hardtack

Maybe I missed it, but why has no one mentioned the fact that he had both Pickett and Melksham benched for the last few minutes of the game, when any score would have seen us win the game (not that that would have excused the last quarter capitulation)? That was one of the worst examples of coaching I can recall for a long time.

Fair enough… perhaps he should have waited until after appropriate meetings had been had… I just get the feeling that his rather predictable letter has created more questions than it answers; but yes, I do understand (and appreciate) where you are coming from.

To the contrary, I thought that the sidestepping of any discussion of Goodwin’s performance was far more telling… after all, that is what a large portion of the membership and supporter base would like to hear from him.

That was not an uncontested mark!! Wanganeen-Milera took while sandwiched between two Melbourne players. Best not to trivialise his brilliance.

No way, we’re not that clever!!

Or was it telling the players to make the margin at least seven points.

Pickett and Melksham on the bench for the final three minutes of the game???? Even under Neeld we never descended to today’s depths. Memberships will take a major hit (my son and I are tossing up the possibility), players who were already on the cusp of leaving may now have had their minds made up for them, and we’d have to think that the coach is pretty much out the door. What a disgraceful effort!

Remembering days past when I’d wander up to the Station Hotel in Prahran and watch some of the best talent going around. Those days and nights are, to me at least, still a source of great pleasure and solace as I reflect on how I felt back then… life was good…

Getting ready for the gig on August 31st (if anyone reading this lives in Sydney, or knows anyone living in Sydney, get along… it’s free entry and a lot of fun)… putting my spare time into producing a poster…

I’ve just been wracking my brain for a few seconds, but to no avail; how can picks be involved in the recruiting of a player who is not currently affiliated with any club? Where do said picks go? How does this whole scenario work? Please excuse my ignorance.

If you are suggesting that the free kick count was lopsided sided, then I’d suggest that you are off the mark… it was 29-21 which in today’s game (not meaning today the 19th July), is not really out of the ordinary. We lost through poor skills, and lack of effort, meaning that we gave the ball up far too easily. Who cares if we won most stats counts if we were actually unable to use all of those possessions etc, to our advantage? Take more marks, make more tackles, win the hit outs etc etc… that all means nothing if you are just giving the ball up to the opposition without improving the team’s position on the field and, more importantly, adding to the score. If you just look at the final score, you’ll see that pretty much everything I’ve just stated is self evident. It’s simple really, you don’t win matches if you don’t put the score on the board and you don’t put the score on the board if you are unable to maintain possession of the ball and move it forward.

Absolute rubbish!!! Sure there were some dodgy calls by the umpires, but we were for the most part the victims of our own lack of attack on the ball, our own laziness, our own poor judgement and our own appalling skills!! Will we lose Goodwin (it’s got to be a distinct possibility, but who could replace him?), and will now see the likes of Fritsch and McVee being spruiked around other clubs because we’ve left ourselves in a position where we have no currency when the trade (and draft) periods roll around? To turn on this kind of [censored] at this point of the season, does not fill me with any confidence for the future… the most basic of skills (??!!??) seem to have been lost!! Can’t take a chest mark, can’t kick a ball at a reachable height when either bombing it in, or trying a short pass, and hand passes that have the intended target reaching down and forward giving them no opportunity to do anything useful with the ball because they are so off balance (same goes for those short kicks I just mentioned)!! I’m so [censored] off because I’m now having to resign myself to the fact that there’s a very distinct possibility that I might not ever get to see us play finals again!! [censored] them!! Seriously… [censored] them and their sorry attempts to look like a football team. There… it’s good to get that off my chest.

I’ve already made up my mind that I’ll do the gig regardless of how I’m feeling…I’ll just set myself fewer songs to get through.

Nothing to do with TMac, I was thinking more along the lines of the brevity of the post.

Did someone temporarily hijack your account? 😉

It seems that my optimism was a little misguided as I’m to continue my fortnightly chemo cycles until..? I’d still like to think I could honour my ‘promise’ that we will play at the Marrickville Bowlo on the 31st August, if only in a somewhat reduced capacity (I refuse to let this [censored] get the upper hand!!)… and I’d hope that Andy Doc Temple Ellard will be fit to do a set with The Chickenstones… after all, that was the plan and our incentive to beat this beast; definitely so in my case. Please stay tuned. The accompanying images are some I whipped up with the help of my AI (don’t worry, I will never claim such images as my own work). They express a little of the disappointment I felt today, as well as my resignation to the fact that it’s probably all for the best. The first image is a selfie I took upon arriving home from the Rusty Priest, the rest are generated using that image as a reference point. I hope you can appreciate/enjoy them (some of them do take a bit of poetic licence when it come to my visage)…

Thanks for your kind words rjay! Yes, it is a bit of a battle, but there are still many who are doing it much tougher than me. Sure it’s very possible that it will get me in the end, but at least I’m comfortable, both physically and, being the pragmatist that I am, mentally. I start what might be my final cycle of chemo on Monday, but should know more after meeting with my oncologist prior to getting hooked up for my fortnightly infusion; I will also find out the results of my CT scan, but as they haven’t called me about it, I get the feeling it’s probably nothing serious, just an attack of vertigo. I’m still hopeful that the gig will happen on the 31st August, but that’s pretty much in the hands of the medicos. I’ll wind up with a few images created by me as well as one on myself and a club legend in Shanghai…

Yes, that’s really sad… I believe he first became a grave digger when he gave up music. I heard a story (urban myth or true?) that he once went to visit his former manager armed with a gun, and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t stop sending royalties cheques. A friend of mine Peter Head (had a band in the 70’s called Headband - supported the Stones at Randwick Racecourse), did a bit of playing with Peter Green in early 70’s London… I recommend his book Headonism that was launched last week.

I think Trac is more likely to remain a Dee… partially because Clarry doesn’t seem too invested and partially because the club is more likely to be shopping Clarry around (a result of the first partial reason 😉).

When you take into account, player age, attitude, and ‘personality’ (like it or not, they have to face the media), I can only think of a couple who might fit the bill… Langdon and Petty. Sadly they don’t consistently perform on the field, but name me one player in our group that does. Langdon at least has a good head on his shoulders and presents well before the media. Someone mentioned Pickett, but as has been noted in other threads, he’s a shy retiring type who would have great difficulty in dealing with the media circus. Let him just concentrate on his onfield performance.

Good god, you have such a way with words… love it!!

Stripe me pink!! Now there’s an expression that’s not used enough!!

We’re a rabble! I’m not sure that we can teach them anything if we keep going the way that we are, as they’ve developed so many bad habits, and are not going into games with any serious intent!! To me, from the reports I read (which are excellent, by the way), it appears that training is too much fun and not enough earnestness. I’d like to see training sessions broken up into the different skills, but with real game simulation, where pressure is emphasised. [censored] off the soccer balls, as these things need to be approached seriously, otherwise we learn nothing and nothing changes! I obviously don’t attend training, so I might be making unfair/unjustified assumptions (correct me if I’m wrong), but I just can’t believe that what we are seeing is the product of a well organised teaching/learning system. We simply can’t blame players for their poor onfield performances without first looking at training, because that’s where it all starts!

Very sad to hear of the passing of Mick Ralphs, guitarist for Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. He was the first cousin of the guitarist, Steve Ralphs, in my first Sydney band, The Tenants. Apparently he’d been very ill since 2016, so it didn’t come as a surprise to those close to him.

Well, I’m still above ground and posting here… so I guess that’s a plus!