hardtack

Not having a shot at you Master, but...give the guy a break... he's been clinically diagnosed as suffering from severe depression, so I doubt anyone would be prescribing he go and explain himself to the supporters he feels he is failing... he is not a circus act.

The bolded part is precisely why Mitch's decision is a "brave" one. A root cause of his depression was the fact that he felt he was letting down 30,000 members because he was unable to get himself right and take the field... that fed on itself and his depression became deeper and deeper and harder to cope with. Something had to be done. I think it's laughable that you use your own emotional struggle as a benchmark against which Mitch should be judged. Depression and mental health issues are not a "one size fits all" thing... and to call him a coward for turning his back on the sport that he loves in order to "save" himself...the selfishness of some "supporters" (and I use that term very loosely), beggars belief!

Yes, that was made for TV "On Death Row". I've been a Herzog fan since the early 70's and if there were ever any doubts I might have had about him, Fitzcaraldo erased them completely... superb film from a master of the craft... and lunatic to boot! He makes a film based on a true story about an opera lover who hauled a paddle steamer over a small "mountain" with nothing but local tribes people, a few logs, ropes and pulleys and so what does he do? He repeats the feat hauling a paddle steamer over a small "mountain" with nothing but local tribes people, a few logs, ropes and pulleys!! I believe he also ate one of his boots after losing a bet with his main actor Klaus Kinski.

Isn't Georgiou already promoted as Clark's replacement?

You're an attention seeking [censored]!!.... well done, it worked.

Oh, ok... but my comment still stands... this should be an appreciation thread.

Let's keep the talk of money, contracts etc in the other thread.... this should be, as stated by the OP, an appreciation thread... so thanks Mitch, you were a flash of inspiration and I think that despite the fact you weren't on the field much, your influence extended way beyond that. Here's hoping that you can get to a better place mentally soon and that your photography flourishes and you make something of yourself in that field.

Just a heads up for those who are seriously into watching DVD and BluRay like myself, and just in case you aren't already aware of it....it might be worth your while looking at investing in the Laser BR1080P 3D BluRay player. It is region free for DVD and via the setup menu can be assigned to play any bluray discs from any region (A, B and C). The other good thing is that it comes with a 3 year warranty. The only other multi region bluray player I know of is the Kogan (there used to be a Soniq), which is pretty ordinary in terms of life... I had one and it died after about 18 months with just a one year warranty. Quality is very good with the only issue I have found being the fact that it doesn't handle 48 frames per second 3D well... I brought this to their attention (they are a local Sydney based company - of course manufacture is in China) and they are looking into fixing the problem. So far the only 3D discs I have found that are 48fps are Life of Pi and The Hobbit - most others are 24fps which works perfectly. This issue only relates to the playback of 3d bluray... not the regular 2D discs. I purchase most of my blurays from Amazon in the UK as well as from the US or Japan as even with the cost of shipping, it works out to almost 50% cheaper than buying locally (well, not the case with Japan... but certainly true for the UK and US). Anyway.... cheap as chips and well worth a look.

Credit where it is due... this govt has done very well in getting free trade deals with both Korea and Japan that could be a major boon to our agriculture/farming sector.

The difference there is that he is an Essendon supporter... at least with the Clark issue, he has no vested interest.

Well I'm no more hanging my hat on that than those who say he is gone based on their impressions of the tone of a press conference. At least Robinson is a lot closer to the issue than any of us, so I'm prepared at least to believe that Clark wants to play on.

Is there currently room to move with Jetta coming off the rookie list? I thought Clark was now our only LTI lister and Georgiou has that spot.

Haha... I thought it was pretty obvious that he means he won't walk away from the game (and hopefully the club) but he isn't ready yet to return... he needs time to deal with his issues.

Robbo on AFL360 just said that from what he knows today, Mitch is not walking away from footy, but also, he is not walking straight back into it.

We're talking about a footballer here... not an accountant.

Not sure how you worked that out when Jones got a grand total above of about 9 votes, while Pedersen got around 47? How does Jones rank 2nd this week and Pedersen not even get a mention? Maybe I'm missing something?

I think I would find it impossible to give up on something that has pretty much been an obsession for something like 55 years as the MFC has... that is more time than I have spent with any one person including my family, barring my older brother and sister. I will always follow the game regardless of what happens, but as I grow older and reflect on things, I am now realising how much more enjoyable it was when I was a kid listening to the games on my transistor radio and then watching a few minutes of highlights in B&W on TV and occasionally being treated by my parents to a day at the game, despite the fact they didn't really follow footy. Even in the 70's when it was "uncool" to follow the footy in the circles I mixed in, it was my guilty pleasure... the only guilt I feel now is for getting my young son hooked on the game and the MFC. Back then you could get free car stickers from your local servo, rock candy sticks in club colours, swap cards in bubble gum, games were played at 2:10pm every week (on a Saturday only) and players generally stood a reasonable chance of being recruited by the club they already loved with very little money on offer... these days you have to pay for everything, game times are determined by the media and the media coverage is relentless, players are dispensable and club loyalty is a thing of a forgotten era. I managed to give up the old cancer sticks, managed over time to become a respectable drinker, but this footy addiction simply cannot be beaten. Take me lord... I'm ready!

Oh yeah, that's right... he deliberately went out and injured himself... and here I was thinking it was a stroke of bad luck when all along he set out intentionally to commit self harm. Silly me!!

Don't forget that we are ordinary wage earners with careers that are likely to last until we are between 55 and 65 years old. Footballers are often unqualified, have forgone other opportunities to follow their AFL dream and their careers are over at around 35... and only a small handfull are likely to go further as media figures, so there is a reason for the high numbers offered.

If this is a serious mental health issue, which it is looking more and more like, then yes actually, the possibility is very real. If you think showing compassion for someone with serious problems is being "soft", then you need to take a good long look at yourself.

Yeah, let's put the club ahead of a player's health... that makes sense.

Nice to see you have quoted in full context... not!

They may as well engrave Hawthorn on the cup now... 10 different goal scorers in each of the first three games of the season; how do you counter that?

Says a lot about Col's current form that he couldn't manage a run in a severely depleted Freo team.