Rab D Nesbitt

I know. Scary. And his replacement when he retired was Curtly Ambrose.

Whilst still living down in Canterbury in Kent (UK) I volunteered as a listener with The Samaritans for three years. Some interesting things I remember from that time were that only around 10% of the callers / visitors were people genuinely suffering from suicidal thoughts or depression. Many were prank callers if you can believe it. Also, I found that the people who had made the decision themselves to call us usually fared far better that those that had been prompted by family or friends to do so. Maybe because they were in a headspace where they knew they needed help and were comfortable enough to seek it. Psychotherapy can also be a game changer in regards to depression but again the results I think can be much better when the person seeking help understands that they will be the one doing most of the work and not the person they're paying to listen to them. For anyone at their lowest ebb during this time complete openness can be really helpful but also be when someone can be at their most vulnerable to any sort of mild criticism. Coming out the other end though can be character building though as it can really help people understand the steps and triggers that led them to those low points and also make it far easier to articulate to themselves and others what they are feeling. Particularly for males I think that is a great tool to have in our mental health kit. Long term depression can be as painful and debilitating as any physical illness and I came to the view that in most cases someone would have to be at the very end of their mental and emotional endurance to actually take their own life and that it's certainly not a cowardly act. Anyway, that's my two bobs worth on the subject.

Party pooper ?

I'm a bit conflicted about tonights game. Although it might be good for us if the Saints tripped up the thought of Adelaide having a 0-17 season does warm the heart.

I'm looking forward to the day when our midfield of Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, Viney and Brayshaw is as ominous as Garner, Marshall, Holding, Roberts and Croft.

We've been building towards this kind of display. Can't wait until we do it against a good side. Next week hopefully.

Ha! Nothing, I promise LH. Although I'm finding it does take more and more to get the same hit these days. Once I've plateaued I find a quality dark ale helps take the edge off things. It's all about finding the right balance.

There's nothing quite like good coffee to help find that sweet spot of optimism prior to the first bounce. Two down so far and I'm already quietly confident.

I wonder if they might consider Adam Tomlinson at CHF to replace Tom, despite not being considered for a place on the wing last week.

Peter V'landys might talk a good talk but surely he wouldn't be looking forward to the prospect of a dozen or more AFL sides calling QLD home for the next two months or more with games being played most nights of the week. As long as they don't all resemble the Sydney v Richmond game last week of course.

We seem to be covering a lot of positive territory on this thread and it made me wonder what everyone's thoughts were in regards to Australia Day. Apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere or if it's considered slightly off topic. Ignore me if it is. I think we could kill two birds with the one stone perhaps by declaring / voting for a republic and thereby creating a new national day that everyone could feel comfortable celebrating. This would then replace January 26. In an ideal world of course we would just be mature enough to understand that it's no fun celebrating something that upsets so many of our fellow citizens for obvious reasons and change it anyway but it's not an ideal world we live in. Personally I'd go one step further and take the butchers apron off the flag as well if we really do want to grow up as a nation but I wouldn't want that to sidetrack the bigger discussion we're all having here. It would have the added benefit of pissing of royalists though which can only be a good thing considering we're now living in the 21st century.

Hi Rjay. I hadn't realised that the QLD government were moving on the situation in NSW this quickly. I guess what baffled me was the AFL putting a strategy in place to take us out of that state whilst simultaneously flying Richmond into NSW to play GWS. Hawthorn are also staying there for another week. We could have just as easily played the Giants and flown to QLD a week later if the situation required it.

Ah! I see BBP. Is that for certain ? Still don't see why we can't stay for at least another week as well and play the Giants. We can't be flying up to Coolangatta just for the day surely if it's our home game.

Except that Hawthorn are staying there to play the Swans at the SCG.

This is a bit nuts. Why wouldn't they keep both Richmond and us in their current states so that we can play GWS and they play Brisbane ? Hawthorn are staying in Sydney to play the Swans after their game against us. Baffling.

Perhaps the exemption given to get the A League sides out of Victoria after our lockdown kicked in has also helped get this done. If we're also playing practice games against other sides currently in NSW it makes sense.

I just have to say this makes me laugh out loud every time I scroll past it ET.

Hi there David. Yeah, I think there are some points of difference between these three examples you've thrown up. In regards to Gus I think the fact he was already our player and that we used a very high draft pick to get him meant that we were definitely going to go the distance in working through his issues. As I think St K also tried to do with Paddy. List sizes not being a concern in either case at the time. As for Harley, had Covid-19 hit twelve months earlier and list sizes already been reduced it's quite likely that he might be in a similar situation to that of McCartin where the risk versus gain factor has bigger consequences if you get it wrong. I don't think anyone is blind to the possibilities should anyone take a punt on him and make it a success and it sure is tempting with Darren Burgess onboard (although I'm less sure about his work with concussions) but it comes back to the anticipated reduction in squad sizes for me but let's wait and see.

I sometimes wonder whether things are actually getting better or worse. The political agendas of two world leaders in particular have given people with xenophobic and homophobic leanings a virtual licence to flaunt their warped and insular views. One (Trump) infamously describing latinos as rapists and murderers from [censored] countries and the other (Boris Johnson) describing black africans as piccaninnies with watermelon smiles. He also described gay men as tank topped bumboys. Yet with all this information already in the public domain they have both been elected into office by the general public. Go figure.

You'd think that the proposed reduction in list sizes would be enough to put the kibosh on this idea gaining any traction.

It's probably just a business that's paid to set up a site to look like a fan forum. Also known as astroturfing.

Viney was really good tonight, our best I thought. Holding the ball interpretation was in complete contrast to this afternoons games. No wonder people get frustrated with the game. It's hard to know where this GC side will sit at years end but to beat them when they are up and about is a good foundation to build on going forward.

A tight loss against this outfit wouldn't be the embarrassment it might have been in previous years but it would almost surely end any chance we have of playing finals once again at a very early stage of the season. Not ideal with six weeks of lockdown ahead of us and most other games being unwatchable.

Be annoyed for 5 minutes then finish watching series two of Inbetweeners on Netflix. Life goes on.

There seems to be two lines of thinking on this. One is to have it in one of the other traditional football states of WA or SA, both of which have new stadiums with at least a 50k capacity. The other is to have it in one of the two states of NSW or QLD as payback for helping the competition continue for the next few weeks at least and in contrast to both SA and WA who have made things very difficult (and expensive) for the AFL. Until a time when our Dees have no chance of being in it I would want it to take place in the largest capacity stadium of the most accessible and least expensive city to travel to which would be Sydney and unfortunately ANZ Stadium. Thereafter I really couldn't care less where it is played.