Earl Hood

Didn't we see Ted or was it John? in a news article some time ago suffering from the long term effects of concussion? I think he had a case going for compo against the AFL or MFC.

When I first saw our draw My first impression was that it was designed specifically to destroy us financially. As you correctly point out 95% of our home games were against interstaters or the smaller Victorian teams and any match against a big Victorian team was designated as an away game for us. It looked quite calculated to me. Why do we have to play the Hawks at the G as an away game? Then Richmond and Essendon. But we live on with AFL welfare and don't we love that. Great to be treated like dole bludgers and be the laughing stock of the competition and at best tolerated by the Commission and the loud mouths from the big clubs.

Grant is speaking the truth and it just highlights the need for very aggressive equalization measures to even up the comp and I am talking access to priority picks, say the first 12 draft picks raffled amongst the bottom six clubs and the top 4 clubs denied access to the FA system each year. And there should be a transfer of funds between clubs that reflects the imbalance in the FIXture. It should be possible to come up with an equation that quantifies in $ the value of a Friday night game vs a Sunday twilight. If smaller clubs can build their lists and play great footy, they will get TV time and have a chance to build their fan base.

And throw in this years first round pick before we know who it is while they still have their full value.

Shyte Steve you gave me a heart jump there, another 10 to 12 weeks! Yes where is he at. We need him back on the track pronto. I am sick of us carrying ten or more injured players every fricking season, year in year out. While some top sides would hardly know what a long term injury was, might I say.

Funny how most sides can draft in an A grade midfielder. It does take some time to develop them I admit. But we talk about poaching one from somewhere and in my opinion we probably need 2 or 3 to become a serious contender. The upside is we may have one or more already on our list. I am thinking Brayshaw, Viney and Salem. Time will tell. But we still need more. Yesterday we got smashed in the midfield by the bottom side! But still won because we have built up our forward line and have a backline and a defensive game plan.

I thought I saw him do a few slaps backwards into the open yesterday from ball ups around the ground, the problem was our guys weren't there for what shold be a set play as he can dominate on the throw ups and throw ins, a la Sandy. We need to learn to rove to his potential dominance.

Close but I will go with Jakovitch myself. Yes he did do his back but I think some hard work would have got him back on deck. He was a goal kicking freak with a poor work ethic.

No retainer Moons, just can vouch for the coffee, it is top shelf. Great coffee places deserve to be publicised because they are fairly rare.

Time to have a good look at Fitzy, Mitchie, Riley, the Toump and Grimes over the next 4 weeks or so. We need to make some tough decisions end of year. So let's rotate some people through.

Good point Biff I am impressed with your empathy for our colonial friends in Timor Leste. But given I have now finished my bottle of red in the back room I am wondering how did we get here after I was watching Byzantium? After all I am still lamenting the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Tony's defence of the Bishop probably will cost him some political capital. God knows how he has any capital left. But for the grace of Uncle Rupert of course. I mean the man is a an abomination, the protector of old Australia and his LNP donators from the fossil fuel industries and others of the old school who need to be protected to survive in the real world.

Whoops it is perhaps the ultimate fair trade coffee shop Biff. I have told the story before but again for your information the origins are from some Aussie peace keepers working in Timor Leste who stumbled on this valley in upland Timor and found these locals tending ancient wild coffee trees originally planted by the Portuguese a few centuries ago. Anyway the locals were being exploited and nothing for their beans but the OZ peace keepers bought a few hundred kilos at a fair price and brought them back to Coburg and so began the Coffee house. Good story I think but yes it may test your moral standards Biff.

Good one bjDee by the way have you managed to ride your bike to the Wild Timor Coffee House in coburg yet? And you are right I am no longer feeling the cold even though there is no heater here! It must be the wine.

I am just a mere Justinian to my wife's Theodora perhaps. If you know the story. Not that I want to be accused of being a lawyer or something. Far from it Justinian was about more than his revamping of the code.

Oh I see. I am a big Visigoth fan myself but Belerserius stitched them up big time. Pity! I don't remember the Vandals adding much to history except trouble. But I am impressed that you are a student of history, BBO never told me about that.

Well yes but it took 1100 years to do it. But I don't think you have a feel for history some how Biff. You are referring to something else perhaps?

What can I say here I am in the cold back room at home tuning into my old television to look at not the ashes but the SBS series on Byzantium while SWMBO and several other female relatives have commandeered the main TV to watch that abomination, The Voice! Barbarians! Anyway it is a bit cold but I have a bottle of red to keep me company.

Where is the Prince? Three possessions!

As I stated once before if the Dawks land Dangermouse that is it for me and Treloar would be similar. Time to follow local footy and not waste my time and energy on a lost cause that is MFC but eventually it will be the AFL competition itself. After decades of the domination of a couple of Melbourne based sides and some interstators, it will be interesting to see if the following for the smaller, battling clubs in Melbourne will fall off a cliff as their supporter bases who are older pass on and there are so few younger ones committed to what they would see as a lost cause. If the AFL does nothing to really equalise the comp they are totally negligent.

Looking like 5 in row from here. I am expecting Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis will still be going into their forties. I mean one of those guys could suffer a brain haemorrhage and they would still be only out for 2 weeks. Their resilience is extraordinary. They have the best list by a mile but what we are seeing is their closest competitors are losing players and carrying injured players as the season grinds on. The West Coast look like they have now lost most of their backline but the Hawks roll on with barely a hiccup three years running! At present they have Frawley out with a pre existing issue, Roughy back from a non footy related issue and a kid with a shoulder and that is it. And who knows who they will poach at season's end to extend their domination. Gee it is so great that the season is so equal, as some commentators keep saying, any team can beat anyone. Obvious bulltish the AFL wants us to believe.

And a couple of players as well.

I didn't know the Harlem Globe Trotters would be televised tonight on Channel 7 on prime time plying against the Swans. i hadI tuned in to see some footy. Oh well.

BBO not sure if I saw Biffen last night. Is he an artist at all, does he wear an eyepatch, wear leather and use a walking stick? I was doing my usual Friday early evening tour of the numerous art galleries of Fitzroy and Collingwood looking for the exhibition opening nights, plenty free booze and all you have to do is look at some second rate mixed media artwork or some collage of found objects stuck on canvas and pretend you understand the deeper meaning of it all, especially if there are a few good lookers about that I can impress with my vast knowledge of the arts. Anyway after that it was off to the Robbie Burns Hotel for the best Spanish food in town and a few more wines. Does Biffen speak Spanish perhaps? The guy with the eye patch showed up later on with an entourage of women!

Gee I think Miss Bishop may be in a spot of trouble if we invoke the Slipper standard of behaviour. Gee he was crucified for using a cab for a [censored] up not a fricking Helicopter to get to a LNP fundraiser! .