hemingway

You can't be serious.

Very popular in many of the beloved countries where I have fought, lived and loved.

Thoughtful comments

old dee but young in spirit and optimism. You may need to change your moniker at this rate. But I like your post and feel better after reading it.

Patience will still be supporters greatest virtue this season. Patience and the need to maintain optimism when things don't seem to be going to plan. Its going to take time for this team to mold into the fighting unit we will see as the season progresses. The list turnover, the acquisition of our young kids and new coach and game plan means it is going to be tough against the hard experienced bodies of the top teams.

Agree Lucifer, also RESPECT. He has the respect of the whole community. Is there anyone who has the level of respect that RDB has? .

The filter feeders of the football media have a story to create and run. With the promise of more frenzied feeding over the season.

I am no fan of the AFL or any organisation for that matter. All organisations suffer from corruption, power, politics and egos that can so easily change the way things are done. Sporting organisations are probably worse because the men at the helm are well....let's say diplomatically speaking, punching above their weight. The AFL runs a hopelessly compromised competition. The stakeholders involve TV, digital and media players, the gaming industry, and any number of unholy businesses. At the same time, the AFL has to accommodate the clubs. The nature of the business model and the innate culture of the competition naturally means that the powerful clubs have most sway. At the same time, the AFL under the funding arrangements and influenced by its own rhetoric pay lip service to the other clubs. The AFL is like a coalition of the Liberal Party and the Labor Party or Capitalism and Democratic Socialism. It is a difficult business to manage and can only operate through influence, deal making and collusion. Andrew and Gill are deal makers and increasingly the deals are about money and power both at an organisational level and a personal level. I am completely cynical about professional sport yet I still yearn for the contest. To watch a great game or a champion weave his magic. A Jesse Hogan crashing a pack . It is the game that matters. Let's hope the greed and the power does not get the better of the game. The power of TV companies and gambling to unduly influence when and how the hand is played worries me. Overplay their hand and the game from the publics perspective will be irretrievably damaged. Night Grand Finals will happen . Rule changes will happen. Yet in all of this despair Jesse Hogan or Jack Viney will still have the Demon faithful on their feet. We will still celebrate our tribal loyalty and unity against the other tribes.

Bub you are sounding remarkably philosophical. End of a busy day or fatigued by Essendope ? This is not the Beezle that I have got to know, respect and kind of love in a kind of masculine way. Mate, I think you need a break from Land if you are going to post this philosophical stuff. Get back to the Swiss adventure where you are at your analytical surgical best. It's where you do your best work and where I look forward to your well informed and savage critiques.

I hope to see the development of our list as a whole particularly our young but still only potential guns. It is all about the team not the individual despite the focus on Hogan. Like all supporters I want Hogan to stay but not at all cost. The club has to develop a team and manage its list and contracts/remuneration in a sensible and professional manner. It's not much point having a gun like Jesse if we lose our midfield because of salary issues resulting from overcompensating one player. It's why team success is so important over the next 2 years. If we have success if will all work out.

The 2016 draft? You guys are insatiable. I am still trying to get my head around our current list. Time does not stop but it has become such a meat market. Let the football begin so we can focus on the game and how our current crop of players go. I want to feel that passion in the blood again and I am not talking about extra curricular activities involving my best friend's rather attractive and curvy ex-wife.

I would be happy for him but surprised. The Hawks allow no room for error amongst their players.

This is the first time I have laughed today my son.

I don't even know you BBO but I seem to know you to well. It is quite bizarre.

We hero worship our sports stars placing them on pedestals that have shaky foundations. Sometimes those stars maintain their high standards or distinguish themselves after retirement. Most simply and sensibly keep their faces out of the public spotlight. However, those that maintain a high public profile particularly those who remain in the football industry and football media are going to be watched, attract criticism and be judged. In some cases, their behaviour draws inevitable comment both from the public and the scandal obsessed media. The price of fame can be high for those who step out of line or behave outside societal norms. Garry Lyon and others pay that price. In Garry's case, I suspect that he will attract more derision and criticism because he himself has made public comments and pronounced judgement on many players and coaches. Personally, I would not judge his behaviour although I feel for those who have been hurt by not only his actions but also the actions of the other consenting party. I do know that depression and mental health is a major health problem in our society. This can drive self destructing behaviour or occur as a result of a stressful incident. Shame is a major cause of depression and suicide. The public should accept this on face value and understand that it is possible and highly probable that Garry does have a serious mental health issue. We should give him the benefit of doubt.

Different personalities and diversity of views make this an interesting site as long as the egos and personal sledging does not detract from the information provided by track side watchers. So far the varied reports this pre-season have been great but let's make sure the standards remain and that mutual respect prevails.

It's the feeling bit that worries me BBO.

The Christian Bros that explains a lot about your behaviour or to be more diplomatic BBO your eccentricities! Perhaps marriage guidance counselling may be a little dangerous, not for you of course but those upon whom you inflict your advice and treatment.

This will be an interesting year for Petracca. We are all physically or physiogically different. Some stronger some weaker and our biomechanics of muscle and limbs, our balance, our weight to power ratios all vary enormously. Success in any sport depends on many attributes, but one of the most important is that under the duress of training and competition , the successful athlete can avoid injury. The continuity of training every day over not a season but multiple seasons is paramount. A friend of mine became a triple Olympian and a household name not because he had more ability than others but because he was able to train every day and compete over many years without injury. In AFL terms, Nathan Jones is a prime example. Gary Ablett is another. It is very difficult to make it if you are prone to injury. Sometimes injury catches up with players. Wayne Carey is an example. Starting a career with injury problems and an inability to train and play week in week out makes the job very difficult. Give me the guy with the resilient body over the gifted but injury prone athlete or footballer any day.

Don't worry let it be turned into apartments so that when the bubble bursts and the property market truly crashes in this banana republic we live in and the greed stops, those that live life differently free from material desires which includes the rich tapestry of life that inhabits The Gat. will inherit the vacant apartments.

So I'll throw out your books along with Hunter S,William Boroughs,Kerouac,Miller,Mailer and any other decent American writer from last century. Don't worry about the meek-they'll inherit the earth later.

Insightful comments Earl. It has made me think beyond the obvious and think about the impossibility of his two environments and the fracture within and between. There is always more than one meaning or reason. We are limited by our limited insights at times.

Great comments Dee-lauded. An unforgettable talent and I feel privileged to have seen him play. However a member of the footy department told me at the time in cold hard terms that he would ultimately not succeed because he had no defensive game and no amount of coaching or training was ever going to change that fact. He told me that no top club would be interested in him for that reason. That he was a luxury that no side, in particular, Melbourne could afford. However, I went to games with a sense of anticipation and excitement at what magic he might perform. And he created some great memories that few footballers can do. He was a light that shone briefly but brightly for a speck of time. His story post footy is a tragedy.

Agree, he will do me. A warrior for the club and the best man for the job. Has been our best and most consistent footballer for many years. Proud that he is our Captain.

Christ almighty ManDee (apologies to those of a religious persuasion as against a spiritual one, that latter which I favour). However, you are quite right of course and I take it as a backhanded compliment. One Ricard to many I am afraid.