Jack Jack

Devastating news for Kobe and the Lakers. Kobe has fractured his knee and will be out for 6 weeks. The Lakers are struggling as it is in the very competitive Western Conference. This certainly won't improve their chances. I think Steve Nash is also out for another 4 weeks.

All these free trade agreements seem to be to our detriment. We've got one of the highest employment costs in the world, red tape through the roof, yet the government has done little, if anything, to help out our manufacturing and primary produce industries, let alone do anything to try to sustain them. China's wage is around $1 per hour, no annual leave, sick leave, workcover etc etc and yet imports to Australia have little (about 5% from what I've seen) to no duty. Try and export into China and they hit you with a 30% import duty, and that's on top of our $25 odd per hour cost of employment and other high costs of production. Where is the harm in increasing duty on imported goods, such as cars, and returning that money back into the industries as a subsidy? At the very least it would help sustain some of these industries for local production.

The problem is that the TPP is not confined to online piracy (movies, music etc), it is an all encompassing draconian copyright infringement policy. The seemingly innocent use of a copyrighted image in a meme could see your website shut down without notice. There's also talk of pharmaceutical companies being able to remove generic medicines, which can only benefit themselves. A lot of these big corporations already have a leg up with the amount of resources they have, why are we giving them more leverage at our expense?

There's a lot of interesting articles on the TPP, the concerning point is that I haven't really seen anything positive. I believe it's a far more important issue than the "boats" that made headlines during the election campaign, but not a word was said by either side. I read somewhere about the Greens expressing their concerns over the TPP, but the negotiations have been ongoing for a number of years I believe, so where why are we only hearing about it now? Fancy giving corporations more powers to sue and control. What a bunch of hacks we've got. TPP Means You'll Pay More For Internet Access

I saw Dan Sultan live again last weekend. He's quite an incredible talent. Well worth the effort to see him live if anyone get's the chance. He's just released a new song. Jack Jack 5.6 This is the version of Old Fitzroy he's doing on his current tour. It doesn't really do him justice, but still worth a listen.

Pacer's could be dangerous for Miami this season. They weren't far off last season and will have Granger returning and have added Scola to the roster. Bulls, OKC, Clips, Spurs and GSW should all be up there this season. I'm still not convinced that the Knicks are a legitimate contenders, they'll be up there but I just don't see how they can go deep into the finals series. Houston and Brooklyn look good on paper, but it remains to be seen how well the teams will perform. Cavs should see some improvement along with the Timberwolves (if they can stay healthy. Rubio will improve the team now that he's back on the court) I hope to see the Pistons take a few steps forward this season. Josh Smith will make a difference and Drummond and Munroe will only get better. Hopefully Jennings can sure up the guard position. On paper they should be looking at a final berth, although I suspect they'd just be making up the numbers.

I haven't really been following the NBA too closely so far (it's early days). Brett Brown, ex Boomers and NBL coach, seems to be doing well with the 76ers so far. Dellavedova had a few good preseason games, but has yet to really get any game time so far. Patty Mills has been seeing some regular minutes, nice to see. And if you didn't know already, Andrew Bogut has signed a 3 year extension with GSW. I expect to see GSW taking another step further in the playoffs this season.

It's true, they're getting a fair bit of extra funding. Some of which probably doesn't appear in the AFL's club funding as it was loaned to the SANFL who then used it to give to Port and the Crows. Source

Michael Voss had a heavily backended final contract. He decided to retire with 1 year remaining, the AFL agreed the the Lions could keep him on their list, and that he didn't have to be involved in the club. If Buddy was unable to play for a few years, I'm sure they'd just move him on to the rookie list.

Jimmy Fallon's take on Breaking Bad **SPOILER ALERT** I'm not sure if it is, but for those who aren't up to season 5, be warned.

I had the same problem for a while. Probably has something to do with isp's and dns', although I have no idea what either of those mean.

Yes, that's the one. Also owns/runs TalkingFootball

It's speculation, someone mentioned it as a possible signing.

That may well be true, but so far it seems that all of the appointments have Paul Roos name all over them. Allison, Mathews and Moore were involved with the Swans during PR's tenure as coach. There's probably nothing in it, just something I found curious.

Australians can rejoice. Our own Matt Dellavedova has signed a 2 year contract, partially guaranteed, with the Cavaliers. I think the Cavs could be in for a climb up the standings, so I hope he can stick with them. After being bought out by the Suns (after being busted with possession of marijuana), Michael Beasley finds himself back at Miami with a non-guaranteed contract. As we all know high draft picks don't necessarily translate into great players, but he was originally draft at 2 by the Heat 4 or 5 odd years ago. He certainly has the skills but has been let down by his own lack of discipline and off field transgressions. Could be another boom or bust recruit for the Heat, along with their signing of former number 1 pick Greg Oden.

Looks like a great finish to the stage. I haven't seen a lot of the tour so far, but managed to see the end of Stage 18. I must admit that, apart from being an incredible finish (Kiryienka holding on from a fairly early breakaway was quite a feat, and our own Adam Hansen coming in 3rd), seeing Chris Horner take time on Nibali, Velverde et al was a bit of a surprise, particularly considering his age. Will be interesting to see what happens tonight.

I haven't seen any mention of either Matthews' or Allisons' role. Only that they've joined the coaching panel. It would seem to me that with the likelihood of Rawlings staying on board, we've now filled our quota of assistants. The last piece is the senior assistant. Which I find a little bizarre, in that they will have had no input into the coaching panel they will eventually take over. Or have I got the situation completely wrong?

We may all look back at what a awful coach Neeld was, who looked completely out of his depth. But his appointment was a just reflection of our poor governance at the time. The appointment of Roos, fortunately, seems to indicate the complete opposite. It's easy to be critical of players and personnel, but they don't give themselves contracts. The rot starts at the top, and It's looking extremely hopeful that we've got it right this time.

That's the impression I got too. PJ said he would be re-evaluating the job, but that's not to say that he's changed his mind. I think the appointment of Roos bodes well for Mahoney, but, if we had the opportunity to get a highly experienced GMFO in Walsh, why wouldn't we take that option?

Yes, Rawlings is contracted for next season. Not that contracts seem to be an impediment for removing staff at the moment. Garland spoke very highly of Rawlings at the B&F, it would be no surprise to see him continue next season.

I'm not really sure that the argument of Melbourne wasting picks really holds up. With the likes of Cook and Gysberts for example, taken as high picks and basically discarded for nothing, doesn't that in retrospect actually improve every other teams subsequent picks? ie every other team has benefited from our inept drafting? If they think we're likely to make a poor decision, how in fact would that disadvantage the other teams? And with regards to the monetary assistance, how is that any different from the likes of the North, Bulldogs et al who received grants for the upgrade of their facilities. One would assume that the upgrades were to make the teams more competitive. How does that substantially differ from spending the money elsewhere to make a team more competitive? The only thing I can think that may muddy the waters is the number 1 pick we received previously as a priority pick. In a roundabout way it's ended up being Hogan, who is yet to debut 4 seasons after receiving the original priority pick. Will that be taken into consideration and will it work against us?

Teams have been able to trade rookies for a few seasons now. I think, from memory, Mumford was one of the first rookies ever to be traded.

I'm a bit late for this now that the election is over, but what the hell, better late than never. Jack Jack 4.6

At this stage there's not a lot to go on. But Roos did say that he guaranteed success, if it didn't happen during his tenure as head coach, then it would happen with his successor. He also mentioned that there's the possibility of him staying on, in some capacity, beyond his term as head coach. Yes I know it's just talk from one press conference. But Roos seems like the kind of guy who genuinely means what he says, if we're not on track by the time his contract finishes, I fully expect him to stick around to make sure we become as successful as possible.

I was listening to a recruiter on the radio yesterday, he was talking about how they evaluate players. One of the methods of separating players was to project how they saw each player in 3-5 years time. We haven't even come close to giving Toumpas that sort of grace, particularly considering he was coming off a limited preseason due to injury and are comparing him to a ready made player. At this stage we've not considered the merits of their scope for improvement. But in reference to the early calls for Wines, at the time I remember a lot of talk about how he was good mates with Viney and wanted to play for the Dees. I wonder how many people actually saw both players in action, and didn't just base their choice on some sort of romantic notion of getting in Wines because he's a highly rated player, likes the Dees and is Viney's best mate. There's the possibility we did get it wrong, but it's too early to call at this stage.