nutbean

actually - there is now lots out there debunking the hiatus http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/environment/article4462281.ece http://thebulletin.org/global-warming-%E2%80%9Chiatus%E2%80%9D7639 https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/pause-in-warming-debunked to name a few. What gets me is those on the sceptical side of the debate is the notion of requiring "absolutes". Has some of the modelling had flaws in it ? - for sure - but this is such uncharted territory that as new data and "discovery" comes to light the models are refined. The flaws in some modelling does not disqualify the overall science. But I keep going back to the same argument - even if we consider that what is being offered by climate change scientists is not conclusive - can we afford to gamble and suggest that this is all a myth and do nothing. I stand firmly in camp of effective policies being put in place to combat climate change and it all being a load of nonsense rather than do absolutely nothing and then finding out that the warnings being given regarding the consequences of climate change were accurate. I do concede that I am unsure as to effective policies need to be in place and also concede that there is a lot of greenwashing going on by Governments - say a lot and do pretty much nothing.

I absolute support the decision being made by courts - not by ministers. I also don't support stripping citizenship or denying entry - we are just making this someone else's problem. I suppose that Zaky's were not confronting but more giving rise to passions. That he said that the Liberals actions would cause more Muslims to go and fight for ISIL is pretty strong stuff. Do you think Abbott would not have been better to focus on those words and say that this is why they were pushing the legislation ? I don't agree with whole take of the LNP on this issue but to me it certainly was a strong example that Abbott could have made.

You are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

again..wow...

As Golda Meir once said ( and I am taking some licence) " Tony never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity" I watched Q&A with Zaky Mallah on it. I found Zaky's last comment quite confronting and Tony Jones put paid to it very rapidly. I reflected after the show that Tony Abbott would have a field day with this in regards to his stripping people of their citizenship. . I thought that Zaky Mallah being on Q&A did far more for Tony's case than any amount of debating. Here in the flesh was a shining example of who the legislation was targeting. Even though I do not agree with philosophy behind stripping people of their citizenship ( making them someone else's problem). To suggest that what this government was doing was pushing Muslims to go and fight for ISIL is patent nonsense. I can see that this guy helped the Abbott argument. Tony Abbott ( and the rest of the libs) have seemed to miss that point altogether and gone on a ABC witch burning frenzy.

Wow... just wow...

I am not in the game of second guessing medical advice ( so that's exactly what I am going to do). I have never doubted that MC suffered depression and I understand the seriousness of the affliction I understand the pressures that AFL can take on the mind and especially when the body failing exacerbates the mental health issue. I understand the thinking behind the move in clubs but question it - MC removing himself from the club which has won a handful of games only in the last 5 years and moving to a more successful environment. Taking out of the equation that success may be fleeting and last years champions can become this years chumps, I challenge the thinking behind this. To me you are mentally able to endure the rigors of AFL or you are not. The move to Geelong - they are now sliding ? How does that affect his mental health - they could end up with a prolonged period of failure as have the MFC. What about Geelong making the Grand Final and then getting towelled up ? How would affect the mind ? Was there any consideration that some fans are going to boo MC and even go out of their way to make there anger known about him jettisoning the club ? How would that affect his mental well being. To repeat - I question the advice he was given. You are either mentally able to endure AFL or you are not.

I am an unabashed fan of Titus O'Reily - a very funny and clever writer - i had to repost what he wrote about this....sums up how i am feeling Some random thoughts on a bad morning All we are really looking for in this life is a connection. For all the brash talk sometimes of not needing anyone else, all we really want is some connection to other people, to something bigger than ourselves, to the broad mass of humankind. It’s kind of the reason we follow sport as passionately as we do. Deep down on a some level we know it’s silly, pointless really in the scheme of things. Yet it’s never really about a game where a bunch of people chase a ball around or arguing about whether one grown man properly disposed of the ball or held a mark long enough. It’s the human element, that connection to other people, often people we have never met. It’s even people we’ve never heard about but we know are out there. That mass of footy fans out there, all riding the highs and lows, all pouring time into something that only has meaning because we all choose to give it meaning. There are far better people than me to eulogise Phil Walsh. I imagine what we are all feeling is a very poor facsimile of what the people who actually knew him are currently feeling. So why do the rest of us react to this like we do? To the passing of someone we didn’t even know? After all, it’s a sad fact of life that wonderful people pass away all the time, often to the ignorance of the majority of us. I think we react like this because what we feel is the breaking of one of those connections. Someone who cared about something we did, who shared experiences, probably admired people we did and shared the joy and frustrations of this game is gone. We also sense something that is at the heart of much of life; that it often makes no sense. Searching for meaning where there is none is part of why we all feel a bit lost this morning. The only comfort I can find in this is that so many others are feeling what I’m feeling today. We’re all connected because of football and we are lucky to be. Vale Phil Walsh

Titus O'Reily continues to make me laugh This on the Sam Mtichell incident "Unfortunately, we may never know what type of drug Sam Mitchell was pretending to inject. Was it even legal? I hope the Hawks have an imaginary Excel spreadsheet somewhere."

I am definitely going to borrow this line ( pardon the pun)

I seriously do not understand the whole debate around marriage equality. Unless you wish to marry someone of the same sex it has zero impact on you. If they pass laws allowing same sex marriage it will continue to have zero impact on anyone not wanting to marry someone of the same sex. This is such a no brainer - pass marriage equality laws now - for anyone who objects to this I urge them to protest in the strongest way possible by not marrying someone of the same sex.. (I have always been a strong advocate for marriage equality - I find it galling that the gay community does not have the same right to be as miserable as the straight community)

I think I said this elsewhere but when he makes the odd mistake, rather than drop the head, it drives him harder to make amends.

You mean the Rivers who has played in the last two final series whilst he wouldn't have at Melbourne and will probably retire at seasons end ? I believe that Rivers is the perfect example of why free agency was brought in . A good servant who played 10 seasons for us and left to gain some success at the end of his career.

I'm not sure I have read from any posters that Trenners will "lead the team and club out of the mire". It's pretty simple - his first two seasons he was tracking very nicely. His pace was not an issue - wasn't overly quick but certainly wasn't a plodder. He won the ball in the contests and spread well to get uncontested ball. He was very good overhead for his size. He was good by hand and foot. If he gets his body back to those first two seasons then he will play. A big if but the one thing I do know - the way he pushes and backs himself he won't be left wondering.

I don't need stats to suggest that the last three weeks we have looked much better because Gawn is winning taps and healthy percentage of them are to advantage. Viney back in has made a huge difference and Vince has taken his game to AA levels and Jones keeps being Jones. ( Also we have another nice mid in Brayshaw who doesn't mind the odd clearance either) It makes such a difference when our midfield is not getting clobbered week in and week out.

Correct - and we as supporters, who do not review every aspect of games in minute detail, nor have any insight as to what role, or what improvement or bad habit is being discussed with players. We just watch the games holistically and make judgement. I thought that Howe's game on Sunday was average at best - then I heard Roos assessment and watched again. His bringing the ball to ground in so many contests was pivotal in many goals. Dawes had a quiet game yet I read the goal assists stat and was surprised and then saw how many of the goals he had some input into ( I still think he needs to clunk more marks and kick more goals). I would have never gone with both Gawn and Spencer...( got that wrong too) Maybe the selection panel do get some selections wrong - I prefer to think that we are not aware of what criteria they use for judging each player.

I live for the day that a player like Motlop is a depth player for us who would stuggle to be in our best.

It angers me that there has been plenty of genuine stuff to dislike about Watts in the past without having to invent "possibilities" - the AFL website had the video up of that play and labelled it " second gamer saves Watts' blushes". He took one stop forward got called to play on and cool as you like - handballed it to a man in space. He could have absolutely stuffed it up - but he didn't. No blushes...no saves... For Christ's sake, they have got to stop this in depth examination of every little thing he does.

We actually did not have a bad player for the day. Roos singled out Jeremy Howe and he was correct - didn't have a great deal of the ball at all. But was continually flying to bring to the ball to the ground - sometimes against two - he kicked two himself and was directly responsible for two more due to his contesting. Was it a great game ? No - but a pat on the back for "Doing his bit". ( Bail fumbled a bit - but he did some fantastic pressure acts. Jetta the same)

I am not sure as to why some posters criticised Dunne's predictability in the kick outs. We didn't make a mistake yesterday from the kick-outs. Probably a small knock is that some of our mids/backs didn't work hard enough to make clear space to receive the kick in however Dunne on a few occasions went short to an unmarked man or if there was no other option bailed out long to the ruckman. The idea is with the bail out kick - at worst get it outbounds a kick and a half from goal and reset. I thought we did it well - I don't care that the bail out was always to the right - that's where the ruckman was. To me a long kick out always looks much better when you have a winning ruckman and mids - we haven't had that for a while. We did yesterday and that meant the bail out kick did come straight back into the forward 50 every time we kicked it out.

If a player with half a brain did come to our fan website they would lose the other half of their brain fairly quickly reading the stuff posted on here.

Close.. for accuracy I would suggest we put a soft tag on him.

I think the problem is the expectation that you draft a player and he comes out of the blocks firing like Brayshaw. A great percentage of players do take 3-4 seasons to blossom. I am not sure if Toumpas will or won't make it but what I can see is he is improving week on week and at 21 I would suggest he is going to get another contract. He can panic under pressure but again - 25 games in - this can improve ( for the record Tmac, who I am a fan of, has the same "moments"). I am glad that those calling him timid have stopped - he has no problem putting his body on the line when it counts.

Couldn't agree more. The ability ( and more importantly the desire ) to take a tackle so you can release another player is a great skill and yes - he did caught in the last quarter - but he did this a few times this match an the week before and got the ball off to a man who then had space and time. If you can get tackled and release to a free player, it takes an opposition player out of the picture.

He is building nice but I have been taken in by too many false dawns on players that have apparently arrived. Ill keep my powder dry for a while longer yet. What I will say is that he has played 25 games and is 21 years old. Many are way too quick to make judgement. I understand the debate around the likes of Bail and McKenzie - we are at a stage where we know what their best is going to be. We certainly need to give youth time to develop.