Chris

So Riewoldt gets an extra 10 meters when he takes a mark. FFS get control umpires!

Seems I need to brush up on the rules

These umps are [censored] in the head. Don't pay anything all day and then pluck out that [censored]

Sick of gawn being sheppaded out of the the ruck to give room to the third man up!

Gawn was taken high, handpass ed and was penalised for holding. Crap guessing umpire!

Like f that was 15 meters!

Tell The Age while you are at it as well.

They can have a negative impact if they over the top and tokenistic. I think the AFL is guilty of that in many senses. What ends up happening is that people walk away form the whole thing as a joke and we get no where. Just look at the environment debate. The environment debate used to be bout all sorts of things like water quality, salinity, biodiversity, habitat loss, endangered species etc etc. Then climate change came in and became part of the environment debate and eventually took most of the focus. Then people started to pull it apart by saying the models are wrong, the scientists will admit they are wrong and have never claimed they are right, yet people grab that they are wrong and that the scientists even say so so the whole thing is fiction. Add to that a carbon tax bought in on a lie and the population threw out the whole thing as a massive con. The problem is that now if you mention protecting the environment most people think of climate change and have bad memories of what went on (look at the environment policies of every party at the last election, barely a mention of anything but climate change). The problem here is that all the other issues are still going on and still need action but can no longer get public or government support as they are either now unknown or are lumped in with Julia's big mistake. We have gone backwards in a big way in protecting the environment since Howard left office. The same thing can happen with these rounds, all the complex issues get swept up in one big tokenistic event that either makes no difference or is derided by big chuncks of the population and all the issues go backwards not forwards.

On the multiculturalism, what you have said is what should be celebrated. We do live in a society where we engage with various cultures and enjoy various cultures daily with out thinking about it. Many places around the world really struggle with this. Is it worth making a big fan fair of? Probably not, I really can take it or leave it. You still puzzle me with the Indigenous round. How exactly is Goodes winning a Brownlow proof we don't need it, especially when he got booed out of the game because he said a few truths people didn't like? You also mention the good Indigenous players as proof we don't need to pander to the Indigenous community, is that what you see this as, pandering to the Indigenous community? You then talk about leaders but ignore that these players are the leaders in the community and are looked up to, they can be the conduit to understanding of both sides and some of the players do a very good job at this. That is where the round comes into play, it provides these players with a platform and some focus on what they are trying to do. That can be very powerful and can lift awareness massively, that is what the recognise program is about. You comment about preaching to the converted may well be right, except where kids come into it. Kids look up to these players and some, not all, will not blindly follow their parents and will listen to what is being talked about. That is good for the future.

i get the feeling that some of those young flankers are slowly being developed in to part of the midfield rotation. I can especially see the likes of Hunt, Salem, Stretch, and maybe even Wagner ending up doing stints int eh middle in the next few years.

I thought of you last week as Oscar was coming off thinking of the gleeful smile on your face. The fall from such happiness must have been hard when he was named this week. You may get what you want though as he may not get through training today.

Multicultural round is a celebration of all the cultures we have int eh country. I didn't learn anything really but I already celebrate that. Your comments on the Indigenous round are puzzling. Which issues don't exist praha, the low education levels, the high incarceration rate, the poor health outcomes, the mass poverty, the high violence rates, the high homeless rates, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. It is all these issues the recognise camapign is about, it isn't about how good is a footballer, that is actually pretty much irrelevant. It is about getting Australians as a whole to recognise Indigenous culture, celebrate Indigenous culture, while at the same time hoping that through this recognition there will be an increase in the recognition of the issues and agreement to work towards solutions. Closing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians. This discussion about these rounds has actually raised many of the issues and may well have taught a person or two (me included) about what is going on.

A few stats for this week. Based on the full 25 man squad. MFC StKFC Diff Average Age 23.1 24.7 -1.6 Average Games 62.4 84.6 -22.2 Back Line Ave Age 23.2 28.2 -5.0 Ave Games 56.5 160.8 -104.3 Fol (includes wing) Ave Age 24.5 24.0 0.5 Ave Games 98.8 82.2 16.7 Fwd Ave Age 22.0 22.0 0.0 Ave Games 65.7 76.2 -10.5 Int Ave Age 22.0 22.0 0.0 Ave Games 33.3 28.6 4.7 Melbourne Games Backline Fol Fwd Int total 0-50 3 1 4 5 13 51-100 3 3 0 2 8 101-150 0 0 2 0 2 151-200 0 1 0 0 1 200+ 0 1 0 0 1 25 StKFC Games Backline Fol Fwd Int total 0-50 0 2 4 5 11 51-100 2 2 1 2 7 101-150 1 2 0 0 3 151-200 1 0 0 0 1 200+ 2 0 1 0 3 25 MFC Back StKFC Fwd Diff Age 23.2 22.0 1.2 Games 56.5 76.2 -19.7 MFC Fwd StKFCBack Age 22.0 28.2 -6.2 Games 65.7 160.8 -95.2 The closest we have been in terms of age and experience to our opponent in a while. We still come out about a year behind. Looking at their spine they only have one player younger than our oldest! I think our future look a fair bit brighter with the young talent we have, I am not so confident about knocking them over at Etihad. We should win by 6 goals for mine, but I think we may just scrape over the line.

So what did the 34 take?

Prestia out this weekend with a knee injury. Would have me very worried about trading for him with his constant knee issues.

So you have connections to Essendon, enough connections to know that Hibberd isn't leaving, yet you have no idea what the players took. Surely if you have connections then the first question to ask is 'what did the players take'! For me your opinion goes one of two ways, either you do have connections and you are right about Hibberd, or you have no connections as you don't know what the players took. Although there is a third possibility, you do have connections and you have asked what the players took but wont say because either it was TB4, or you aren't silly enough to buy into the 'it was all fine, it was thymomodulin, it was all cleared, nothing to see here' baloney that the club has been spouting for the last few years.

The Indigenous round and multicultural round are about changing awareness for issues, which in turn changes attitudes and behavior. I can't see the difference int eh destiction you have made.

Have been saying to a couple of mates (a hawk and a cat) for years that I would prefer Watts to Nic Nat (if Watts got to his potential). My mates laughed at me, as they often do, but one did concede that Watts had the potential. I still stand by having Watts over Nic Nat and Jack is finally starting to show why I think that. He doesn't have the explosive wow factor Nic Nat does but Nic Nat only does that occasionally. Watts is starting to produce very good football consistently. Hopefully in another year or so I can bring this up with my mates again and see if they still laugh, hopefully after knocking over the cats or hawks!!

If we play man on man defence we have no where the offence we currently have. It would essentially take us back to scoring 5-6 goals a game and trying to stop the opposition kicking more!

Out - O Mac (inj), Vince (inj), Petracca (tired) In - Garland, Oliver, Bugg Lets hope Vince isn't injured but I am not holding out any hope he is playing this week.

We have either g8ven up or got tired in the last few.

You were comparing the never ever GST comment to the not privatising Madicare comments and suggesting that Medicare is not safe because we ended up with a GST. Fact is that the GST was taken to an election, what evidence do you have that it would nit be the same with Medicare and that they do wish to privatise it? Reminds me of the no carbon tax comment and then wow, we have a wealth redistribution tax under the cloke of a carbon tax.

Not to mention that the only really scraped the east west link because the CFMEU couldn't get their mits on it as the Libs had set it up that way. There was 1 billion dollars down the drain just so we can build the other end of the same road!

They went to an election with the GST. It was hardly a secret!

I was talking about degrees of sweaty, obviously you sweat less in a cold Melbourne than a hot Darwin. Was just a theory behind why it will be 'greasy' as everyone keeps saying, and as the players have noted in past years.