Mazer Rackham

You've inspired me! "F*** off Essendon F*** off Essendon F*** off Essendon F*** off Essendon We know that you're scum Your ex coaches are dumb Your fans are all glum We like what you've become F*** off Essendon F*** off Essendon F*** off Essendon F*** off Essendon"

Yeah, but footy fans aren't renowned for their fairness or good judgement. Carlton haven't gotten over their industrial level tanking, WCE only have to blink for people to recall their drugginess, and Essendon will never escape this world class drug scandal. We have enough trouble dealing with simply being the MFC. So f*** the EFC and all who get dragged down by the undertow.

They trialled a rule in the JLT whereby runners could only go on the field after goals. But decided not to carry it through to the home and away season. I think as a result of the Maxwell hoo-hah, the clubs have decided to back off with the runners. They don't want to poke the bear. In case the bear does crack down with actual rules.

watch this game from two good sides in 2000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgT2qCY9kyc the obvious: no huge packs following the ball around ball handling pretty clean interchange fairly sparingly used umps have no difficulty bouncing the ball over the ground. and no recalls. umps still missing obvious frees the same f***ing commentators!!

The umps could walk around the boundary line after the game with a blanket and the grateful supporters could chuck coins in. Like in olden times. (I believe the fans would be fair and reasonable and not hurl miniature metal missile full pelt at their scones.)

I dunno if Geelong did or didn't drug up. But if it hadn't been for the ACC tipping off ASADA, we would now be talking about EFC's drug scandal the way we're talking about Geelong's. IE, not. The AFL broom and carpet were ready and willing but the game got away from them.

Rumours have been going around about Thompson for years. But people would say, yeah nah, it must be that he's eccentric, or this is what being a coach will do to you, or look what Tird's put him through.

With "Essendon's Friend" (Slobbo) and Gerard "there is no controversial subject too soft for me to shy away from" Twatley, it is only to be expected. Whately tried to pour cold water on the EFC drug thing when it came out, and joined in the attacks on ASADA. And when it comes to horse racing, he seems to live in a fantasy world of majestic foam flecked stallions and thrilling thundering hooves. And does not want to know that there is an enormous underbelly. Fair dinkum he must sleep with the light on.

Nothing. It only confirms what I already thought.

All these speculations about the way the coaches are going to evolve our way out of the problem make the assumption that the new strategies are going to make for more attractive footy. I think they won't. They'll still involve crowds of players surrounding the ball, flopping it between them randomly like a chip being chased by seagulls, until one random movement gets it far enough away from the pack that a player has enough time to throw the ball on his boot and gain space and time. then the pack forms again, repeat. The coaches don't have the interest of the game in mind the way we do. They manipulate the rules to get in the W column, and hang the look of the game. It goes all the way back to Norm Smith having Brian Dixon kick out of bounds all the time. Leading to the new rule "out on the full". And it goes probably further back than that. (And of course the AFL put two coaches on their new super panel of experts, and NO FANS.) The only thing that has alleviated this in recent times when when the AFL capped interchange. Then we stopped seeing groups of players dashing on and off in relays, as if the game was combined rugby and track and field. We stopped seeing huge packs around the ball. But then teams got the fitness levels even higher, and we're back to Australian Rules Rugby again. Get rid of interchange or severely limit it. Ten per team per quarter, and they can't be banked. Use them or lose them. TLDNR: coaches can't be trusted with the future of the game. Interchange is the problem.

Nothing to worry about. Just tell the judge it was the "good" ecstasy. And show them a photocopy of a picture of a label of a Nurofen bottle. All good.

A week or so back there was a story on the AFL web site. Buddy Franklin was about to take a shot on goal and he wiped the ball with a chux wipe that the trainer brought out. "You can't do that" said the ump. Later the wise men of the media wanted to know what was up. "You can't do that "said Steve Hocking. "You can only wipe the ball with your jumper, your shorts or your socks. No chux wipes." The story went on to say that Franklin was "correctly allowed" to take his kick. As I do, I ran to the official laws of the game. Can you believe, there is nothing in the rules about wiping the ball and what you can/can't wipe it with. The only rule that might be in play is 15.11.1(b) which says a free kick will be awarded against a player who "interferes" with the football. Whatever that might mean. It's not defined. So either Franklin is allowed to wipe the ball with a chux, or he gave away a free which wasn't paid. And we see this kind of bull*** every game, every week. "Laws" of the game that don't actually exist, or "laws" of the game that are ignored. Which brings me to rule 15.2.5, Diving on Top of the Football. "Where a Player is in possession of the football by reason of diving on top of or dragging the football underneath their body, the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player if they do not immediately knock the football clear or Correctly Dispose of the football when Correctly Tackled." We see this all the time. Why no free? Or rule 15.4.5, Prohibited Contact and Payment of Free Kick. "A field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against a Player where they are satisfied that the Player has made Prohibited Contact with an opposition Player. A Player makes Prohibited Contact with an opposition Player if the Player: ... (b) pushes an opposition Player in the back, unless such contact is incidental to a Marking contest and the Player is legitimately Marking, attempting to Mark or spoil the football;" No ifs or buts. No allowances. Black and white. Push in the back = free. Again, we routinely see guys piledriven into the turf with a player or players squarely on their back. No free. What is going on? Imagine if in tennis ... you're watching Wimbledon. Federer vs Nadal ... Nadal double faults. Ump says nothing. Nadal gets third serve. It's another fault. Nadal gets fourth serve. No one blinks. Then Federer keeps hitting it after it's bounced twice. Nadal protests. Ump says each time, play the rally again. No one blinks. Then players decide not to change ends. Later the tournament director says something like, the ump felt there was no disadvantage to either player due to the similar conditions at each end of the court. And everyone swallows it. That's what we've been conditioned to in this game. It's weird. It's perverse. It's just wrong. And the AFL don't give a f*** that they are permitting this corrupted version of Aussie Rules to be played week in week out.

I can't work out if people are getting it out of their system early, or just warming up

I don't know much about the economics of it, but it seems that first Hawks, then Roos, "expanded" into Tas and (esp Hawks) were lauded for their innovation and forward thinking. But really, it was always a way of getting more revenue. The money goes out of Tas and into Vic. Wham bam thank you Tas. Surely it is better for the money to stay in Tas and go back to Tas footy. God knows the grass roots is screaming out for it. This comes across as a redistribution of wealth that is crippling Tas footy. Give them their own goddam team as a reward for their long pedigree of football excellence and subsidise it the way GCS and GWS are.

At least we have a new nickname for Christian "Two Dogs" Petracca

So the guy who made the call to offload Watts, who this week dropped a fan favourite and rusted on best 22 player Garlett, somehow finds it too hard to drop Petracca without hiding behind a story about a dog bite. Got it.

And our wonderful forward thinking AFL has made sure there are two coaches on their new super panel, and NO FANS! Way to look after the game.

Will do. This is the kind of disinformation that flies about when a club is going through a rough trot. Collingwood have put with this kind of $h!t for ever, even in good times. When the vultures get a faint whiff of blood, this is the bull**** that starts to circulate. Hogan's too easy a target ... next we'll hear something about Max, or Oliver. The specific rumour isn't worrying. It's more that the smell of blood is in the air.

The Heffernan-Moorcroft Trophy In commemoration of those fine dual-club players ... if we lose, we have to take a few hundred grand and flush it down the dunny. If Essendon lose, they are not allowed to polish their 2000 cup for a week.

Hey, if we lose we can have a full concert. We're on a road to nowhere Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was Once in a lifetime Burning down the house Crosseyed and painless Take me to the river, drop me in the water Nothing but flowers

I'd give VDB a few weeks to find form. He's a good contested mark and can kick a goal. He's the Bugg/ANB we need but don't have

The dog is believed by the experts to be in contention for the brownlow, so will get off with a fine

So why does he need surgery and why won't antibiotics be enough? An infected finger can get pretty big pretty fast, and be extremely painful. Because of bloodflow issues, if untreated can lead to the risk of having the finger amputated. The docs cut it open, let the pus out, stitch it up, THEN give antibiotics. Routine these days, once upon a time a very serious ailment which could lead to septicaemia or gangrene. Life threatening. Let the threatened lives be those of St Kilda droogs who get between him and the ball.

I think you're right. But for what gain? No point expending all that energy just so we can score 2 behinds from our 85 forward entries and then run out for the last quarter exhausted only for them to casually put the foot down and canter home. These things happen right in front of the existing umps and are not called. Every game every round, the umpiring is arbitrary, inconsistent and performed by the 3 blind mice. Not that that is in any way acceptable, but we haven't been losing due to the woeful umpiring.

Is that for real? Shows an unprofessional attitude. He might smile into his Milo but to be loud and proud about another club in public is wrong. Be happy, fine, but button it and work harder to get that same happiness for the club who's paying your bills. Like that ump who had Hawks $h!t all over his facebook or instagram. You just don't do it.