Tassie Devil

#10 #33 #3 etc

His tap on the shoulder took him to another club - the tap was given by one of the greatest demons of all time. We chat at great length about his last season - as well as his time at the Dees (who he followed as a kid) and the club he played for before that.

I hope you are right - and I'm happy for him to prove me wrong. Somehow though I doubt it and think his time is up.

Not just 3 ordinary games - try three ordinary seasons. His time has past. I would also have been happy to trade Robbo when we had the chance - sick of him flapping around on the turf like a fish out of water. Yze screwed us as well. JMac may go on for another few years. Wheels - one of my faves but injury prone. I have little interest in cricket.

Why's that? Because I am keen to see the club move forward? Because I don't want to have players remain on the list past their use by date and stop the development of the next generation of players that may bring us a flag? Speaking with a former "Bluey" winner last night only confirmed what I have been thinking - our sentimentality has been a big part of our failure to make our club the great beast it once was. If that makes you ashamed then I am sorry - for you and our once great club.

I have been calling him that for at least 3 years - just ask our old friend Rollo 65. His time has past - he should do the right thing by the club and retire - after Round 6.

No one is denying #9 has been a great servant of the club. His time is long past - either we are rebuilding or we are being overly sentimental. No room for sentiment in the modern game.

I was talking with a former Demon B&F winner last night about Neitz. He feels the club made a serious error in keeping him on the list - we are very much like a generous superannuation benevolent fund - as we were with Garry Lyon. He talked about how when the Hawks gave Michael Tuck the tap on the shoulder - he could have possibly gone around another year (finished top 10 in their B&F) but the tough decision was made. Best thing would be for him to retire so we can find out which players may have a future - Neitz doesn't.

And if he doesn't mark it the ball doesn't rebound into the opposition forward 50 like it does with old rubber chest.

Nor for that matter does old rubber chest #9 Maybe it's tanking!

Todd Viney took almost 10 years to learn how to kick properly - I think Jones is a similar type of player.

Why wait that long?

Are we going to wear a jumper that actually looks different to the Cats this time?

Another spelling mistake old man - is there a reliable test for dementia? Hope you are coping with our indifferent start to the season.

go away - you have jinxed us again

Clarkson had the support of Jeff K. showing, yet again, what a shrewd operator he is.

but, unlesss afl changes the rules, we will get one the following year. No way will we win more than 3 this year or next - I'm comfortable with that. 40 + years teaches patience if nothing else. Go #10

Newton needs to harden up Dunn should get more chances than many others in our team today.

only footage I saw of the game (can't bring myself to watch) was Newton pulling out of a contest. It may have been a one of but he needs to go harder than he did then - no matter how many games he's played.

Maybe we could ask all the players to buy memberships with their salary if they felt their performance was not up to standard. Depending on how bad you play you have to buy a higher category. Perhaps this should happen each week and the players choose 6 or so players to buy memberships - they picked the leadership group after all.

I wish we had toiges #46 as backup for our #45

Ox - I was just trying to point out the double standards - as we know chocolate contains caffeine (a drug) - and one that I enjoy especially while the major stores are peddling it so aggresively atm. The fact that alcohol is legal yet is known to kill many people every year is what I was trying to highlight. How many people die from cannabis overdoses? Dr Alex Wodak (one of the world's leading authorities on AOD issues) made a very impressive submission to Bronwyn Bishop's 'Winnable War on Drugs' inquiry last year about how cannabis should come under a similar tax regime as alcohol and tobacco and the revenue could be taken out of the pockets of the drug dealers and go towards helping people experiencing problems with cannabis (btw a small percentage of those that use the stuff). A compelling argument I thought. Bishop labelled him 'a drug industry elite' who was undermining her governments zero tolerance approach. Prohibition does not work, we have evidence from the failed alcohol prohibition that is very clear. We need to look at alternative approaches. Another example is the new crisis we face with the strong 'afghan brown' heroin that is now on the market in the bigger cities (not yet here in Tassie though). Howard claimed his tough on drugs approach had led to a fall in use of this drug. In reality they just switched to what was more readily available on the market - ice, speed and cocaine. Now the market has changed again and we are witnessing a new wave of heroin related deaths. Will we ever learn? I still think Fev has brought the game into disrepute and should be investigated and suspended by the AFL as a serial offender. We need to take a zero toelrance approach to pi**heads.

Deanox - I suggest you have a look at the names of most state and federal health departments agencies that deal with these issues. Most now call themselves something like 'alcohol and other drug' agencies. I was perhaps being a tad inflammatory - but at no time did I suggest he was [censored] and high on other drugs. He was, as far as I know, just [censored]. The reason I spend most weekend nights at home. Go Dees - please don't drive me to drink this year. One more can of Melbourne Bitter and I think I will be sick.

Deanox - I would suggest you don't cite wikipedia (I am spending the first few weeks of this semester drumming into my 1st/2nd/3rd yr students that I will mark them down if they cite that in their essays). Worse than that though - I would suggest you avoid any reference to the US when it comes to dealing with drug issues. They are leading the war on drugs - have been since well before Nixon made Elvis a special agent! Many of their allies are abandoning this approach - almost quicker than they are the war in Iraq. It has been a catastrophic failure - even worse than the attempt at alcohol prohibition. To give you an example - current rates of new HIV transmissions among injecting drug users in the US are around 30% of all notifications. Here in Australia it is currently less than 1%. The reason - needle and syringe programs which US federal law bans the use of federal funding for. Alcohol is a drug - a dangerous one that kills many more people than all the illicit drugs combined. Vested interests however mean that we are stuck with grog. Meanwhile the drug industry entrepreneurs (aka dealers) make billions - none of which goes into govt coffers. Drugs are bad - the war on drugs is worse. But chocolate is nice and makes me happy - does that make me a 'druggie'?