Crompton's the man

Ifn the Club pages read like above, the one-on-one evaluations would be top-rating if video was sold on the Club website

Odds of $cully having a hamstring strain this particular round and being forced to miss are $1.05 And by the way - what Barassi did had never been done before by any Club icon. It was a game changer and has led to the mercenary tending to outweigh the loyalty situation we all live with. Of course it's for the greater good - not disputing that for a moment.

Giving two arguably yet-to-be star performers approx 6 months advance warning that it's time that their "potential" needs to be fleshed into reality can hardly be seen to be the wrong approach. If they are weighed down by these expectations then one must wonder how they might cope with the pressure of knock-out finals football. From where I sit : full marks to Neeld for clearly identifying what is required - the first stage of which must be the levels of fitness and endurance required and which hopefully these players are addressing on a daily basis ( perhaps similar thoughts expressed in Mark 9:24 )

This sounds right to me and is the exact reason I have not followed up

One of our daughters also had a knee reconstuction - ACL & PCL - following a netball injury - and then subsequently had a hip reconstrucion ( peri-ascetabular osteotomy - a truly massive operation of car-crash dimensions ) on the same side In this context it is noteworthy that recently released Wikileaks documents reveal that the official rules of netball were enacted in 1960 following advice from a group of previously-underemployed orthopaedic surgeons who came up with the rules after a post-conference all night drinking session. They were having trouble meeting their private airfield fees and their stroke of genius to solve this problem was the insistence on a dead stop upon taking possession of the ball. Thus they fly the clear blue skies to this day (parents of young children take note - at least with basketball you can still keep moving)

Will dig further and report back next week

Apparently Austin's journey has been conflicted between his obligations to the MFC - which we all understand - and his cultural obligations in the Tiwi Islands following the death of his father (whose name cannot be spoken in that culture ) which most of us do not understand at all. Austin has stayed in Melbourne with a friend who encouraged him to come to this city and who has spent time in his home environment and understands that Aussie had obligations to go through a mourning process that goes over 12 months and this friend is saying that Aussie wants to find a path back to footy here if he can. These cultural obligations are every bit as real as the imperatives under which we operate - if not much more so not saying I have any special knowledge beyond this - for information only

Thanks Ron really well balanced summation Intersting thought about changing the culture It may be easy to say now but - a new broom may sweep clean in a way the old broom did not ( let's hope) and although this was not my attitude before the leadership change - the fact it happened when it did gave us the luxury of considerable time to plan a final thought : we have creative players who maybe lacked the battleship forward to work off Methinks we can have confidence in the powes that be by the way has anyone read the OPI report on corruption in high places on tinyurl.com/3maxisb ?

Surely this blatant rubbing our noses in the stink of $cully's departure ( " oh I haven't decided yet") - and by this I mean that anyone ( such as an AFL CEO ) who suggests that this matter of the employment of $cully Senior hasn't been pre-arranged since before the foundation of the solar system - is just a way to boost attendance and ratings as we realise how totally and ridiculously and painfully we have been serviced by GW$ and is meant to encourage a greater degree of interest in our forthcoming encounters. It will be interesting to see if the players take a dim view of the deceit with which the MFC has been treated at the appropriate time.

Well I think the final interpretation of his honesty level will be provided by a compare and contrast of the application and effort he applies next year as against this year. And the simplest of all comparisons will be the number of games played. ? " dodgy knee" or " running dead"

Well we've been floundering for some little time now and as it transpires,we enter the trade period probably somewhat advantaged compared to some clubs. (maybe the decision to eject DB early advances MFC wrt other clubs changing coaches ) Are we in good shape to improve our list? Who do we need? Not light-bodied promising 17yo's I would suspect. Will the trade week be kind to us?

Thanks for that

Never forget watching him play - against MFC - all those years ago Ran past a Demons player having his first game for the MFC Whacked him in the side of the face as was his wont - broke his jaw, and the guy never played again Often wondered what happened to that player

Comes down to whether the sore knee was genuine or a reason put for nonpeformance. If it is a degenerative condition you'd have to wonder. If he plays unhampered from hereonin it reinforces the conspiracy theory. In the article quoted it seems there is much care to use the term " signed" rather than committed or agreed.

Good pickup - deserves to be up there with Neville Chamberlain's " Peace in our time " comment about where Britain stood re Mr. Hitler Should feature in the end-of-year Age list of great sporting quotes Of course technically the AFL DID get the truth - just not by the shortest possible distance between two points. Could Grant have been being sarcastic? /(drinking/overcome with a sense of honour among thieves/ temporarily unhinged/ paid to say that/ married to his sister / good friends with his sister?)

1. " Collingwood" 2. "Tom Scully decision" (should be annotated TSD for Forum purposes to save Greenhouse Gas Emissions ( GGE)) 3. +1 ( don't really mind it but surely it deserves an honorable mention. 4. my favorite is : " all thinking people agree/know that .........."

Has anyone else twigged that he's probably waiting til tomorrow to announce his decision for one of the two following two reasons: 1. the symbolism of the date and to substitute its former significance in the public mind as one to be associated with his momentous proclamation and indeed the effects may in time prove such replacement justified (you know - the pillars of the AFL business structure shaken to the core, that sort of thing) (or in the alternative) 2. knowing all eyes will be cast elsewhere his pronouncement will pass pretty much unnoticed and slip beneath such radar as is not focused on the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave this will possibly be my last contribution on this matter - I'm considering going back on the pills my doctor gave me

Allow me to say that I am very very confident that the AFL's Umpire Review Panel will determine both decisions to have been correct. (and indeed all future decisions) Your evident problem in comprehension may be related to the fact that you have not taken into account which way the wind was blowing.

I like your approach. Sitting in Dubai airport and have taken a vow to not return to Oz til issue resolved. UAE officials threaten 150 lashes if I fail to exit the country but: A vow is a vow Of course if someone would only tell me what the answer is, a lot of needless pain could be avoided. Anyone at all?

Sorry to have taken so long but after putting myself in the position of a player-manager I felt I had to have a shower and scrub and scrub and scrub ....... but before I did I do believe for a brief moment I was able to experience for a brief moment what it might be like to be Kevin Sheedy

I'm going to try and reproduce what I think such a contract might be like and put I t to the purpose you suggest Will report back in due course 30 sec

Please to forgive ifn these matters have been hitherto mentioned : but 1. Bearing in mind that the relationship between player managers and their clients is extremely similar to but not identical in all respects to that between pimps and their coterie: is it not a consideration that there is a vested interest in these PMs driving those under their tutelage in the direction of the highest deal (based on said PM deriving their stipend as a % of the overall deal ( unless we accept the proposition that PMs are prepared to forego a higher remuneration level in order to get feel-good sensation as they go to sleep at night as they contemplate the greater good for their client even though it may delay their eventual retirement and they overcome their memories of how Ricky Nixon's business evaporated due to excesses of which the current group of player managers is no doubt incapable - which is of course precisely the position I adopt ) 2. What the hell use are compensatory draft-picks when we might train up other players who will in turn be poached by the worser bad as may be currently unfolding ? ? ?

General strike in Rome - re austerity measures by the Bersculoni govt. Could be a paradigm for if we fail to win a premiership soon - will report further All fruit is seriously expensive in Paris and generally unavailable in the UK where dairy and deep fried are the staple foods. Rome has a better balance of food readily accessible. Little discussion here about what we're not talking about though I sense deep interest just under the surface. Still found no reason to emigrate - though our daughter has for marital reasons to Swansea in Wales Lois Vuitton knock-offs cost €20 ($28) : good enough to fool me ( though to be truthful all the would need is two handles joined by a bag) Will keep observing .......

Oops - left the Mercure Tour Eiffel and went to the Novatel Mont-Parnasse ( both Accor hotels) I grovel in apology.

TRAITOR Well I've left Paris for the first time ever and I've got to say the key to traveling there is to learn to use the underground. Best thing my wife and I did was to leave the Novatel Tour Eiffel ( HORRIBLE - I will write a book) and move to the Novatel Mont-Parnasse (classy and good value for money) Rome is a lot different - I really miss the stuck-up attitude which you do accept as convincing if it's maintained for long enough (cf MM)