Earl Hood

"The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it". Epicurus.

"Never give a sword to a man who can't dance". Confucius

We seem to have gone Cyrillic all of a sudden here! Aguitte I don't agree with what you say but I defend your right to say whatever the hell you are trying to say I think, if only I knew what that was.

Grenache - Greenock Creek but it is difficult to get, most of it is exported. Clare Valley - many of the dry grown, old vine reds produced in this SA region are fantastic. With no irrigation the grapes are few but full of flavour. Malbec - Mendoza, Argentina - variable prices but even the cheap ones are very drinkable. Montepulchiano if I have spelt it right, not a lot of it but it usually a smooth tasting red even the odd cheap ones you can get at King and Godfrey in Carlton.

“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”

Merry Christmas to Clint and all. Off on a wine tour Clint?

Yes I have noticed this and commented on it before. But why is he ignored, can't the ball holder see him? This could be part of it because my memory is of him often leading up behind the half forwards and perhaps not being as visible as a Neitz streaming out of full forward and everyone else getting out of the way. Watts doesn't command space to lead into and opposition are happy to fill a hole in front of him unlike if Neitz was on the ground! That said Watts with his talent should be playing the equivalent of the Gunston role for us, let the bigger guys take centre stage while I slip around the fringes and get my usual 3 or 4 goals a match. Of course Watts does not have the Hawks midfield delivery to work off.

Bernard Keene in Crikey has a great piece on the media's bumbling efforts on this affair. The Iranian madman is Shia yet is an agent of ISIS which is Sunni predominantly. He is working on his own yet is compared to 9/11 etc. and Keene points out the media's glee that we were now being watched by the big boys in The US and Europe and could potentially suffer like they have with organised terrorist attacks on their people. Why has it taken so long? You could almost read between the lines that they were writing.

If the Paleo excludes alcohol that would explain it Redleg.

The Daily Telegraph did not lift the quality of journalism with its IS attack on Sydney headline yesterday. Applauded via twitter by Sir Rupert of course. This was the work of a deranged individual looking for publicity using his religious links to gain some legitimacy.

Clint, still with us? Do you have any Greenock Creek wines in that case? Stumbled on that at Greenock Creek winery some time ago and their wines were available in the Carlton Wine Cellars for a few years. But haven't had any for years, I remember the Grenache was like nectar.

I don't blame Frawley. How many years do you have to be the totally overwhelmed key backman? Smashed week after week? Chip has endured 4 or 5 shocking seasons and 2 or 3 average ones. I played a lot of footy as a backman and had one or two seasons where you got smashed regularly and it was no fun. But then you would have an up year where th team was on top and winning, then back line play is fun. Too many years played down back under immense pressure can be debilitating, I am not surprised he took off to an easier gig.

Martin F off!!!

Isn't hemlock a poison?

Jimcor your observation number 1 is good to hear. I used to work nearby and was able to get to training in the Bailey and Neeld years and the haphazard approach to training used to drive me nuts at times because I had ducked out of work for a limited period. The players would amble over in dribs and drabs and then stand around or kick a ball around waiting for the coaches to arrive and work out what they were doing. It just didnt look professional to me at all at the time. I think I may have been right.

He joined in 64 or 65? The worst 50 year run in our 156 year history, is he part of the curse?

I wonder how Allen J would have travelled in the modern era. If we take as a given that he would have done the training, I wonder how he would go. I say if he was modern day fit he would have still kicked goals galore, he just had that gift. Coaches would have double team him but that would open up others to kick the goals. That may have tested him, but he had immense talent to make it in any era.

Glad I live in Fitzroy that is all I can say.

But wasn't this a central part of Neeld's training regime? We were training at elite levels just prior to us being absolutely belted by the Bummers in a round 2 match by 146 if I remember correctly. Obviously our guys were running around witches hats at training and were then stunned on match day when they had to use a real ball and the opposition witches hats actually moved and tackled!!

Martin Pike?

Sean Charles, Allen J

It is Bruges isn't it? As in the Belgium town. Not Bruge.

Ishmael and Queequeg? Characters from Moby Dick on a plane yes I would be very alarmed! Don't tell me Captain Ahab is up the front end and in charge.

My faded memory of Darren Bennett was a forward who didn't have great hands overhead but rather was great on the lead out of the square taking the ball on his chest. He managed 80 odd goals in 1990 then faded away when Jackovitch came along and demanded the central leading forward role. DB at CHF didn't work because he couldn't take an overhead mark. Dawes needs to play the same way as the lead up forward but we need a game plan and midfield that can move the ball quickly to the leading forward.

Just sat through 2.5 hours of Exodus, the new film. Not sure you should bother. If like me you had the story rammed down your throat as a child, you will know the key story points so you spend the second part of the film ticking off the events. The first hour drags a bit as they try to build the Moses vs Ramases rivalry but if you like violence it maybe your go. The settings are done digitally but look at times very authentic. I have been to Mount Sinai where theb10 Commandments were first marketed and it looks very similar. I have seen the burning bush which when I was there was in good health, very green! It has recovered well and lives in Saint Catherine's Monastry in the Sinai. Long film, not sure you should bother.