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Three things - 1. This whole scenario is the standard "whistle-blower-painted-as-troublemaker" story. It's easier to blame the one speaking out than take a proper look at ourselves. And it's even easier to do when it's someone like Lumumba who has a reputation for not not fitting the generic AFL player type. 2. It's classic white people trying to tell a POC what racism is. White people don't really get to decide what's racist because we're not in the position to experience it. If a POC is saying they're experiencing racism, believe them, they know what racisim is and they're not making it up. 3. AFL fans seems incapable of accepting that someone might be two things. Example - HL could be a massive w*nker but he's also making valid points about his experience of racism at an AFL club. Like Goodes before him, we might look back in time and realise H had very good points to make and we could've learned something from his experience.

Good on Lumumba. Like Goodes he will cop a lot of flak for speaking up but this country still has plenty of issues to confront before we can claim to be a free and egalitarian society.

The ABC deserves to be gutted as it is the only one who has a charter to provide balance, but stubbornly refuses to do so. It used to be a great media outlet back when i was a kid but has become nothing more than a Green-Left propaganda mouthpiece. It also seems to go out of its way to push the most critical viewpoint of Australia. The Project is a great fit for the ABC come to think of it.

To be honest I don't watch any of these infotainment channels but I assume it would be the same as a "lefty" given a right of response on one of the Sky news programs. All of these are privately owned networks so there is no compulsion for anyone to give equal time to the "other" side. That's why it is so important to keep publicly funded independent services and not gut them like the LNP is doing with the ABC.

Cheers mate Decs doing well, but has been missing footy a lot. In fact he has missed it so much he thinks he might go back to Casey next season.

It always amazes me listing to Sky News commentators endlessly bleating on about the neutrality of the ABC (or lack there of in their eyes), yet Sky News doesn't even pretend to be a fair and neutral presenter of news. Listening to guys like Paul Murray, Andrew Bolt, Mark Latham etc endlessly bleating on about bloody lefties etc. I think it speaks volumes to their lack of intellect. As a paying customer of theirs, I'd really like to remove Sky News from my Foxtel subscription and redirect those funds to a genuine news service like the ABC, perhaps I should write them a letter - would be interesting to see their response.

Lumumba claims to have taken magic mushrooms to deal with racism. It make me feel shallow that I only took shrooms to experience inter-dimensional consciousness.

Just needs to get through the game. Not the stats or goals. That will happen in course. Very good footy story so far

Yeah there's a real absence of right-wing opinions in the media hey.... ?

Tears of joy here, clapping, and cheering and feeling amazing, this is a fair dinkum movie script. I hate to go early but we will SMASH Carlton, our man HB with 4 goals. So proud of my club, very very proud.

Imagine all the demonlanders, living life in peace.

The four sweetest words in footy.

My dog once ate some scrabble tiles and his poop made more sense that this post.

This was my favourite one from Talking Carlton, sums up their cluelessness perfectly: ”I'd love to see Silvagni to go in the middle too, straight to Petracca when he's there”

Can't verify 100%. but was some talk going around Lockhart was 50/50 due to injury or soreness.

Go away and disappear please. You spread lies as well.

You do realise that you can be asymptomatic and contagious at the same time? Who says this person wasn't already sick when attending the protests, and infected other people? He/she may not have known they were unwell, but that doesn't mean much if they infected others and only later showed symptoms. This is precisely why large gatherings is banned, because you may not know you are sick and spread it around to lots of people around you before you yourself realise you are sick. I am all for supporting this issue. I really am. I think racism is a humanitarian issue that has plagued our society for centuries, and it must be stopped. Do I think that protesting in the middle of a global pandemic is the thing to do? No. As someone who has suffered directly from the economic downturn that has come as a result of this virus, and someone who has experienced religious and ethnic profiling and racism, if we get a second wave because of these protests I would be furious. It is one thing to rally for social justice. It is another thing to do it in a way that endangers the health and well being of our population. This pandemic is still a massive global issue. You don't get to switch it off and ignore it when it suits a specific agenda, no matter how important that agenda may be.

Typically, Titus O'Reilly nails it with this line: As for this game, I’m just relieved it’s June and Melbourne are still in touch with the eight. Source: https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/a-highly-unhelpful-guide-to-round-two

Not good..To those people who have said they were compelled to attend the rally on the weekend out of a strong sense of moral obligation, this is the time to prove it. Now that we've had our first positive case, you need to self-isolate for two weeks and get tested. Anything less than that would demonstrate a callous disregard for other people and destroy any moral credibility that those attending the protest had.

Lockhart had a stinker round1 ? What year was it because it certainly wasn't this year.

As much as I've missed footy, I didn't even make it to quarter time before channel surfing.

If actually love to see Hunt go back to half back line. We forget how bloody damaging he was when he was in form.

Jones inside 50 kick is under rated in my opinion.

The seven new players are close to like for like replacements: Bennell/Bedford, Rivers/Hibberd, Jackson/Brown (thank you), Salem/Lockhart, Jones/Spargo, Hunt/ANB and Smith/OMac. I like the look of this side and reckon we'll have a win. Welcome back footy!

If only people were as passionate about racism for the last 200 years as they have been about a pandemic for the last 3 months...

My guess is Hunt also to be included if we change 7. We have a comeback story in Bennell, two debutants, why not include a player seemingly out of favour. One more surprise.

Racism isn’t political, it’s not right or left. It’s just racism, it’s horrible and it needs to change in our and many other countries.

Totally agree mate... It provides a public service that the other networks can't due to ratings and revenue pressures. Just one example is the work done by the ABC during the recent bushfire disasters saved lives.

Didn't say anything about Waleed. Didn't say anything about believing every word he says. Didn't say either 'left' or 'right' get everything right. Just pointing out the ridiculousness of implying right wing commentators don't have a platform.

Is that his punishment?

Based on the fact Burgess suggested in the Injury Report video that both Vanders and Bennell are knocking on the door, I hope they can find a place for Vanders in the side. Whilst I think our suggested 22's above look pretty good, I reckon we're a better team with Vanders in.

Why does where he is from have anything to do with it? This sort of bias has to be called out. Not cool, McQueen.

One of the great things about footy is every time the disinterest or disenchantment starts to settle in for the long haul, a story like this comes along and kicks it to the curb. Saturday now can’t come quick enough.

“I feel like I’m back to 2013-2014..” I barred up a little bit.

I'll take the glass half full approach: His halcon days may be ahead of him He is possibly going to give it 110% He may find that he can do more than he thought possible He could need a break if another calf injury occurs, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of his paying career with us. Lets just get through the Carlton game. Good Luck HB Having just re-read my post, apologies to Damo as it may look like I was being critical of your view. That's not the case. I will equally be holding my breathe to see how he goes.

quite agree, racism in itself is not political, but it does get used and abused for political objectives

There was a great article (I believe it was in The Age on the weekend just past us) re: Harley, and the great work that Dr Peter Stanton in Geelong here had picked up on some nuances that perhaps had gone undetected in the past screening/diagnosis of Harley. I would argue @Fifty-5, that he hasn't been here before, because this was not specifically addressed. "Stanton thought it unusual that Bennell complained of heel soreness each time he suffered a calf injury, an indication that the nerves were being irritated. He knew the search for an answer had taken Bennell across the world but he wondered whether that numbness was a clue to something previously unidentified. Scans from Perth radiologist Dr Eamon Koh showed an extra band running across the top of Bennell's calf muscle, a rare feature that in other patients seemed to interrupt blood flow and cause calf problems. Vision of Bennell's calf tearing also revealed the nerve lengthening and stretching at the key moment." This is a significant moment in the resurrection of Harley...now whether it results in longevity it's not possible to know, however it has given him the best chance for it.

I honestly don't know how either club could have any fully formed confidence going into this one. Both clubs have a handful of new players, some draftees, changed positions/roles etc. It will come down to continuity and chemistry with the game plan, who can execute. Predicting a very ordinary game. Extra rust to shake off. Quite a few teenagers playing. Cant wait!

Not to make excuses. But isn’t it unrealistic to assume a team who’s average ladder position the past two years is mid table, would knock off the team who’s average ladder position is top 4, including winning a flag... on their deck. Those wanting to stick the boot in seem to live in a fantasy land where everything is suddenly equal and it’s the players or coaches on the day that determines the result. its denies the reality of where our group is at (and where West Coast are at), and is a kind of magical thinking (ie delusional).

So very true. Once the ABC goes, and i fear it will down the track, it will be greatly missed. But by then it’s too late. Brazil does come to mind. Or Trump’s National Guard Robots.....

Um, you're talking about a TV show. Unless you want to start your own TV show, then there's not really any other way you're going to be able to respond anyway... try yelling at your TV; that might help.

Please. They should've been ready to fire based on their 2019 efforts (as well as their last game in 2018 at the same venue against the same opposition). This was their first chance to start earning back some respect, mostly from their own supporters, and they turned up half asleep. And what a cheap brush-off using the "last game for who knows how long" line. Should've added to that motivation to put in a better performance. Didn't seem to worry the Eagles, especially in the first quarter, that this could be their only game for the year. They played like a true professional outfit that had one job to do and did it as they and their supporters would've expected. We didn't. And don't give me this "in Perth" excuse. We actually play well over there. It took us 80 minutes to lose the game, but the result was beyond doubt by quarter time (and I'm being generous there). Putird doesn't mean getting blown away. We were putrid against the Gold Coast last year and still won. And we were putrid, especially Quarter 1 Round 1, 2020. What was disappointing was that the Eagles clearly took the foot off our throat for the rest of the game and we were still not good enough to threaten at any stage. But if your definition of putrid means getting blown away, why don't you go back to the score at quarter time - they kicked 5 goals and we didn't kick any. Is that blown away enough for you? Lift your standards and expectations, Dr.

If Lockhart is left out, like many are suggesting, he would be extremely stiff. Was one of our best performers over the whole preseason and my recollection is that he did ok in Rd 1 as well. I'm not necessarily saying he won't be left out, because it's a pretty dam good side we have to pick from on paper. Personally I'm betting on Lockhart retaining his spot. I think Rivers inclusion will come at Hibberds expense. The are both around the same height (well Rivers is actually slightly taller), with Hibbo probably being a bit stronger. From what I have read, Rivers is rated as having good footy smarts, similar to Hibbo. From what I have observed though, the area that Rivers really stands out is his penetrating kicking out of defense. Whilst this was something Hibberd was once highly rated for, I think it's actually now somewhat of a weakness, with way too often his kicks going to 50/50 contests or turned straight over. Conversely Rivers kicking out of defense is both penetrating, sublimely accurate and creative. Good forward entries start from the back half and similarly Hibberd's rebounds that themselves get turned over and counter rebounded can really cost us. I'd likewise see the kicking efficiency of O'Mac as one of his assets compared to Smith, but it seems like Smith may have prevailed (perhaps at Oscar's expense) on this occasion.

Hard to imagine a culture of casual racism at Collingwood...

Please please please make this happen footy gods. Trac a lazy 30 kicks and 5 goals if it does.

Exactly. Garry Lyon has tipped the Blues. Carlton were much better than we were in round 1. But I think many experts continue to underrate our list and our coaching staff - essentially based on our abhorrent performance in 2019. They’ve conveniently ignored the reasons for our performance in 2019, and what we’ve done since to address those issues. GoodwIn is a better coach than most people think (I reckon he’ll be our senior coach for the next decade), and the additions of Burgess, Richardson, Langdon, Tomlinson and certain others who have filled the gaps which were horribly exposed last year. Dees to win - but not by much.

There us not a poor footballer in that team. Even our debs are good players and will play their role. Kossie led the way in Round 1 and Goody has no doubt altered his approach and deserves a perfect response.

I think the last paragraph is spot on.

Good to see another Rivers in the backline