nutbean

I'm gobsmacked that you began a post to BBO with "I'll be buttered on both sides". To most that would be an exclamation but to BBO it is an invitation. (I am also treading on dangerous ground using the word gobsmacked)

And at the sides too. Stable admin plus professional coaching setup ( with what it seems is a focus on development) - the last piece in the puzzle is for the blokes kicking the ball to continue improving. I saw a pretty ugly 2014 as expected, a tangible improvement last year and looking for more strides forward in 2016. I share your optimism (albeit guarded, as I have been a jilted lover one too many times).

You can search my threads and you'll find I am far from a JW hater but seriously - I couldn't give a rat's tossbag who the best trainer is - I would prefer the quote to read "if you ask any of the boys who the best player on game day is, Wattsy would be right up there". Training is not played for premiership points.

now i am disappointed - I will be 148 years old in 2107 and am tipping that i will be a little too old to really kick up my heels after the premiership win.

I never buy into arguments about tax as there has not been a politician/leader over the last 25 years from either side of the fence who had has the intestinal fortitude to restructure the tax system. He did leave the books in a good state albeit he was the beneficiary of a mining boom. I think he was a liberal in the Turnbull mould that given a chance of the top gig would have been more centrist in his outlooks (especially socially). I vividly recall when Hanson hit the headlines with a bang and started to make ground Howard kept very quiet and did not attack as he knew there were votes in her outrageous opinions. The only two liberals who publicly criticised her were Kennett and Costello.

I don't follow this logic. How does advocating kids to not sit around and play video games translate to agreeing with a professional athlete putting his recovery in unnecessary harms way ?

but..but ...but ..but we do personal bashing so well....

And I know that even the fittest of fit footballers get injuries but I am not convinced that his career was not curtailed by his preparation.

"don't blush, baby" - I have seen drinks thrown in faces for less obnoxious and arrogant comments than that. I find his excuse of it being a "joke" as appalling as the action itself.

we really need a "tongue in cheek" emoticon. Let's just all agree that Gerard Healy is a goose

I think you are being too kind. I would take Italian Stallions hearing over Gerard Healy's reporting any day of the week. Smarten up Gerard and get the names right, you goose.

Contact me - except my preseason goes from January through to December with time off during...well..no time off....

Gotta disagree with you on this one... I think most people were gobsmacked by his response. As a professional you expect a wide range of responses and know how to deal with them. There could not have been any expectation of what she received and I reckon most reporters would have been totally flummoxed.

Stupid sexy flanders

Not allowed - Repetitive Strain injury.

I think she was rather taken aback by his comments. I know she is a professional but when he was ready to be interviewed I am sure, as most interviewers, she had her questions and a dozen different scenario's in her mind as to what his responses would be and how she would respond. Not in her wildest dreams would she have expected the responses she got. I won't say she handled it badly - I think, as you have suggested, if she had her time again she would have been a bit more on the front foot. What gets my grits is his response - "it was a bit of a joke". Sleazing up to an interviewer on national TV who is trying to ask questions about cricket.. seriously.....

I agree with post above - but I will not retract my comment on a double standard. There is a standard that needs to apply to everyone regardless of gender. There is no justification for Gayle's action - end of story. There is no justification for Nuala's Hafner actions either - she was as inappropriate. Undoubtedly discrimination and objectification has been pretty much been a one way street but don't shy away from seeing objectification just because it is a woman who does it. Stuie, I do have a problem as to the reason why the Nuala Hafner video was brought up by many - it was done purely to justify or downplay Gayles actions or lessen the offence by intimating that if it was humor by Hafner and there was no outrage, then there should be no outrage for Gayles actions. As far as I am concerned, inappropriate is inappropriate, wrong is wrong. For every 1 Hafner incident there are probably 99 Gayle incidents. They all need to be condemned.

Spot on....

You picked two pollies that I actually had time for. I was a big Costello fan. Whilst I disagreed with many of Kennett's policies I admired him for not giving a rat's on what was popular or not - he did what he thought was right. His actions said to me that he was not poll driven like so many of the late crop.

I see a contradiction in what you say - you suggest on the one hand that Abbott is delusional enough to think he will get back in and then you criticise Rudd for undermining Gillard. Abbott trying to get back in is not undermining ? I will agree that the Rudd/Gillard show was as toxic as anything I have ever seen and Abbott/Turnbull are certainly not in their league.

hope you are right. I accept he has had injuries - The problem we have had is too many players have had one good season followed by disappearing acts in following seasons. To be chunkeque you have to put together consecutive years of good form and we have far to few of these footballers.

Like too many - the gap between his good and bad is too wide for me. I know part of that is due to being in a very poor team for many years but again - I use Jones as the benchmark. Even though last year Jones was down on his output from the previous two years, the gap is not so big. If we have a team full of players with talent who best and worst is close - you have a good team

That's why I always preferred Dunstall over Lockett as a footballer. Lockett was such a presence that it was a matter of whether Lockett would do enough to get StKilda a win. Dunstall was a more inclusive player and didn't demand half the ground.

It's not different at all. It's a double standard. I think Chris Gayle was a giant [censored] jockey and Nuala Hafner was no better. I am no saint and in most workplaces there is sexual byplay. But when an interviewer asks you questions on national Television at the cricket and your response is to hit on her - whether it be in jest or not - you are a [censored] jockey. And when a reporter starts bantering on the beach with a bloke, asks him if he has a partner and says "cya" when she finds out he is engaged - she is as big a goose as Chris Gayle. It is not about political correctness - it is about what is appropriate and what isn't. edit - there is a difference between what Gayle/Hafner did and what Dusty did - hopefully that much is obvious.

We used to have a standing jokes... How do you stop Malcolm Blight kicking 7 goals against Melbourne ? Let Kerry Good kick 8 How do you stop Michael Roach kicking 5 goals against Melbourne ? Let Bruce Monteath kick 6 During the 70's and early to mid 80's it seemed if we kept one of the greats to a very small goal total, some other chump would kick a bag instead