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I just got back from training. It was a quick hour on the track for the players. That being said, it was not an easy session. Most were blowing bubbles very early and were stuffed at the end of the session. Not only was the humidity hard for the players, but the drills they did were bloody hard work. It seemed that they were working on some more pressure, 2 way running and some tactical stuff in the drills today. The first drills were 3 separate games of 5 on 5 after a tap down from the ruck. They had to run the ball to an end to score and then the other team got the ball. The focus was on picking up a man when defending, cutting your opponents space and blocking/ hitting their bodies to make it hard for them. Tackling was also full on here. By the end of this they were already knackered. Harmes was dry reaching and done and King was battling to move. Next they did a drill focusing on carrying the ball out of defense and once on the HFF it reverted to carrying out of the HBF and hitting a lead up from CHF who quickly played on and hit a lead up FF. Was really happy with the skills on this drill and the voice. Last drill they did was the hardest work. It was a full ground drill which started with either 5 on 5 or 6 on 6 in the middle and a FF at each end. They played around with quick hands in the middle until a coach called out a team who had to work the ball up to their FF. If they got it to the FF then the game swung around and the forwards became defenders and vice versa. The team then had to try and take the ball up the other end of the ground. Tackling, pressure etc. was full on and any mistake etc. was a turnover. There were 2 sets of the 6 on 6 and each group worked for 3 or so minutes and then came off to swap. They did this probably 5 times each and each time they came off they were all stuffed. During this drill you could here them focus on running to space, 2 way running and more importantly the defensive pressure, especially blocking ot getting a body on someone so they could not run to spcae. Overall they trained really well, under the circumstances. I have written on other training sessions, so you will probably know who I have rated so far, but from today the best trainers were: * Barry - fast and skilful and pushed really hard running both ways * Tyson - just silky and running is improving * Dunn - I am not a huge fan of his but he is working hard and he has a beautfiul kick * Pederson - worked his butt off and his defensive pressure on more nimble players was really good today * JKH - continues to look really good * Hunt - has speed to burn but I watched his skills today and he kicks the ball better than I thought * Michie - I watched him closely today and he is really composed and strong over the ball Did not see Vince, Jetta, Fitzy at all today while Viney, Dawes and Clark did some running/riding. Was great to see all the players in their training jumpers with their real numbers, does make it easier for people who dont watch training so much. And yes, Stretch was wearing 7 and Brayshaw 15. Also had a good chat to a mate of mine who works at the club, and he was telling me about some of the players. He does not pick the team, but if he did, he said JKH would be his smokey this year and says that Tyson is an absolute gun and a steal !!! He also said Dawes is close to resuming full training as is Clark, but they are being very cautious with them both so they are ready for the start of the year. He said Clark only twinged the hammy but they are being very careful. Also said seeing Hogan hurt his knee, you would have thought he did an ACL, but only a couple of weeks, so we are bloody lucky !!! Also said Salem was quite sick before Xmas and they are just taking it easy with him as he will be a very good 10 year player, so there is no rush this year. Any questions I am happy to try and answer.

Also popped down to training today and I'm a bit half glass empty, points to note include:- *Casey Fields looks good * Watts - hasn't bulked up in body, has in arms. Will never be a star in the midfield as won't win enough contested footy but will be damaging on the outside. Those comparing him to Mundy are off the mark, Mundy played mid for years and has a strong inside game. I think we need to get our head around he will be an average to good player, not a star. Also wouldn't be that fit compared to most mids so be interesting to see if he can gut run defensively the way Roos likes, history and his attitude say unlikely * Cross' wage is paid off by his training standards, was disturbing that he was last on the track - where is everyone else? * JKH was impressive * Blease is frustrating, don't think he will make it as a mid, small forward due to his tank and he isn't fit enough to run defensive in the Roos game plan * reality is we have some issues heading in to the season. Viney, Clark, Dawes, Jamar etc all in best 22 and haven't played or trained much in last 12 months - ages away from being a good fitness base for all of them. for mine we have too many on reduced programs and am worried about that * Spencer is huge now, shame he can't kick or mark that well. Will always provide a contest * Howe is a great athlete, looks in top nick as does Dunny and Garland (underrated and should be VC, will provide great support to the captain) * Trengove is slow but you just want him to make it as he is a leader and great trainer, fingers crossed * Nicolson and Cross were practicing kicking, no surprises there * No Roos as yet * Michie an impressive size, think he will play a flank /mid position *Tyson moves well, looks good. Hard to tell how fit he is but just moves so well * Salem looks like he is not fit enough and has minimal muscle tone; dont expect him to play in 2014. Young mids need a full pre season and he stood out with his lack of physique * Toump looks good, future leader if he can play well *Pedo is fit, whether he fits in the gameplan will be interesting * Hunt is impressive, will be good in a couple of years That's about all I can remember.

Training pictures at Casey today including an action sequence of young Billy Stretch ==> http://www.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=36047047&AlbumKey=ccGjHn

I have been impressed with Watts. Having watched many sessions over the years, this is by far the hardest he has trained. The fact he is doing all the drills with the mids is basically making him have to work harder with his running. His skills are still fantastic, specifically his kicking anf I have seen more effort and application when it comes to tackling and blocking. I dont think the coaching staff would let him get away with not doing it!!!! He was a little fumbly on the groud today, but that was later in the session when they were buggered. He still picked it up eventually and delivered well, but it shows he has more work to do. In the last drill today the coaches used Garland (one of the leaders and our better defenders) as an example of lack of effort, where he was absolutely stuffed but let Howe sprint past without a block to receive the ball. Just another example of more accountability and getting the basics right.

Most of the spectators have left and the players are now in the rooms. The only two people out there now are my son who posts as Blistering and my grandson who's wearing the famous #31 and playing under 10s this year. Needless to say, he's training the house down.

Regarding WorkSafe - from the Essendon thread one could probably conclude that WorkSafe take little interest in things AFL :-(

Thx for the report farmerwiz. Great that you could sum up so many career trajectories from one training session.

I'm at Casey Fields now and it's not only hot but the flies have turned up in their abundance. Sam Blease is running laps. Mitch Clark is walking with Chris Dawes and there are three groups doing ball work, some with training jumpers and others with yellow-green vests. It's going to take me some time to work out the new blokes and I hope I do so before I go into meltdown.

Well written summary of training mate, felt like I was there. I've been saying that all along (Tyson) so no surprise I agree with your mate. Will be a star this bloke.

So i guess i need to do the typical follow up comment to this and say, "the kid is going to be elite."

For those about to slash their wrists over our #1 draftee, I can report that you can relax. Christian Salem's out there training as are our other two Nation Draft selections (I think the rookies are out there too). JKH and Dom Barry look fast and impressive. I'm assuming that Brayshaw and Stretch don't require permission to train because they're the official AIS invitees this week and training is part of their work experience.

How dare they go to the tennis when we only won 2 games last year. They should be at training. Absolute joke.

The talent pool, in theory, is the same size now as it was when the then VFL was a 12 team competition. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the Australian population in 1986 (last year of the 12 team competition) was 15.6 million. Today, ABS estimates the population to be 23.4 million. That's a 50% increase in population - exactly the same as the competition size increase from 12 to 18 teams. Granted, there's more sporting opportunities today for people to choose to participate in; but there's also a significantly greater financial reward to entice footballers than there was in 1986 so I expect some who would not have chosen football as a career then (because they foresaw better financial opportunities elsewhere) were lost to the game.

thanks for the reports fellas Havent got to one in the new Roos era yet . Something I do take from these reports is we seem at last to be learning a much better game of footy. I watched sessions over the years with the Preacher , Bails and Neeld , though in a way they seemed more Craig than Neeld and amongst all that I saw bugger all in terms of high level tactical footy. They were pedestrian in the main, going through all the 'good old ' stuff that yo did at training ( at lower levels ) without seemingly having any style or panache about them. Stock standard footy training and we were mercilessly pumbled over the years by better teams with better footy. Yeah sure we player 'beautiful flowing footy' for a while but we were easily shown up as lightweights once it got narky. i think it looks ( sounds ) like we're learning "AFL footy for winning" Looking forward to getting down to the paddock soon...seems like we may have caught up some

I did a Satyricon and spoke to Cam Pedersen as he came off. That's it for the session at Casey Fields but they then go to AAMI Park for leg work and gym sessions before knocking off at 4pm. I didn't see the Russian but I'm due to give him a call over the next day or so and I'll ask how he's travelling. I'll also try to do a little report later.

There's a young kid out there wearing # 7 but it's not Jack Viney. Slightly built, has a darkish complexion and I think I heard someone call him "Billy". Reckon he's a Stretch. Going well too & doesn't seem out of place. I'm guessing that the other AIS invitee, Brayshaw is wearing 15 because Mitch Clisby and Max Gawn who don't appear to be taking part in today's training, have gone inside the rooms. No apparent reason - both look fine.

Unprofessional...

I went to training yesterday and thought I would wait and read other peoples reports first. Not much to add in regards to what was done, just to say that there was a lot of pressure and tackling in the drills today, which i really liked. Secondly, saw Steven Stretch and I assume his wife and maybe another son (if he has another, not sure), watching training. They were very excited watching Billy and seemed to enjoy the session, although, like many on here, on occassion they did get overly and prematurely frustrated with errors on the track. One of the main things i saw with some mistakes the mistakes were that they were generally because of 2 reasons, either fatigue or pressure. They trained bloody hard and fast and there was little or no rest in the drills, therefore the players were getting pretty tired, and then some mistakes appeared. It is only natural, and it amuses me when people at training groan or get annoyed when players make an error at TRAINING - not sure how they will improve otherwise. Also, the pressure put into the drills was great, and when people bemoaned mistakes, I was smiling inside becuase of the constant pressure the other players were putting on. In regards to players: * I can ony continue to say how impressive Tyson looks - if fit will be a great get. * People who continue to downplay Cross' kicking, I clearly wacth another game. He is no gun, but he hits targets and knows his limitations, dont kick too long and hands off if a better option is there. * Jones continues to train well, his kicking is so, so much better than it used to be. * Grimes is impressive, was really happy with his strength in all drills and his voice. * Tapscott continues to train really well, a great improver at this stage. * Not sure about people saying Trengive looks slow, he was never super quick, but he is looking better than last year. Also others are saying Toumpas is looking fast and I saw Trengove following him easily in one drill! * Blease looked much fitter and stronger today and was putting on really good pressure and tackling well today, someting i have not seen often. Also saw Watts put on a few strong tackles. * Someone said Jetta looked fumbly, I was actually impressed with his training thus far. He actually looks quicker than previous. Seems that he has been told he will be a small defender and it might help him to know he has a set position now. * Watts skills are great and I can really see the benefits of him in the midfield, just have to hope he can find the will to be a tougher. * In regards to Dawes, he is moving really well and I have no doubt he will be ready for Round 1, just taking precautions and following a set program for his pre season. * I watched Michie for a while and was impressed with his agility but i did not notice him too much in other drills. * Barry looks really quick and his kicks can be precision, but it is funny that people bag others for kicking when I have seen Barry do several absolute floaters every session. * Howe has been great in all sesions watched so far and I think that he is praying that all our other talls are playing cos he will maul any 3rd/4th defender who they play on him. Other than that I am happy to answer questions on training, as I have been to quite a few sessions so far.

The drive to Casey Fields is always interesting. If you haven't been there for a few months, you're immediately struck by the amount of new residential building happening which is of course, one of the main reasons the Melbourne Football Club is out there in the first place. This is one of the fastest growing residential regions in the country and over time, it's hoped that the club will benefit from that growth and develop a much healthier supporter base than it has at present. But all that is of no effect unless the club prospers and grows on the field and that's what I was looking for as I made the trip down the freeway to Cranbourne. I wasn't expecting too much with the temperatures edging towards the low forties and the flies congregating around the small but hardy group of supporters who braved the oppressive conditions. This was compounded by the non appearance of the bulk of the club's talls who are suffering various ailments, none of which are said to be long term in nature. Missing were Mark Jamar, Max Gawn, Mitch Clark, Chris Dawes, Jack Fitzpatrick and Jesse Hogan. That left us to concentrate on a pre season training session in the heat involving many of the club's midfielders which is the area that has caused us so much distress in recent years. Even then we didn't see Bernie Vince or Aidan Riley and Jack Viney turned up but I didn't see him on the track. Even the coach is far away in Africa and we're less than a month away from the start of what used to be the NAB Cup. However, there was enough on display to suggest that the emphasis in off season recruiting on the midfield will pay off. That is not to say that from hereon in the Demons will be elite in that division but rather, that they will be competitive and will perform like the bulk of the midfields in the competition and not resemble a bunch of fugitives from Madame Tussaud's waxworks. This is what I took from training and from what I have seen of the influx of players into the club through trades and the draft. Dom Tyson looks all class, Viv Michie looms as a surprise packet, Daniel Cross has class and experience and we know what (the admittedly absent) Bernie Vince can do. Jack Watts is a classy mover and disposes of the ball well. Jimmy Toumpas looks as if he's going to step up in a big way and we have high hopes for Jack Viney, Sam Blease and a resurgent Jack Trengove minus the burden of the captaincy. Then there's one who impressed me this morning - Michael Evans who deserves a break from injury looks fit and solid and could be a bit of a surprise packet. This will all add quality to our 2013 midfield of one, namely Nathan Jones. The way they trained and ran in the heat was impressive. There were a couple of little blokes who could also surprise by adding pace and skill to the set up in Dom Barry and Jay Kennedy-Harris. And if these changes made by the new coach bring result in a more solid, efficient and reliable engine room, imagine how much this is going to be appreciated by the overworked defence of the past and how the forward line (currently all in rehab apart from Jeremy Howe) will benefit in terms of greater opportunities for scoring. Of course, all this is written in mid January, a traditional time for rose coloured glasses and things could well change dramatically over the coming months but I think we're on the up and up. I remember sitting high up in the gods in our round three match against Richmond two years ago and, realising that our static midfield was bereft of any run and spread, knew we were in a spot of bother. Now, I know that we will no longer be wax figures in the most important part of the ground and that is where I see our improvement in the months ahead.

Sigh... *unzips pants*

I spoke to Mark Jamar today. He is recovering from a hamstring injury, as are Mitch Clark and Max Gawn. Chris Dawes, we know, had knee surgery at the end of last season and is also easing into training. The Russian was at AAMI Park doing leg work as required by the club to assist in recovery from his hamstring injury. I think he used the plural so I assume at least one other (Jack Fitzpatrick?) would have been with him. There is no reason why at this stage of proceedings a conservative approach shouldn't be taken.

Unlike our social inferiors, we of polite society in Romsey do not boast about our wealth. "The lads" would consider it quite vulgar. However, suffice to say that we are not in such a parlous state that we need share our bathwater. I am certain such behaviours occur at the Gat but then again, you expect that from street people? As "the lads" and I don't frequent places like Borewood and the Peoples Republic of Frankston I am unable to comment on the behaviour of those particular commoners .

He worked hard today. looked good. good to see him busting his arse.

You'd think it would be earlier than that if he supposedly only 'strained' his hammy and the club are being extra cautious.3-4 weeks is a serious hamstring injury so I'd be very surprised if that were the case. As Yokozuna has said, they're being extra cautious with both. Which is a good thing. They'll both be right by the start of the season. Appreciate the reports once again.

The current system is not the problem; a draft and salary cap regulated sport allows well-run bad teams to get better and compete against good teams. This happens in the NFL. This is starting to happen more in the NBA. This is the model to emulate. The problem that we face at the Dees is one of our own making, it isn't the inequitable system. Look around; Freo are up, the Saints have come down with the Dogs after being up, North are about to shoot up, the rest of the teams are yo-yoing as intended, the expansion teams have confused the situation but this will settle in a short while after their players become older and they lose some of their talent (as they have already - Dom Tyson). The MFC is the poorly run outlier. We have made consistently bad decisions for a decade, and they have come home to roost over the last few seasons, and I am not just talking about Neeld or Cook at ND12. We failed to keep Thompson, we got Pick 5 taken from us in 1999, we retired too many and too early, we picked poorly with early choices in 01, 02, 04, 07, 08, 09, and 11, we have chosen two coaches who couldn't last, we have had distractions seemingly every year. We do not need to implant foreign structures that will not work - we need to start (or continue as of Viney/Hogan) making better personnel decisions and properly develop players while keeping our current level of coach that we have now. It's not the AFL - it's us. And relegation and a league overhaul is a remedy to a problem we don't have.

Interesting to hear jack viney talking to jimmy toumpass dad, he said he has an ongoing hip problem that is frustrating the **** out of him, and then toumpass old man was talking about how jimmy is enjoying it a lot more down here now, and had really struggled with the pressure he had put on himself last year.

Confucius's 1/2 brother itwood seemso said, playboy who play the rackets, get burned in the long run.

I hope Mark Neeld and Carey have a mutually beneficial experience. Just because he failed as our Senior Coach doesn't mean everything else he has done or will do will be a failure. But I can't help wondering if Carey is prepared for Mark Neeld wanting to make a Year 8 boy School Captain.

Tennis fans are a special breed and lets face it, NQR. Tomic again proved what a lame unit he is. Another Aussie Balkan also ran with a psycho dad. Tennis players are a pathetic lot of tossers. The girls deserve more money than the men-they are tougher.

Will the Carey school bus be renamed the reality bus?

The poor children.

There's no such thing as "passing" your VCE. You get an ATAR, which determines your percentile rank. You won't do much with a low ATAR anyway. I know a girl who spent six years at a private school, got an ATAR of 20 and is working in a cake shop. In regard to Education degrees, you won't get entrants with a high ATAR until you pay teachers more. What's the incentive? Politicians make promises like Bailleau, then reneg. You don't need a high ATAR to be a good teacher in the lower grades of school, although it helps. My wife is a lecturer in Education at a Victorian university. She says the best students are those with a high ATAR, good at communication and understanding teaching concepts, and working with kids. They're the ones who will often end up as leading teachers and principals. Not far behind are those with lower ATARs but who still have the idea of what makes a good teacher. Some of the worst are those with higher ATARs but who have no commitment. As you go further up the years at school, a high ATAR is more important because the knowledge of the subject matter demands it. But again, there are teachers with very high ATARs who have continually poor teaching skills and poor communication. So a good ATAR is important and would improve the teaching profession, but not the sole determining factor, or even that critical. My daughter is a teacher and has a double degree in Arts-Science from Melbourne. She teaches VCE Psychology and Biology and currently tutors in graduate education. For the last two years she's actually written the VCE Psychology paper, and is currently working on a project with a number of universities to include Neuroscience in the Psych curriculum. For the record, she had an ATAR of 94. IMHO, notions of problems with 'left-leaning' teachers are spurious and irrelevant, dragged up by politicians when they want to divert an educational debate.

Robbie as you can probably guess again I think you are on the wrong tram (or should I say tunnel). If I was interviewing teachers for a position I would be looking less at their academic scores and more at their rapport with children and their passion for their subject. Have they worked with kids previously, coaching sport part time, something that indicates their commitment and enthusiasm for teaching and working with kids? High IQ's and exceptional study scores are one thing but not necessarily an indicator of a great teacher. If they can inspire a child to be as good as they can be, the teacher has achieved much more than some highly intelligent graduate who cannot relate to their class. why do we need high IQ teachers who are teaching fairly basic level curriculum that anyone with a degree could understand. The real skill is being able to impart knowledge to others and Can inspire others. Our different opinions may stem from the emphasis on content versus process. I think the content, the curriculum is secondary. The process is all important. Teachings kids to analyse things, how to solve problems and think for themselves is important but not as important as building their self confidence and ability to communicate and work with others. You don't need Einsteins to deliver this.

The drive to Casey Fields is always interesting. If you haven't been there for a few months, you're immediately struck by the amount of new residential building happening which is of course, one of the main reasons the Melbourne Football Club is out there in the first place. This is one of the fastest growing residential regions in the country and over time, it's hoped that the club will benefit from that growth and develop a much healthier supporter base than it has at present. But all that is of no effect unless the club prospers and grows on the field and that's what I was looking for as I made the trip down the freeway to Cranbourne. I wasn't expecting too much with the temperatures edging towards the low forties and the flies congregating around the small but hardy group of supporters who braved the oppressive conditions. This was compounded by the non appearance of the bulk of the club's talls who are suffering various ailments, none of which are said to be long term in nature. Missing were Mark Jamar, Max Gawn, Mitch Clark, Chris Dawes, Jack Fitzpatrick and Jesse Hogan. That left us to concentrate on a pre season training session in the heat involving many of the club's midfielders which is the area that has caused us so much distress in recent years. Even then we didn't see Bernie Vince or Aidan Riley and Jack Viney turned up but I didn't see him on the track. Even the coach is far away in Africa and we're less than a month away from the start of what used to be the NAB Cup. However, there was enough on display to suggest that the emphasis in off season recruiting on the midfield will pay off. That is not to say that from hereon in the Demons will be elite in that division but rather, that they will be competitive and will perform like the bulk of the midfields in the competition and not resemble a bunch of fugitives from Madame Tussaud's waxworks. This is what I took from training and from what I have seen of the influx of players into the club through trades and the draft. Dom Tyson looks all class, Viv Michie looms as a surprise packet, Daniel Cross has class and experience and we know what (the admittedly absent) Bernie Vince can do. Jack Watts is a classy mover and disposes of the ball well. Jimmy Toumpas looks as if he's going to step up in a big way and we have high hopes for Jack Viney, Sam Blease and a resurgent Jack Trengove minus the burden of the captaincy. Then there's one who impressed me this morning - Michael Evans who deserves a break from injury looks fit and solid and could be a bit of a surprise packet. This will all add quality to our 2013 midfield of one, namely Nathan Jones. The way they trained and ran in the heat was impressive. There were a couple of little blokes who could also surprise by adding pace and skill to the set up in Dom Barry and Jay Kennedy-Harris. And if these changes made by the new coach bring result in a more solid, efficient and reliable engine room, imagine how much this is going to be appreciated by the overworked defence of the past and how the forward line (currently all in rehab apart from Jeremy Howe) will benefit in terms of greater opportunities for scoring. Of course, all this is written in mid January, a traditional time for rose coloured glasses and things could well change dramatically over the coming months but I think we're on the up and up. I remember sitting high up in the gods in our round three match against Richmond two years ago and, realising that our static midfield was bereft of any run and spread, knew we were in a spot of bother. Now, I know that we will no longer be wax figures in the most important part of the ground and that is where I see our improvement in the months ahead.

Don't think Machsy's comments were obnoxious. I think perhaps he had an issue with a training report which was more of a series of personal opinions about players abilities and careers rather than a training report. Correct me if I'm wrong Machsy. However, thanks again for making the effort to get to Casey and giving your views farmerwiz.

Yeah Thompson would probably be my favourite writer, for his politics and sport as much as his "freak power" type stuff. Alcohol is my main thing these days due to ease of access and ability to relax with a drink or two and not go totally off my head however I can't really say I'm a huge fan of the stuff. I don't mind being tipsy but have grown more and more to hate the feeling of being "drunk" so will generally stop myself before I get there. I think most drugs can have a usefulness but it's all about the circumstances. I wouldn't want to go tripping at a footy game and would prefer to sink a couple of beers or scotches. By the same token I'd rather smoke weed if going to a concert or perhaps a movie but if I was hanging out with a small group of friends or at a music festival I'd rather take acid or something like that.

Amazing artist Redfoo. As was Damhir Dokic in his own way . But thats got nothing to do with the price of fish in China, or Wimbledon for that matter.

Seriously, you two, its incredibly boring wading through piles of your crap on every thread.

Teah Maria?

haha Six6Six you are a legendThanks for providing the Demonland members with more great training pics, its very much appreciated

In the under 9s.

you have to have balance... the storeman packers, continually gave funding to Uncle Tony's parte`, not to mention running favors for the Libs. all those rich companies who send their thanks in padded envelopes to the LiBs fundraisers for election favoritisms. alan jones has a crook for his beloved blue blooded LiBs. & tends to favor them in his monolectures & in his fun draising campaigning on their behave's. so in an demo cracy, their does need to be balance to find a harmony.

Why not... why spread the focus in this thread as this is about Uncle Tony's hidden bodies agendas. maybe its really Pell who's pull ing the strings.

I don't know Biffen. You cannot go past some of the brilliant humour of those wacky Eastern Europeans. And don't tell me that you don't get as excited as me to see the brilliant musical artist Redfoo shuffling outside Rod Laver Arena whilst his girlfriend, the wacky, zany Victoria Azarenka calls mysterious injury time outs. Very disappointed.

agreed. ... lets see a full investigation into this, & following that, a real independent inquiry into all pollies Xploits of the AUS$ purse.

Where was he last year when we needed him?

Neeld was on of the worst things ever to happen to our club. F him. Forget him.

Dont begrudge the guy life after coaching Melbourne. He didnt hire himself to MFC we are complicit in his appointment and his management - he doesnt get all the blame. It says more about our government funding of private schools that they can afford ex AFL coaches - your taxes at work - meanwhile public schools cant get basic building maintenance.

So, the Gonzo part derives from a love of all things Hunter S Thompson and the requisite excesses? I was never a fan of smoking dope as I found it too antisocial for my tastes and so took the what was then referred to as, the juice freak route. LSD, mescaline (synthetic), psilocybin etc were all dabbled in, but still nothing could quite equal the alcohol in appealing to my extrovert nature. These days I indulge very little in anything, but still do enjoy the very occasional drinks session.

I am having great success with Tyrell's - just picked up half a dozen Brokenback Shiraz plus six of their pricier whites. And I always let them know it's because they sponsor the Dees.