hardtack

My friends the excellent Japanese band Buddhadatta, are playing a handful of gigs in Victoria in Feb and March…try to catch them if you can…

Feb 19th Balnarring Social Club, Feb 20th Shotkickers, Feb 21st Medusa Bar Geelong, Feb 22nd Golden Vine Bendigo, Mar 5th Painted Lady Ballarat, Mar 6th Belgrave Hotel, Mar 7th Spring Ditch Beechworth.

If Buddhist chants and hard rock is your thing, this trio might just be what you’re looking for 😉. Tell them I (Tim in Sydney) sent you.

On 03/02/2026 at 22:07, Roost it far said:

Didn’t you make enough out of the McVee defection?

Too soon?

On 19/01/2026 at 22:28, layzie said:

Keep going Hardtack.

Would love to check out one of these gigs sometime.

I’ve decided that as long as I can get us gigs on the last weekend of each chemo cycle (a cycle = 2 weeks), I’m going to keep going with the music. To that effect, I’ve got us one at my local the Butchers Brew Bar for my birthday and so far have a reasonably good list of guests prepared to come and sit in with the band: Bob Spencer, Richard Burgman, Terry Serio, George Washingmachine, Mick Daley (in Melbourne he had a band called Coporate Raiders)…there will be others as well, depending on availability. Here’s my artwork for the Facebook Event I created.

And the event page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1apjCbiZsx/?mibextid=wwXIfr

3 minutes ago, Carpe Dees Diem said:

Thanks guys... sometimes it pays to be bored. I did it with my brother - also a Dees fan - our first song.

It also on Apple Music

https://music.apple.com/album/1873239591

and a service called Deezer

Deezer

Now Apple Music I do have!! Get some more stuff out there… maybe a Casey song 😉

3 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Chandler's always going to be too small to be a long term back pocket. If we're really desperate I'd use Kolt.

Is there any possibility that Langdon could go back.

12 hours ago, rjay said:

The Mongrel is usually on the money but not sure if this is correct...

"Turner started out as a forward, but was wisely moved to defence"

...didn't Turner come to us as a defender?

Didn’t he say the same about Petty, and I’m sure he was being touted as a Half Back Flanker when he was drafted.

5 hours ago, Carpe Dees Diem said:

Talking about boredom... and getting pumped up for an awesome fresh start in 2026... I've gone and written a new song... I hope you have a listen and see if you like it. I'm hoping Maxy & Kozzi do a bit 😅... maybe Andy & Binman might even play it on the Demonland Podcast. https://open.spotify.com/track/62BFWMeC940hmVrAsL8wtS?si=26105aa7f30743b8

or here https://music.amazon.com.mx/albums/B0GKD2JJ3Q

Not being a subscriber to either Amazon. Music or Spotify, I could only listen to the opening relatively few bars, but what I did hear was really REALLY good! To paraphrase Bob Hawke, any podcast operator who doesn’t play that, is a bum!

Would love to hear some more of your material.

36 minutes ago, Go Ds said:

only a few weeks earlier we had casually been discussing the less painful ways to die , including whether someone could die of a heart attack in their sleep and never know what hit them.

Firstly, thanks for your gentle and understanding/empathetic take on my loss and how it related to Louiza’s and my discussions in her final days - and yes, I attended her funeral at the Greek Orthodox Church in Newton here in Sydney, and it was absolutely heartbreaking as those closest to her mourned openly and with incredibly raw emotion; I don’t know if this is the right descriptor, but the whole experience was cathartic in the extreme… the minister taking the ‘ceremony’ had similar thoughts to us and expressed them unapologetically to the gathered mourners who took his words in the way he intended, approvingly.

Not wanting to turn this into a political debate, but In these Trumpian times, empathy seems to be something that has taken a back seat, so it’s always refreshing to encounter the likes of your good self and others on this site!

Now, onto the above quoted sentence from your response. Firstly, I am so sorry for your loss, so please accept my sincerest condolences; the loss of a parent is always devastating as we tend to consider them to be somewhat immortal, and I suppose they are, so please take heart in the fact that she will always live on in your heart and soul… a parent never really leaves.

In yet another odd coincidence, I was just talking to a friend of mine on Friday (the drummer from my band), whose mother-in-law had been suffering for a relatively short time, with a very serious and ultimately extremely painful form of cancer (pancreatic). They were concerned that she might suffer terribly and were trying to come to terms with that possibility, but then just last week and out of nowhere, as she was getting up from the sofa, she suffered a heart attack and, according to the doctor, was gone before she hit the ground… no time to suffer at all. Even the worst things in life can have the oddest of upsides.

Take care please.

1 hour ago, Go Ds said:

The consensus is that Carlton will also be well outside the 8. I'm excited about this year ( even though I know it could easily a third season of "what happened, 'recent' premiers?"). But a lot of what Melbourne, Carlton etc do in these clips is the equivalent of a slide night rather than proof of what's to come.

BTW sorry to hear about your friend. That would have been terrible.

Yes, I’m the same when it comes to being excited by the upcoming season, even though I’m resigned to a very likely bottom 4 finish… I just want to see how well the players adopt King’s game plan/style, and what kind of improvements we see if the players buy in; I’m particularly interested in seeing how Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, JVR and Jefferson have progressed if at all, and how well Latrelle and Xavier (Taylor) slot in. Ah bugger it, also AMW, Mentha, Jiaff, Mihocek and Steele.

And yes, she was a devastating loss. It is ironic that she should go in the way she did, as it was not long before her ill fated trip to Bali for a wedding party, that we had been talking about how terrible it was that people of Islamic faith in this country were being targeted because of the actions of ISIS and the Taliban fundamentalists… I’m certain that if there is an afterlife, she would still firmly hold that belief!

37 minutes ago, Go Ds said:

Honestly who knows? We didn't see blatantly poor mistakes. But that could even be the editing.

Yes, and likewise, we didn’t get to see all of the good things at the Carlton training, just a selectively edited video of mistakes.

2 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

Yep, Bali. The most un-Bali person on the planet is in Bali. The pasty white Irish person who loves winter is in Bali because any opportunity to spend time with my baby granddaughter is gold.

Can’t wait to get back to Gosch’s ❤️💙

Sorry to be a Daryl Downer, but Bali always evokes sadness for me, as my good friend and train travel (to work) companion, Louiza Zervos was one of the victims of the bombing in 2002.

On 30/01/2026 at 09:17, Brownie said:

I think there's a few tickets left for Nick Cave and the bad seeds 3rd show in Melbourne.

Saw them in Brissie earlier this week.

Just a brilliant production. Sound and visuals. The band were phenomenal and Nick totally engaged with the crowd.

He's 68 now. If you were thinking of going, get a ticket. I've seen them 4 times now and that show may be the pinnacle of their career.

Warren Ellis may be the happiest bloke on the planet when he's up there on stage.

A massive incredible set.

I would have given the proverbial left nut to be able to attend his show at Sydney’s Domain, but, going by what I’ve heard from attendees, the David Byrne concert was the ultimate… every single person I know who went, said it was the best concert that they had EVER witnessed!

As I understand it, there was no training on Friday(?), but what is the go today? No training or, being at Casey(?), just no track watchers?

20 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Did anyone lazily read the bit about Simon Goodwin and thought it read "Lever still doesn't agree with the Simon Goodwin decision" (sacking)

No, I thought it was pretty clear that it was about his being dropped to Casey…

“I still sit here to this day and I don’t agree with it but that’s (Goodwin’s) opinion and match committee’s decision and so for me it’s kind of over now and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”

20 hours ago, beelzebub said:

I like Jake. Very interesting to talk to. . A very different cat 👍

Yes, he’s the Travis Head of footy… looks serious (and no doubt, is) on the surface, but is a bit of an oddball.

On 29/01/2026 at 20:22, Its Time Again said:

Hmmm!!!! Are you talking about the Petracca who had 98 kicks i50 excluding shots on goal of which "9" were marked which was ranked 374th in the entire league. 37 were retained which ranked him 331st in the entire league. It also far more relevantly ranked him 18th within the MFC for percentage of i50 kicks retained. And he had 30 i50 kicks than anyone else in the team. Stop and have a think about that. 18th. Keep in mind at least 6 are backmen and almost never kicking i50. How about his goal scoring. 18 goals 24 behinds and approx 15 out on the fall. So 18 goals 39 misses.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Trac and think he is the most dynamic player I have ever seen play for MFC and I choke on my weeties to say this but including Robbie who I saw play his first and last games and most inbetween. Robbie was pure poetry in motion but he wasn't an explosive contested beast with so many tricks and Trac will always have one of the greatest GF performances of all time. However Trac won't go down as one of the most elite players of all time because of his lack of effectiveness. Think Robert Harvey. I'm guessing he will end up with another Premiership and if he starts hitting targets i50 and kicking goals accurately I'll agree with you. But he hasn't done that for us for 5 years. Not to mention the off field issues.

Someone else is going to take his place in the team and I am very confident at the end of the year they will have delivered more i50 kicks marked and retained than the star they are replacing. Same goes for Steele replacing Clarry. Have a look at Langford's retention stats i50 they are incredible. His percentage retention was 42.9% compared to Trac's 37.8%. Wheelo supplied an interesting stat on average equity gained from kick i50 which is more nuanced because it includes things like

. how the kicker won possession (i.e. proxy for pressure);

• the location where the kick was taken;

• the location where the kick ended up; and

• who took next possession and how.

Langford ranked first in the team, Petracca ranked 17th.

I'm sure Langford will play more in the guts but there are plenty of candidates for that kick i50 who I am sure will do better than Petracca.

I couldn't watch a lot of games last season mainly because of how Petracca and Oliver were delivering the ball i50. Our key issue. We're not going to be worse for their departures we're going to be better. Virtually no one in the fourth estate has worked this out.

Thank you to Wheelo for all these great stats. If you want to see them in more detail go over to the Stats Files. He compiled a list of them on Petracca and Oliver and how they compare to other MFC players and other players in the league. It would have been sobering reading if they were still here.

Onwards and Upwards

Go Dees

Now, I’m not usually one to blow smoke up a person’s hind quarters, but that is one of the best reads I can recall ever having on this site!!

Stats can be a very boring subject, but you had me invested to the point where I found myself reading it in an Antony Green voice. Thank you!

On 29/01/2026 at 19:48, John Demonic said:

Not to mention the amount of sausage sizzle sales at family days going forward.

That would make The Kolt equivalent to less of a role player and more of a Pick 1-5 calibre player.

Or possibly, more of a roll player!

I really couldn’t care less about these kinds of rankings. Why care about teams that performed well in the past, when we should be more concerned about how our current team will perform from round one onwards.

Cornes obviously has too much time on his hands.

It’s interesting that the media report posted by @Demonland focussed heavily on Lever’s solid hit out, yet the track watchers here barely mentioned him… was he performing as well as Will Faulkner would have us believe?

Also, is there any likelihood that we might rotate Langford and Culley between the wing and midfield (yes, I know the wing IS midfield, but you know what I mean 😉 I’m useless with terminology)?

3 hours ago, lorn said:

Are people ever going to get Sumner-Pickett's name right?

Talk about nit pick(ett)ing!!

On 20/01/2026 at 16:15, Fork 'em said:

Trump living rent free in your heads.
Now that's funny 🤣🤣

Nah, he’s in our faces every single day of the week.

41 minutes ago, #11-TonyAnderson said:

The training reports on this site provide some information about them, not sure why you’ve started a new thread?

Well, and I know there is an ‘Introductions’ topic in the General forum that few seem to frequent, starting this topic is not a bad way to introduce yourself to the group, as a relatively new or infrequent poster. It is also a place to condense commentary on new players at the club, only; which saves readers the need to wade through a lot of non related information in the training threads.

One thing I’m loving about this post is that I’m getting to hear a load of bands I’d otherwise never had heard of, and adding them to my Apple Music collection of albums and playlists. Thanks all!

1 hour ago, Brownie said:

Hey @hardtack I got halfway through replying days ago and didn't finish.

The name is familiar (Dave Slade). Our local pub up the river (Broadwater Hotel) from us is having a punk day / night next weekend. I'll probably run into him there.

What's your band's name?

Dave has a band now called, Love City Radio. My band is Los Romeos Oxidados… we’re based in Sydney’s inner west (Marrickville area mostly).

https://youtu.be/Vgj3b8BKvBk

https://youtu.be/b6aRdG0DpA4

It’s a bit of a floating affair, constantly inviting people to sit in with us… so it can be a dog’s breakfast or, alternatively, the best thing since sliced bread.

13 hours ago, Go Ds said:

Rubbing? He better not also get his wrist in a brace. 😂😂😂

I just hope he’s not doing too much frotteurnising with his team-mates!!