mauriesy

Headlines for the next few months: "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our pre-season: Neeld" "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our Christmas: Neeld" "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our New Year: Neeld" "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our January training: Neeld" "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our February training: Neeld" "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our NAB Cup preparations: Neeld" "Tanking enquiry hasn't affected our first-round preparations: Neeld"

Here's a list of delisted and traded players 2006-2011 (retirees not included):Daniel Bell Shannon Motlop Chris Johnson Byron Pickett Matthew Warnock Michael Newton Simon Buckley Jace Bode Isaac Weetra Austin Wonaeamirri Shane Valenti Addam Maric John Meesen Tom McNamara Paul Johnson Kyle Cheney Ryan Ferguson Brad Miller Simon Godfrey Nick Smith Nathan Carroll Brock McLean How many would you have kept? What makes you think players this year will be any greater loss?

Sylvia is smiling. Obviously not being pushed hard enough.

I think there's a difference between a candid camera-type prank that is relatively harmless and the perpetrator immediately fesses up, as opposed to a prank that deliberately sets out to breach patient confidentiality and puts a nurse in an invidious and regrettable professional position.

But it all comes from Sydney. For whatever reason, Melbourne radio doesn't seem infected with the same shock-jock mentality. I think generally it's because there's too many radio stations fighting for revenue, and they're all forced into more devious ways of making the news rather than simply reporting or commenting on it. Either that or they win ratings by appealing to the lowest common denominator. In Sydney radio, good taste, class, morals and etiquette have gone out the window and been replaced by vindictiveness, accusation, bias, judgementalism, pranks and stupidity. Give me Red Symons any day.

It's worse if you've got a few thousand hectares of crop to harvest. But it will be over in a week. Bananas take about 9 months.

I don't see what's that difficult, if the report says that Melbourne just 'list managed' rather than tanked, for the AFL to say 'well anyway, we've removed the incentive to tank by removing priority picks'.

Fixed your post. There's something about Sydney radio, and it's even worse when there's an airhead female co-host. Melbourne radio seems completely different and a shock-jock free zone by comparison (even when you take Hinch into account).

What's on a Collingwood supporter's coffee table since Ralph ceased publishing?

I like getting a year book. It's not ephemeral like e-mails or websites. The cost would be a dollar or so out of a standard 11-game $199 membership, or $30-40,000 out of a budget of millions.

Only if he kicks a toumpedo.

Is diesel fuel the new bananas? Can't get any D$.

It's not unusual to improve your endurance in your 30s. Training effects can be cumulative and plenty of endurance athletes perform best past their 20s. Carlos Lopes won the Los Angeles Olympic marathon at age 36, and set a world record in that event at age 38, after a fairly lacklustre athletic career in his 20s.

You can go up into the Rockies outside Denver and there are towns (e.g. Leadville) that are 10,000+ feet above sea level. Climax at 11,360 feet was once the highest settlement in the USA with the highest railway station. Peaks in the Colorado Rockies (e.g. Elbert, Massive) go up 14,400 feet and there is plenty of non-dangerous terrain well above 12,000 feet.

You can't get to a higher altitude in New Zealand unless you go mountaineering into snow and ice. Mt Cook village is lower than Mt Dandenong. Even Mackinnon Pass, highest point on the Milford Track, is only 1154m. I doubt you could train for two weeks on top of Mt Cook (3754m).

"Culture" is being 100% dedicated, 100% professional, 100% team-oriented and 100% hard at it on-field. You can't do that if you smoke, drink, party, take drugs or treat the world as your oyster. The days of the bad-boy players are over. "Culture" is here to stay. I'd also dispute we lack talent. What we have lacked is exactly that ... "culture".

My only question about 2013 is the fact that plenty of well-credentialled young players that look good in the long run haven't got any immediate AFL experience: Viney, Toumpas, Terlich, Kent, Barry, Hogan. They'll take at least 20 games to find their feet and make much impact. Conversely, we should start to see more contribution from young players that have currently <30 games experience that can build and improve e.g. McDonald, Tapscott, Blease, Tynan, Taggert, Gawn, Fitzpatrick, Evans, Nicholson. On an out > in basis I'd rate the list changes as follows: (+ better, - worse, o not enough data) Clint Bartram > Dean Terlich - (based on Bartram's career, not just 2012) Brad Green > Jesse Hogan + (from 2014) Jared Rivers > Tom Gillies - Brent Moloney > Jack Viney + Jordan Gysberts > Dean Kent + Stef Martin > Cam Pedersen + Cale Morton > Jimmy Toumpas + Matthew Bate > Matt Jones o Jamie Bennell > Dominic Barry o Lucas Cook > Chris Dawes ++++++ Liam Jurrah > Shannon Byrnes + Ricky Petterd > David Rodan + Jai Sheahan > new rookie ... o Kelvin Lawrence > new rookie ... o Leigh Williams > ?? ... o Not to mention Mitch Clark hopefully playing closer to a full season.

A correction: Jurrah was picked #1 in the 2009 PSD and was on the senior list for two years.

And a fantastic review FNQD. Suggest you come down from FNQ for all our training sessions.

I do. A long and successful career in the AFL requires a professional, committed athlete. This stuff about "just being a kid" is rubbish. There are dozens of hard-working, mature 18-year-olds who aren't trouble and who deserve to be selected ahead of one that thinks natural talent on the field is all that they need to get ahead, and they can be totally unprofessional at other times. I fully support a "no d**kheads" policy. It's served the current premiers well. I would have thought we would learn from the history of players like Fevola, Lovett, Connors, Angwin, Carroll and a host of other irresponsibles that their influence on club culture is an overall negative. The issue is probably moot, because we have a full list, and therefore don't have a PSD pick. I'd be very reticent to give Garlett a contract to our senior player list because he can't prove commitment and acceptance of culture at an AFL club. Rookie at best if he wants a chance to prove himself, but he probably won't fall that far.

Hopefully Watson is fit to bowl, and even more hopefully, he lasts the whole match.

$151

It's not encumbent on me to define what you meant by 'input'. 'Input' could be anything from contractual advice about a player to direct input into a pick. The former could be entirely proper, the latter would probably be improper.

If he's a d...ckh....d, the last thing any club would do in today's environment is tie themselves to a 2-year contract first up (either through the ND or PSD). If he's got plenty of talent, rookie at best, and get him training at the club beforehand to test his character, will, application and ability to reform.

I don't think I said anything about 'respect' or 'liking the club', I just said he didn't particularly care about the significance. Grimes does, as a Melbourne supporter growing up, and that will be a significant factor.