mauriesy

Confucius say: Problem with line in sand is that on other side ... there's just more sand!

Really? Not too bad for beef, but the deal hardly touches the 29.8% tariff Japan puts on Australian dairy products (mainly cheese). For an Australian industry now exporting $511 million in products per year to Japan, the measly tariff reduction is worth a whopping $11 million per year to Australian farmers. And that will take until 2031, or 17 years. It's a joke. It's not a free trade agreement, but a 'trade-a-few-things' agreement.

Strange that "Trengove impresses" but he's not listed in the best.

Watching the Hawks, Cats and Pies this weekend, I just want Melbourne to: 1. Be first to the ball in a contest 2. Show some desperation That's the attitude that the top sides have, and we don't.

Six Nick Riewoldts. I'd take that.

I was 13. Although I followed the Dees with my mum, my family up to that stage were not football goers, so I listened to it in our kitchen on an old bakelite valve radio, one of those ones with the actual stations marked on the front, like 3DB or 3LO. I remember watching the news and highlights sometime after, we had a 17" HMV B&W TV. I started going regularly to the football in 1965 with a friend my age. My mum let me catch the train from Darling. The first eight games were great. Maybe I was the curse, not Norm Smith.

Even IF AD had actually 'forewarned' Essendon, I don't understand why Tania Hird is complaining about something that was to their advantage

A decade ago my wife changed teams from Essendon to Melbourne. Is there a special place reserved for her? Heaven or Hell?

So he's not The Ghost?

50% of teams lose in round 1.

You could start at the beginning of this thread, read one page a day, and it would take to the start of the 2015 season.

Cripes, he's scored 27 Test centuries, 8000 runs and averages 51. That's elite in anyone's language. I think he's well and truly 'stood up'.

A right-wing dryalogue arguing with a loony left-wing protectionist shows how ridiculous the concept of trying for 'balance' really is.

Haven't the State Government just quietly announced slashing funding to Workcover? The last thing they're going to do is investigate footballers rather than 'real' workplaces.

A barrage of hits to the body, medical treatment overnight for the bruises, and not out 161. The very antithesis of 'soft and wimpish'.

Shouldn't that be nnnnnn|||||||| ?

Vince, Cross, Tyson and Michie have exponentially improved our midfield, which last year was basically Jones. Frawley, Garland and McDonald can be settled talls in the backline. The smaller backmen worry me somewhat though, especially their disposal. Let's just hope we can include another quality tall or two in the forward line.

Anybody regret not picking Garlett? Garlett at the crossroads

Some high quality debate about issues going on here.

We're out of the media for all the right reasons. Meanwhile ... Martin and Connors sharing a house. King associating with bad boys. Marley Williams awaiting sentence. Dayle Garlett having AFL 'adjustment' problems.

Despite their different positions, they are similar players for mine. They both go hard and win the ball, but I'm worried about their decision-making and disposal under pressure. I don't think we can afford as many errors as players like Terlich, Matt Jones, Bail, Nicholson, Byrnes and Clisby bring at once. Clisby is the best of that bunch IMHO.

You under-estimate Abbott. The aim of the Royal Commissions into the home insulation program and into the 5 Unions is to provide anti-Labor fodder for the next election. Abbott knows that Royal Commissions will find some damaging information, that they run for a long time, and that they get plenty of free publicity. Every Liberal-NP government as far back as I can remember has held some sort of inquiry or commission, designed to damage their opponents long-term, when they get into office. They very rarely nail anyone specifically, but make lots of noise. Beating up on unions is in Liberals' DNA, even when workers' conditions aren't even that generous, are not the root cause of industry problems, or when wages growth is below the level of inflation, like now.

Agreed. Too many are being overly precious.

Indeed, they should be stopping the boats leaving Indonesia. Previous governments back through Gillard, Rudd and Howard, failed grossly in that respect. (BTW, best wait until cyclone season is over before claiming 100% success.) But that doesn't mean they have to treat current detainees like s**t. I don't see how mis-treating asylum seekers incommunicado on an island jail plays any part at all in stopping a 'kick-starting' of boat departures from Java. And is a few deaths on a remote island an acceptable price to pay for no drownings on the seas? Albrechtsen seems to think so. I'd prefer no deaths anywhere. P.S. You got anyone to quote other than Bolt?

Red and blue.