hardtack

A reasoned response is considered as being "a tad sensitive"? Physician heal thyself.

Watts (disciplined), Pedo, Kent and Jetta (all coming off injuries), Trennners (probably play this week), Garland (pretty much expected to be depth only with the current backline). I'd say that the psychological scarring excuse is well past its use by date.

That read more as a rhetorical question, which is probably why it got no answer.

Threadgold Thoroughgrip Garterettes

When I was in primary school in the late 50's/early 60's kids were beaten up for daring to be different and the teachers turned a blind eye... this continued on into high school as well, with the only difference being that the beatings were far worse. Back then bullying 'didn't exist' and the teachers made a sport out of belittling kids. Yes, we all breathed out carbon dioxide back in the day (much as we do now) and we also thought that smoking was cool and were told that there were no adverse affects or health issues associated with it. I guess those pesky scientists were just conspiring against the tobacco companies in order for the govt to apply a hefty tax on ciggies. I don't recall the scores being any more important back in the 50's and 60's at school as they are at my childrens' school today... the emphasis was (and still is) on getting involved, getting fit and having a good time doing that. As nutbean so eloquently stated, "whether we consider all progress good, bad or otherwise, one thing is certain - you can't halt progress.".

In which case Jetta must have done something terribly wrong as well...after all, he would be one of the first picked in any team we field.

Yep, and Jetta refused to play in a show of solidarity with his one true captain.

Having lost both parents to smoking, I consider $30 to be too cheap! The thing that I cannot understand is that armed with all of the knowledge that is now available regarding the dangers of smoking, why would anyone even consider taking it up... a seriously dumb decision. My parents and their generation could at least plead ignorance due to that knowledge not being readily available. Booze is probably priced right, but when you consider the amount of damage it can do directly and indirectly, maybe it is priced too low as well. There is talk of a tax on junk food and soft drinks, and I have no issue with that either. All of these things, smoking related cancers, obesity and alchoholism and hospitalisation of people indirectly affected by the consumption of alchohol (car crash victims, violence victims etc), place a lot of pressure on the public health system. The taxes are there to reduce consumption and ease the burden... unless of course you have any better suggestions as to how it can be effectively dealt with.

I thought I read in a couple of places (Twitter, Facebook, here?) that Watts had some sort of thumb injury that occurred during the intra-club match and that he has his thumb in some sort of 'brace' (supposedly seen at the family day). Is there any truth to that? If so, wouldn't that go some way to explaining his omission?

You're right Biff... and it's probably not beyond him to do that ;-)

I get the feeling that they will persevere with JKH, otherwise, if not, it could be a lifeline for Harmes who might otherwise not have made the cut for Round 1.

Geez, Nev's got a long arm!

Apart from the fact that a "triplicate" would require every one of the three prmierships to be identical in every way, what would that technicality be?

I'd like that premiership, in triplicate, on my desk first thing in the morning!

Actually, it was Bush Snr and the Gulf War that really started things rolling...some described Dubya's invading Iraq as dealing with unfinished business.

Binary logic?

I could practically sense the foam and spittle forming around ProDee's mouth as he spat out that string of invective

I have no problem with that as long as they don't go to the opposite extreme (if they are true... something that must be thrown into doubt now)... a certain amount of compassion must be shown. I don't want them to go the way of Trump and put a blanket ban on everyone just because they come from a particular country, particularly when he is not banning those from the only countries known to have committed acts of terror on the US mainland (all business related of course).

I have not asked why 3/4 of the Syrian refugees in Germany were young men of fighting age because that figure tells us nothing in regards to the actual figures... how many arrive in Germany to begin with (Greece and Italy take far more refugees)? The figures I have seen indicate 75% are males, but not necessarily all are young males. One reason (and a reasonable one I would have thought) is that because of the treacherous/physically demanding journey they have to make, the fittest make the journey with a view to establishing somewhere for the rest of the family to join them later; obviously the younger men fit that bill. Of course some may be avoiding national service, but who could blame them when you see what is confronting them. It's not hard to understand why these people have fled when you see what the combination of ISIS, Russia, Syrian Govt forces and even the USA have done to their cities. No one is saying that it is Europe's "responsibility", but it certainly could be considered a moral obligation, I would have thought. These people fleeing did not bring these wars upon themselves and to my way of thinking are just as worthy of support as those caught up in natural disasters. You can call me a left wing [censored] if you like, but I'd rather that than not care at all.

You know for a fact that the Cologne assaults are entirely real news Wrecker? Everyone thought the Frankfurt assaults were real until very recently... something that must throw a lot of doubt on all mass assaults attributed to refugees. That's not to say that there weren't sexual assaults, but the figures may well be brought under scrutiny.

Let's not bring anything that even remotely resembles Alex Jones into this please. I have read through it a couple of times however, and the word "exagerated" is not used at all... in fact, the newspaper responsible for the original report is apologising: "In a humiliating backdown, the German newspaper Bild, which originally reported the claims, has apologised for what it said was a "false report", which was based on the now disputed claims of a pub owner and some of their staff." And "the police said they had interrogated staff and patrons at the pub and their statements "created considerable doubt about the portrayal of events" and that the story was "baseless" or "without foundation". One person who had claimed to have witnessed the attacks was not even in Frankfurt on New Year's Eve. Prosecutors are now investigating two of the people who allegedly fabricated the claims." It goes on to say that: "Germany has had to deal with a rash of hoax stories targeting refugees and immigrants, with the rise of anti-immigration political party AfD and tensions following 2015's extraordinary migration of almost one million refugees into the country." A little more than mere "exageration" methinks.

Harking back to this post, it was interesting to see that probably the biggest so called mass sexual assault in Europe has been declared fake... http://www.smh.com.au/world/newspaper-report-of-mass-sexual-assault-by-refugees-in-frankfurt-was-baseless-police-say-20170215-gudybw.html

I did ask you once if it was a race thing, but made no accusations. The definition I provided does not dismiss it as a non race thing entirely as it states: "However, the traditional geographic associations of Islam mean that it's an easy cultural shorthand for a particular race or a broadly defined group of races". On the Indonesians, you say they don't belong in Bali, but as it stands, Bali is an Indonesian island, albeit mostly Hindu (I believe), and so whether we like it or not, people of Islamic faith have as much right to be there as anyone else. A very good friend of mine Louiza Zervos died in the bombing but it was down to a handful of extremists in what is the largest Islamic population on the planet...a population that you yourself said were a much more placid lot in response to my asking whether you object to their presence here. That was why I asked in that other post whether it was a race thing, and that relates directly to the quote above.

The little I saw of him when I attended the first couple of training sessions this year, he reminds me physically of Petracca. Can't wait to see what he can do on the field.