Mazer Rackham

Beg to differ, captain. Blues fans are wondering if Gibbs will ever live up to his promise, and are starting to get nervous that Kreuzer might not either. We can't let down the press! Blow the press. They are gossips and tragics. The only thing they know for sure is whether or not it's time for a drink. (Hint: it's time for a drink.) We'll take our own counsel on picks wasted or not.

One more voice to say that the AFL's treatment of Fitzroy was shameful. Whatever else you might think of Freo, they gave Fitzroy a proper send off. Of their own initiative. It is to the eternal shame and disgrace of the AFL that it was left to Freo to do that.

Eddie won't be bothered by these niceties.. He is Joffa in a suit.

You mean Collingwood's new sponsor? Eddie has announced he's going to take his bat, his ball, and our sponsors and go home.

Red hot go. Four quarter two half effort. Absence of bruise-free footy. The rest can look after itself.

You should be grateful to Scully. He has lifted the curse laid on this club when Barassi left. Great, storied player, premiership captain, etc, no. 31, leaves. Club founders. We tried to reverse the curse by doing the opposite: getting a feted player to come and be no. 31. (Templeton.) But that didn't work. The gods are fickle. As so often in these things, the remedy was unexpected and with a twist. Another no. 31 has to leave. A not great, not storied (well maybe a little bit), not premiership player, not captain, but no. 31, leaves the club. Curse broken. Glory ensues. For those who doubt, as proof I offer this: you will remember that in all tales such as this, a key figure is always a wizened and spiteful old gnome who talks gibberish.

"Now we can all get some sleep!" ("Good one, Jack.")

Ha! ha! We would be faint in most people's memories. Or, playing 4 home games out of Ballarat, 4 out of Broome and 4 out of Dundedin. Go the Dunedin Demons!

Agree. Our comp would be like the EPL with 4 clubs capable of winning the flag and the rest filling up the cable TV schedule.

Murphy: "So, ah, Dav--- may I call you--" Beckham: (glares at Murphy, wonders what time lunch is on) Murphy: "Um ... Mr Beckham ... sorry, Mr Beckham." Beckham: (looks at watch) Murphy: "Mr Beckham, in honour of this, the greatest day of my life-- apart from that one time when I met Muhammad Ali. Well, actually, I didn't actually get to meet him. I was in this restaurant at Crown and there was this big commotion at the door and I looked over and--" Beckham: (to his manager) "Cold, innit? I fought this fecking coun'ry was s'posed to be 'ot!" Murphy: "Sorry Mr Beckham. Anyway ... Mr Beckham? Mr Beckham? Mr Beckham, in honour of this, um, anyway, the Carlton football club would like to present you--" Beckham: (to his manager) "That blonde last night was a real goer. See if you can get 'er again. But tell the uvver one not to bovver." Murphy: "Mr Beckham?" Beckham: "Huh? Wossat mate?" Manager: (takes jumper) "Thank you. We are deeply touched. Come on, Dave. Grubs up." Beckham: (walks away, spits on ground) "About fecking time." Murphy: (runs after them) "Mr Beckham, sir, may I have an autogr-- Mr Beckham! Mr Beckham?" In two days time Beckham's dog will be sleeping on that jumper. Unless it's been used before then to wipe up his kids' spew. "Celebrity supporter" = whoop-de-do.

Not to mention the runners don't have 90+ kg of muscle to lug around.

And you would trust Allen or Sheedy to uphold this? Or any agreement should it prove to be inconvenient?

Vlad will not let GWS fail. The shonkiness of their operation must gall him, but that is short term. In the end, he will win. His mistake was installing Grubby Allen. If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas: old jungle saying.

According to the officlal AFL "omen" rules, half the deck has to be Suns & Giants cards!

Except for the parts where Hawthorn, Collingwood, Adelaide, West Coast, Freo, Richmond and North win flags, yeah, I'd take it.

From this article by Brent Crosswell: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/26/1064083189022.html?from=storyrhs The coach calls us into the centre of the ground and we form a half circle around him. You're standing next to your teammates, who are closer to you than brothers; bonded by time, pain, humiliation, by triumphs. And you love every one of them in their common humanity. They were the kids you would have loved to have had living next door, but you weren't so lucky. You would have kicked end-to-end to your heart's content, then.

More diligent? If he's that good at lying, no amount of diligence would have picked up the imminent jump to Sydney. If his knee packs it in for good, he should take up poker. It's clear now that the club was on a hiding to nothing and we've come out of it about as well as we could. A loyal, not-overpaid no 1 draft pick would be better, but was not to be.

There was something to be gained: a jump start on getting Neeld.

Fer chrissake, he's delisted. Are you all happy? So he didn't work out, like most people who happen to make an AFL list. No need to sink the boot in.

That's life experience speaking. Well said, stinga & Chook.

So, the team knows they're understrength, because of one bloke's discipline. They let that bloke know all about it. That bloke is in the dog house. Every player then doesn't want to be the next one to stuff up. It's called peer pressure.

Translation: "why didn't the MFC give me a scoop on such juicy gossip!" Easy to sit back and take pot shots at any footy club. The only thing "Robbo" has ever had to run is a bar tab.

What does that mean: "we don't stand for anything/much". What do Carlton stand for? What do Brisbane stand for? It is meaningless sequence of words. Demetriou used the expression in a fit of anger, to express displeasure. But beyond the pejorative, it has no meaning.

So I said, "I see. And that's when I shoot the gorilla!" And the gorilla catcher said, "No, that's when you shoot the dog."

Does he really have the hunger? I think he did well at the pies (in the last two years) because he wanted to shove it up Eddie & Bux. Without that, what's he got to prove? Why climb the mountain all over again? I'm glad we have Neeld and not Malthouse.