quickly. Also mentioned that he believed that Casey is back on track.

Exactly. Lady Justice must be blind! And what's this eternal birthright to being an 'powerhouse' t that this mob supposedly have? Fortunes change, powers come and go. There are no prisoners in an 18-team competition with sides fighting for glory on the dais. F...k 'em.

I've always disliked Hird-mostly because he was a goody two shoes ,intelligent ,and an elite player . A bit like Lance Armstrong ,something was always missing.I dunno ,some warmth ,some humanity . He didn't want the job ,he ducked it ,and he seems to be intent on taking short cuts to rebuild . We need sustained disaster at Tulllamarine before we get ahead of ourselves . I suggest we enjoy it while we can and concentrate on ou own positives A few hundred more pages and then we should close the thread .