grey wolf

He was standing under the giant red cedar at Three Ways with his thumb out and so I slowed and wound down the passenger window and said g'day mate throw your surfboard in the back with mine and you and your dog jump in. I am heading to Byron for a paddle great he said me too. Wow he said it smells like treacle in here and his eyes lit up as I passed my half smoked cheroot to him. Ta he said my names Goody and my dog is Toddy. Well boys you can call me the Wolf. You look awfully familiar Goody you don't coach the Dees in your day job do ya. His laugh was lost in a cloud of blue and yellow smoke and I knew I was in for a good day. And so as we wound our way down the mountains along Wilson creek Road we talked and smoked and Toddy lay curled on the floor his eyes glazed over. Tell me about the starting 22 and the new game plan Goody I insisted. The cheroot was the real deal but I didn't think I had crossed the line well not all the way. Whose the back six Goody does Hibberd come straight in. We don't do back sixers anymore Wolf we just have one defender or really he is our keeper. Really who is it Goody. Well Wolf it has to be someone with great athletics speed power and not to much between the ears. He has to be all instinct and power. Oh well that's easy Goody its big Frosty. Yes wolf Frosty is way down back on his own knowing that he has only one role which is kill the bastards before they goal. But he cant stop them all on his own Goody I blurted as I inhaled the new cigar. Oh he is not on his own Wolfy we have the First Wave in front of him to protect him and to start our attacks. The First Wave goody I like it I can see me up there on my big mal. Wolf hang on your mixing metaphors or stonedreams or something. The first wave Wolfy has Bernie Vince in charge at the old CHB and he has the left trio and the right flank trio and they wait for his direction. The left trio is OMac Hibberd and Hunt and the right trio is TMac Prince and Salem. What dya think Wolfman each trio has a tall a runner and a kicker and Bernie is the fulcrum. Aah well Goody that's 8 behind the centre square isn't that gunna leave us short up forward and if that was the first wave is there a second or a third. Hey wolf pass that cigar over here and ill let you into the dream of footy by Goody. Okay but this better be good I need to book my September flights now. Well Wolf the second wave is in two parts the left and right Outsiders. These pairs of Outsiders are the missiles Wolf both runners and kickers on the left we have Melksham and Brayshaw and on the right Watts and Stretch pairs Wolf running as a team within a team. And the third wave is the Grunters yes Wolf big Max and Lewy Jonesy and Little Jack and they have the role to ignite us and they use the right and left trio or the right or left outsiders and like the relentless surf Wolf they surge and roll and crash and take flight. Okay Goody I am seeing it like this Frosty way down back on his own with a simple role that if it gets to him then take no prisoners. Meanwhile we have a line across the back of the square of Bernie and his two attack platoons and then across the middle eight guys four crashing and bashing and two on either side ready to run and run. Sounds great mate but that's 16 so you only have two guys up forward. Quite right Wolfy but guess who they are yes Hogan and the Truck oh [censored] Wolfy these two guys are gonna rip it up. Tuck starts in the goal square and Hogan starts way out on the left forward flank and you should see the patterns the run Wolfy it would make a dolphin cry. And so Wolfy we have 4 guys on the bench and who do you reckon they would be but first I think your bogarting that cheroot. Sorry Goldy well its easy to see whose on the bench it has to be Harmes oliver and Tyson or Kent or Garlett or Pedo bugger I don't know goldy. Well Wolf you've missed the point mate this is the sixth wave mate this is a team not four individuals they come on together and cause mayhem I call them the Chaos team and its Kenty mad as a snake Buggy mad as a rat Olly mad as a wild boar and Neville mad as wild honey. There was a strange sound in the car and it was Toddy on his back on the floor eyes rolling tongue lolling feet straight up and I swear he was singing...Its a grand old...

The rains had come creeping slowly along the gorge and my rainforest was wet and languid and I could light another cheroot and settle into the rhythm on the tin roof and watch the john abercrombie vinyl spinning on my rega but no I was still thrilling at the doggies so I scooted down the mountains and to my shack by the sea. In a cigar smoke trail I barefooted down peter street and out onto the wide golden sand with the Byron lighthouse as my southern beacon and I paddled lazily beneath the blackened sky and I caught a slow right hander that might take me all the way to mount warning silhouetted in the northwestern clouds. Two dolphins suddenly joined me one on either side with me straddling my mal and together we rode the curl and all the while they were talking across me to each other seemingly oblivious of the glistening grey wolf between them. And you might not believe this but a wolf has the uncanny ability to engage in dolphin speak and I can tell you that the older dolphin was called Jason and the younger squatter one was known as tee vee. Jas chortled tee vee wow woof those doggies mate are there any lessons there for us mate..tell me its a sign jas... and jas opened his left eye and winked at me and as quick as that wink was he came out with the following insight and I was walking up and down my mal straining to keep up with his story and its not easy being a surfing wolf listening to dolphins after three cheroots but I am sure it went like this.... Jas compared the doggies back seven with ours (age and games) Morris 34/230 Roberts 23/37 Wood 29/107 Boyd 34/282 Hambling 23/23 Johansenn 24/64 Biggs 25/42 Jetta 26/90 Omak 20/13 Frost 23/36 Hunt 21/15 Tmac 24/100 Salem 21/29 Harmes 21/24 Then our forward seven Stringer 21/73 Cordy 20/11 picken 30/176 Smith 23/47 Boyd 21/38 Dickson 29/79 Maclean 20/19 Petracca 20/13 Weed 19/3 Watts 25/133 Kent 22/49 Hogan 21/38 Garlett 27/143 Vanders 24/24 Then jas compared midfield eights Roughead 26/113 Bontempelli 21/63 Dahlhus 24/115 Hunter 22/62 Libba 24/98 Macrae 22/77Dunkley 19/17 Daniel 20/34 Gawn 25/57 Jones 28/219 Tyson 23/67 Stretch 20/23 Viney 22/66 Vince 31/189 Oliver 19/10 Brayshaw 20/27 Oh I see what you mean jas chuckled tee vee but it was lost on jas as he had already started to cut back and tee vee followed knocking the wolf off his board and into the sand and whales were spouting along the horizon and my cigar was cooling on the dune...

Rode a Tiger home from Melbourne yesterday having had time to have a beer in celebration of Nathalia beating Finley in the grannie. Some things are always a joy. Walked into my rainforest this morning to have a quiet cheroot and there snoozing beneath my giant red cedar was the man yes Jason Taylor or at least a hazy apparition so I sat beside him and passed him my burning ember and he nodded with his usual good grace. Tell me JT where is it up to and where is it gonna end. Old man wolf he said its starting to hot up with Hibberd already here and two more almost snagged and then we have three youngies to get in the draft. I went to say wow but my voice was sitting on the smoke climbing through the tall branches above me. That's six we have to axe I might have mumbled or perhaps they were his words in my headspace and he was counting them on his fingers and his thumb was Dunny off to Brissy he said and his pinky was Grimesy' gone to the Cats and Garland's been courted by the Suns and then we've said goodbye to Terls Newton and Pedo and we are working with the Suns to improve this years picks by trading next years first round pick. I was choking on my smoke but mumbled who are the other 5 apart from Hibbo don't we need a forward cum ruck and a key back and an outside mid and JT just smiled and said wolfman you've been too long in the wasteland no wolf what we need is the 5 best footballers we can get it doesn't matter how big and what position they just need to be skilled goers and team players Goody will take care of the rest. And he began floating away and I croaked after his shadow and what about Hogan and I'm sure the echo was we don't care we don't care....

Looking through the blue smoke and I hear an idea that could make you scratch your nuts and it involves the suns with whom we are on positive terms and so if they have picks 4 8 21 23 24 and 27 and they get 6 for prestia perhaps they would be forward thinking and give us 8 in exchange for our 2017 first rounder now would that be irony or serendipity?

By my cheroot that sounds good so why not offer the suns our first pick in 2017 plus their choice of Dawes or Garland or Dunn or Grimes to add to their experience stock and in return they can give us pick 8 ironically and pick 27 and then the Drugs can have 26 for Hibberd and give us 37 back and with 8 we go after Mitchell from the swans or perhaps English or Marshall in the draft and we have 27 37 44 and the residual guys above to trade in an experienced mid and an experienced forward to help Bernie and nat...and we are smoking!

used to walk to the beach oval with my boys and watch thommo playing for sandy and he was a young bull hard as granite but he couldn't get a game with the dees and me and the boys would shake our heads and realise we knew nothing about footy and then he was gone.. we need experience to help Bernie and Nat and so hibberd will help down back and Melksh across the mid and gotta get a big body up forward with a brain but we don't need pensioners like dal or boomer or thommo 300 games later we are not that desperate to win but our biggest gap is that one bit of class in the guts and if we don't trade hard for it than we have put our eggs in the Oliver bag and he might be our cripps maybe... thommo as a role model for our young uns aint a bad idea..let me smoke on that as I walk along the beach toward the Byron lighthouse..

living in the hills can mess with your mind but also your sensibilities... didn't I just see gibbs and cripps and then Dangerfield and selwood destroy us in the centre square even though we have australias best ruckman... and we do not need an A grade middy... sorry I need a vodka I would prefer a stodgie but my matches are wet... a bit like jesses goal kicking..

aaagh.. sorry just had a reflux from my cigar... but really I must be on a different planet... which in itself is not a bad idea.. but really why mess with the back 6 when its clearly not our problem... and please have we not wanted a runner back there for three donkeys and a mule and you would take hunt away... and to get brown from from the filth please wait while I toke.. whats wrong with weird frosty let alone wagner salem white blah blah.. concentrate please.. we have two problems.. finally only two... an A grade middy and some experience to help Jonesy and vince,, at least one experienced defender ... hibberd... one middy... rockliff.. one forward like reiwoldt.... not to win the cup.. but to be competitive week in week agogo...and please lets put the talk about viney and leadership where it belongs... in the distant future.. lets see if he can play first before we ask him to inspire.. really... bugger I am going back up to the rainforest with the goannas and the yellow tailed black cockatoos.. by the way thanks for the light..

It was way too wet in the rainforest so I went down out of the hills and made for my shack at the beach where I strolled to the sand lay in the dune and lit my cheroot. The surf was rolling nicely and two young blokes were catching the long left handers toward the lighthouse in the ghosting distance and it was Jonesy and Harmes must have been late withdrawals I murmured to no one while further down the white crunching sand was a group playing cricket and shouting in good humoured rivalry and I recognised Hogan and watts and viney amongst others and so no one was going to geelong today I mused. And so it was... But without keeping score or perhaps it was the quality of my smoking cigar but as I reflected it seemed to me I felt a lot calmer at the end of this footy season than for many a moon and it was because I liked the way we played we were exciting with watts and hunt and the macs and mad frosty and weird track and the red head and the beard of course and even with the diamond defence it was a pleasure at last to watch my team even though they handballed in circles and kicked to the opposition at times they were fast and they could run and they were unpredictable and they had flair. So whats not to like about this season... has anyone got a light?

I am smoking the same cheroot as you WB of our experienced leaders we have only Bernie and Nat who can get a game the rest chase scorpions and if we want to increase our consistency and be able to crank up the pressure in the last quarters we have to get some cool heads in the 26 - 28 age group with 100+ games and preferably a defender a mid and a forward add one class ball user in the midfield like Omeara and finals are coming... but not a 33 or 38 year old...

Rain is about in these hills and my rainforest is at a wet peace and it becomes difficult to light your cigar because the smoke hides from the clouds and it is akin to saying goodbye to the faithful and it is not easy unless you can broker a new space for them as consideration. And so it is with the 2 Jacks anointed by the mad nun Mark Neeld when they were still in that young group who should have been learning to play with enthusiasm and daring not matching wits with the cool heads of experienced leaders in the opposition. And now our list has 20 of 40 in that 23 and under group who should be taught and nurtured to become brave and fearless and much of this learning is through being prepared to let them make mistakes and SG and BMc and JR have to have the courage to hop on that train. And we have a good spread of talent aka the cream in the 24 to 27 group who are our instigators our torches our will. But in our leaders those with age experience and clarity and our directors we have only 2 Bernie and Nat but ok 4 if you count Matt j and Pedo and these are the few who you would ask to read the game and organise the defence if there is a run on. And its raining heavier now and the mist comes up the gorge and I can drink it. And then fighting scorpions is Dunn and garland and Terls and Dawes and the 2 Jacks. Three need to be delisted to give us three picks and three need to be swapped for other players two preferably in the experienced group say Hibberd and Reiwoldt and the third for OMeara or Rockliff or Mitchell or FYYYFFE. And Jason Taylor came to me with a smoking stodgie and told me his best was still to come...

I was in the sand today watching a look alike Nat take a wicked right hander and out the back yelling madly was Jack V and my cigar smoke ran circles through my mind and a young fella sidled up to me and it was Wattsy hey old wolf he said what does the bossdog need to know and I thought back to those BGS days when Francis Jackson was coach and they had Xavier by the balls ev3en with Luke Ball dominating then Teddy Richards went into the ruck for the last quarter and he creamed them and I said to Wattsy listen mate as leader you have to never let go you have to understand the game and the oppositions psyche and its not you Jacky and its not Viney and Nat has been wonderful in trying times byt mate hes coming and hes comin and Todd Viney writhed on the barroom floor and his name was .....Fyffe... believe me... it was Fyffe..

Here is a possible reason for our inconsistency. On our current list excluding rookies we have 20 players who are inexperienced in that they are 23 or younger and who together could be the future nucleus of our team for the next five years but only as long as they continue to learn and be taught how to play tough and uncompromising football and don't rely on just aging and gaining more experience as ends in themselves. Of these 20 players the following 6 are the defenders with age then games played so far... Salem 21/29 and Frost 23/36 and OMac 20/13 and Hunt 21/15 and Bugg 23/79 and harmes 21/24 And of the 20 inexperienced these 7 are the forwards Hogan 21/38 and Track 20/13 and Kent 22/49 and JKH 21/22 and Weed 19/1 and Hulett 19/0 and B Ken 22/40 The 7 Mids from the young 20 are Viney 22/66 and Gus 20/27 and Tyson 23/67 and Oliver 19/10 and Stretch 20/23 and ANB 20/14 and King 19/0 So what does it say well only Bugg Tyson and Viney have played over 50 games and they are perhaps the only three you can expect a reasonable level of consistency and if the others are being taught well and if they are receptive to learning they should be kept together for the next 2 or 3 years to learn together especially as there is a nice symmetry between the three facets of defence run and attack. And then there are the cream those players aged 24 25 26 and 27 who should be the catalysts the fire power the sparks and they are... Defenders such as Melksham 25/114 and Nev 26/90 and TMac 24/100 Forwards like Watts 25/133 and Jeffy 27/143 Midfielders aka Gawn 25/57 and Pencil 27/36 and Vanders 24/24 and Newton 24/17 And I will tell you what this says without inhaling on my cigar and that is that there is not enough here no where near and you ask where we need to focus our recruiting well dear chap its there one back and one mid and one forward in the 24 or 25 or 26 age group. And the third tier in this pyramid is the leaders the cool dudes the follow me into battle brigade and what have we got and have we got enough and are the in the right spot well lets see.. Defenders like shoot I cant find anyone who can get a game Forwards such as Pedersen 29/59 and that's scratching the bottom of the proverbial But wait theres the middies and you've got Nat Jones 28/219 and Bernie 31/189 and Matt J 29/60 Bugger me could this be another reason for our inability to change gear during a game to get down and dirty to organise ourselves on the ground rather than waiting till the quarter break for suggestions I would certainly entertain it. And what of the others on the list all of whom seem unable to get out of a scorpions path Defenders aka Garland 28/141 and Grimes 27/100 and Dunn 19/165 Forwards like Dawes 28/121 and Terls 27/35 Middies such as Trengrove 25/84 (and H 30/223 well who knows) The ash in this cheroot tray will tell you that Garland, Dunn, Grimes, Dawes, Terls and Trengrove are gone but hopefully we find them another club and the six replacements should be a 24 old midfielder and a 26 year old defender and a 25 year old forward and a 28 year old forward and a 27 year old defender and a 28 year old mid... and lets see where we are in 3 years as long as someone can pick Todd Viney up off the Portsea Pub bar floor.

oh to have the freedom of the child again and not be accountable and be able to sneak a cigar behind the shelter shed and to not have to answer for your actions without the youth exxcuse but surely it assumes that you are going to improve because you age or you play more or you can only make so many mistakes before you can kick a goal from ten metres or you learn or are taught to run and run and run.... and todd viney lay on the floor of the portsea pub in a fit of laughter because fyfe was comin........and comin and..

I had to pinch myself for as I walked up through my rainforest because their laying between the buttress roots of a giant red cedar that was probably a sapling when the first football was ever kicked in hope was a man smoking a cigar and I scratched my nose because it was can you believe it yes it was no crap it was it was JT himself and I greeted him with awe and he said hi grey wolf good to see you awake. JT I chortled my dream is in tatters mate no prestia and no hurley and he blew cigar smoke up into the giant tree and looking directly at me he sighed and said no worries old grey wolf no need to worry because these things fall out for the best and we just light another pipe and open our minds to new possibilities and we can be a deeper blue and our red years can go on longer and if you take a drag on my smoke you might see it too and I did and I did it again and again and I saw it... JT and TV were at the bar in the Portsea pub and they were earnest and roger in their conversation and I could hear it and JT said to TV don't worry about Hurley mate young OMac is the goods and BMc and SG and JR can make him as good as his bro and prestia wanted too much coin and young salem could still be anything and so here is the new idea todd and I was sucking in more smoke under the tree to hear every word and this is the new plan I heard... So todd we will give the giants our 2017 first pick and they will give us pick 14 this year and so we end up with 14 15 34 42 and 44 at the draft and todd you know who we are after with these picks don't you and todd started laughing so loudly he fell off his chair and the cigar was finished.

Jason Taylor came to me in a dream last night and the draft whisperer confided in me what the future held for the grand old flag and it was akin to the music of miles davis and John Abercrombie and in that dream world where white horses had heads like stinger and robbie and big jimmy I saw again my first afl game in 1964 and I was standing on empty beer cans provided by my dad and his brother and we sang the song and it was a glorious September moment but I am grey now and Septembers have been more often hollow than glorious. Grey Wolf Grey Wolf sang Jason let me tell you of a new future because it will be blue in 2017 when we finish seventh and blue again in 2018 when we are fifth but it will be red in 2019 and in 2020 when we sing again on the last September Saturday. Tell me tell me how JT how can it be and he did and it was so...... We get Prestia from the Suns with our 2017 first pick and we swap Hibberd for Garland and we get pick 24 from the Suns for Grimes and we get pick 28 from the lions for Trengrove and we hoodwink the Dons into giving us 37 for Dawes and they take Terlich as well and and the lions give us 42 for Dunne and the result of all that is we now have picks 24 26 28 37 42 44 62 and 80 and we talk to the Giants and they swap our picks 24 26 28 37 for their 15 and 34 and we ring the Dons and we have Hurley for 15 and we go to the draft with 34 42 44 to pick up three young kids or upgrade rookies. And he takes me to the G and we sit together and watch the first game of 2017 against the saints and in this dream this is how we look..... Jetta Tmac Frost Hunt Hurley Hibberd Stretch Viney Vince Petracca Hogan Kent Garlett Weed Watts Max Prestia Jones I/C... Melksham Brayshaw Oliver Tyson Emerg.... Vanderberg Omac Bugg Salem ......... And we kill the saints and some dreams are just too good to wake from....