Earl Hood

Should the 1998 forward line include Shaun Smith or did we unload him one year after his mark of the century?

I am not sure it has ever worked. One A grader like Carey might get you into the finals but it won't get you the cup unless there are 6 to 8 other very good players and more. Think Abletts, Judd, Flower, etc. Great players still need quality help.

BBO as you have stated before, just driving your Merc amongst the poor lifts their spirits as it gives them a vision of what is possible, what they can aspire to. It is laudable that you would put aside some of your precious time to volunteer amongst the poor, at your own cost. Although you might want to talk to my accountant to explore what might be deductible in regards to your fuel costs, your time and other wear and tear on your vehicle.

DC is the multicultural sod a half Box Hill, half Blackburn skippy who has migrated to Borewood. That would explain it.

Have they reformed as Uluru?

Hey Macca, I think it is well overtime for you to update us on what you have been listening to lately!

Yes BBO I must admit I have been a touch maudlin since the announcement but I have returned from the members at Flemington totally recharged! Certain well connected colleagues have assured me that as far as they are concerned Tony is not finished. And apparently Her Majesty is not happy with Malcolm one little bit, according to dear old Flynty! And DC guessed correctly I did, at my lowest ebb, find myself drowning a few G&T's outside at the Builders Arms on Gertrude Street waiting for a bus, would I do it or wouldn't I? Then I realised in the 20 years I have lived in Fitzroy I have never seen a bus on Gertrude Street, they don't go down that way too many trams in the way I guess.

Wrecker I give you top marks for being able to post on here while your head is buried in the sand but really we have discussed this before, there has not been a hiatus, the world continues to get hotter each year and I suspect with the current strong El Niño cycle we will top the 1998 record temperatures that coincided with the last intense El Niño. There ain't no pause! Some 350 plus months have been above average temperatures globally since the 80's, the trend is relentless. As for sea levels, why don't you do a tour of some of the South Pacific islands and ask the locals how they are faring. And Zi wasn't referring to Green vested interests but yes they are but they don't have a fraction of the money and power of the fossil fuel lobby who have billions at risk, who fund numerous think tanks, lobby groups and fully paid for congressmen in the US and who knows how many politicians here.

If we are taking punts, why not Morabito? Has he got over his knee issue I wonder?

I dont think you should be talking about Uncle Bitter behind his back. But go on do it anyway.

DC I agree with you we have two major problems. Climate change and over population; ignoring the power of vested interests we could start to solve global warming tomorrow. We have the technology, just not the political will. Reduce temperature increases to plus 2 degrees and we have a chance. On the second problem of over population that is much harder to resolve. It is all political, cultural and as a subset religious. It could be dealt with in a generation in theory but it won't be because well there are no political systems in place that can tackle it directly, how do you stop people having kids in a multitude of poor countries across the globe? Anyway having one intractable problem should not stop you solving one that can be resolved. One step at a time When! We should be going full bore to replace old energy with new energy technologies. Once you decide it has to be done it will boost to economic activity generally but yes there will be winners and losers, like there has with every technological change.

DC I did put the words in quotation marks to indicate they were not my words, but yes I did not attribute them in an addendum. Gee you are a stickler for the rules on plagiarism. Are you an ex University Lecturer? Anyway have you finished off the bottle of Blue Nun yet celebrating your new found wealth in Borewood

I agree “I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”

DC Heading off to Cuba in a few weeks so I am reading some Spanish books, though they are the equivalent of the old John and Betty readers that we once read in grade 1 I think. Anyway I have to brush up the Spanish just in case I run into Fidel while I am there. Desperate to get there before the Yanks get there in numbers and transform the place.

I just scrolled through the last 50 odd posts, that is time I won't get back. Best retire to bed with a good book, I think.

Is there half a chance we could all lift the level of conversation here? Chicken, cats, dogs,foxes, with lemon, like what are we eating now, with rice or not? 27 & 19. Is there more to life, that is worth exploring I wonder! OK probably not here! I better go to bed.

Well he was wearing a bright blue Hawaian shirt last time I saw him so my guess he is sunning himself somewhere in the Pacific. He did look a tad pastey, a bit like Return To Glory, a bit of sun will do him good.

And while we are talking Shaun Smith, I say he could play. One of Neale Daniher's biggest errors was moving this guy on when was it 1998? Neale never got the obvious that Shaun had another 3 years in him as a key position backman but not as a high flying forward. He had everything you needed as a key backman - that I remember.

More good news that the Abbott like climate, conservative troglodyte, Stephen Harper has been thrown out of office in Canada. His replacement Trudeau may be a good leader, or he may not be but at least he recognises the importance of negotiating for positive climate change policies and action at the next meeting in Paris. Not sure about Turnbull and what he will feel safe doing but I am sure Australia won't now be a spoiler at the Paris Confetence and Canada won't be either. And if Trump wins he won't be in office before next year, so maybe we will get some consensus and commitment from all the major players to act.

Really Mahoney talking about mega deals! Deals involving two peripheral players and a highlights reel player for some late picks, in which we have been largely done over as we would rather have dealt with GCS. How about a sideshow deal, in comparison with the real deals that all involve the bigger clubs, e.g. Dangermouse, Carlisle, Treloar, Jetta etc. forgive me for thinking that so far we seem to be bartering over the crumbs, while the big boys deal in real talent and early pick transfers.

I was a Fitzy hopeful for the past few years hoping once he got his body and health in alignment he would make the jump to AFl standard. He did show some cameoes along the way but the Casey VFL final against Sandy this season did it for me. He took a couple of great defensive marks in the first quarter but followed up with some shocking blunders in defence that you would only expect from under 15's. that was it for me. Some people haven't got it mentally, no matter their physical gifts, time to move on. Good luck to Fitzy and the Hawks but not much will come of it.

I read the article but to be fair Evans is just saying veggies, protein, some fats and zero grains, carbs etc and of course no to all the modern fast foods. Can't be that bad for you, especially when you are young and in full training.

Hmmm maybe a one year contract for me at a low price. I take it we all remember the last 3 or 4 games before round 22 this year? You know when we got absolutely smashed in the first and much of the second quarters before trying to salvage something.! The games that showed our leadership group is an absolute farce. Yes we have some potential, some real talent but God we need some mongrel. Crowley will give us a dose and play a role. I am not advocating it necessarily yes but I am open to it, especially if he helps make us a bit more nasty to play against. And he brings a professional standard of training etc.

Agree if Jed Anderson is worth a first rounder on potential then so is Howe on actual form in the present currency, anyway. I am tending toward forcing the GCS deal and if he vetoes that, we just drop him into the draft, the alternative of dealing with the Pies means we wouldn't be losing much doing that.

Rob, unfortunately the AFL may seek an equal competition, however incompetently but the courts look exclusively at the individual and their case, their particular situation so the AFL will always be sensitive to player demands. I don't think we can stop this so we need to look at other equalisation measures that have been mentioned. That is more draft picks to the lower 10 clubs each year etc.