Earl Hood

Greg Hunt Minister for the Environment! Track record so far. These issues are all going south under Greg. Carbon tax gone Climate change authority gone Mining tax gone Green energy funding gone Trial cattle grazing in Victorian Alpine regions Open season on culling sharks in WA CSG fracking anywhere you might want it Great Barrier Reef dredging spoil from ports Didn't send a boat to the Antarctic to oversee the Japonese Whaling Fleet - no science involved. Oh and let's excise 74000 hectares of native forest from The World Heritage Area in Tasmania for what reason? To aid the ultimate conservationists, the loggers in their bulldozers? Yes lets Clear fell an area, wood chip the proceeds, fire bomb the degraded area, reseed the area and plant poisons to ensure every furry marsupial dies before it can eat your seeds. Great system. Greg must be proud of his achievements so far. Wonder how Greg keeps a straight face really.

Gee some people have interesting jobs. Not sure what it pays but it would be fun. How do they do it?

Any Yes fans out there? I sometimes feel I am on my own these days. I still sometimes play the Yessongs live triple album at full throttle in the car much to my wife's protesting.

Hey I played my last two or three seasons at half back, oh yeah you are probably right come to think of it. However sometimes you can put a highly skilled, attacking player at HB and set up play from there. Just think how the Pies may go this year, they have not only Harry O'Brien attacking off half back but they also have Hertier Lumumba as well. Both those guys are attacking types who set up play. Gee they play a similar game, I often have trouble picking which one is which.

Ditto

Lets face it if Chip walks to the Hawks or Cats or other top club the trend would be hard to ignore; MFC as feeder club to the rich and successful! We do the development, the top club just pays the money and tops up where ever they may have a gap. Rivers, Maloney, Silvia, I think we are running at 100% hit rate for UFA so far and so early into free agency. The only good news is the AFL decided to keep the current compo rules, so we may get something if Chip walks. Interesting that the AFL players association is working so hard to develop a two tiered competition of the winners and the feeders just to pander to the wishes of their elite players. Of the 800 players on lists free agency really helps a very small number of top shelf players. Your average journeyman has to battle for a contract, they don't get to play clubs off against each other to bid up their contract income.

Well after all the time and money invested in Dunn I believe he is just starting to repay some of that. I would rate him as a required player for next year. He has a mature, hard body, has some footy smarts (and some dumbs) and knows his limitations. However, touch wood, I would say the best attribute he brings to MFC is durability. He manages to stay on the track and is available to play every week. He is available for selection, that ability in itself puts him ahead of about 60% of our injury prone list.

Post 60 Of this thread I made my thoughts plain, it was a very bad idea. I think Bagdad Bob agreed, many others wanted to bring it on. I think the issue revolves around how post NAB challenge matches are determined. If MFC had no say, there is no further need for discussion. However if MFC had some say in who we played, I then have to question the managements thinking. We would have wanted a home match at Casey against someone we had not played in the challenge, so the options are limited, given The Blues, the Tiges and some others would want home games. Does anyone know the rules?

We have now played three finalists actually. The Tiges, cats and hawks.

Just a reminder. I did predict this carnage and I was pilloried at the time by some. But my point was not the effect of a poor scoreline but the dent to our momentum, player's confidence in themselves and each other, and of course the effect on supporters and memberships. I believe the final non NAB practice matches were negotiable between the clubs. We made a bad choice in my mind. After tackling two finalists we should have been taking on a mid ranking side to build on our preseason momentum. From the posts I have read so far there are zero positives coming out of today just more self doubt! And Shyte in such a professional game how can one team be so far ahead of almostveveryone else? I know they are good but really!

Well it is difficult to be a Doctor Pangloss if you follow MFC. Let's face it we'll all be rooned before the season is out!

Yes I am. DF sorry I used some poetic licence from Genesis to try to capture the essence of his thinking. I still think it is a good fit though. And I am sure Tony and I are both using the same reference bookWe are but hewers of wood according to Tony.

Hardtrack good point but what are we going to do about all these trees? All these national parks? I mean it is a huge problem to have all these trees locked up away from "the ultimate environmentalists", the loggers, for God sakes. We will be over run with bloody furry marsupials at this rate. Leadbeater possums eating out the crops of hard working National Party voting farmers for instance. Where is Greg Hunt when you need him.

I liked Tony's speech to the Forestry Industry forum yesterday. Basically he nailed it with his claim that there are too many national parks, too many bloody trees, let's be honest! I mean what have forests ever done for us? I think this line captures the sentiment of his speech: And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Hard to argue with this I reckon!

Gee I reckon there are 14 teams spitting chips that they could not get a chance to measure themselves against the best, unlike ourselves! They will just have to do with second best stuff, poor sods. Let us see what unfolds on Saturday.

WJ I hope your right but let's face it they have been playing like choir boys for a while now! Lets hope Roos has transformed our boys. And let's hope we smash the Hawks, God we are overdue to give them one!

I am basing my argument on Roosey's talk of a fragile playing group that needs to be developed and nurtured. Roos is trying to get the group taking chances, building trust, enjoying their football, having fun. You might want to build this incrementally, not by playing the premiers. Just my opinion. Lets see what unfolds next week.

I hope this strategy turns out to be correct. Just worried about getting smashed by a team out to setup their superiority early in the season. Lets hope we take them on, then that will be a bonus for sure.

Hassa Mann?

I am not sure it is a good idea to be playing the Hawks at this stage. We are trying to build confidence into the playing group, we have two good performances against the 7 and 3 finishers last season. Why play number one now? The Hawks are flying, no injuries, everyone is up and about and they are keen to overawe everyone early to get the psychological advantage on everyone. In short we could get smashed, like they have done to the North and Brisbane and a lot of good MFC vibes shattered. Not sure why we agreed to this match really.

Akum Good point but the trouble is every time I take Thunderbird1 up it draws a crowd. In my line of work I need to keep a low profile. There is a story as to how I finally got my hands on the craft after years of being thwarted by those vain, good looking marionettes but it would be boring. I can report that it does go like the clappers once you get the all clear from air traffic control at Morabbin Airport.

Why am I getting the Dr Stranglove vibes with this correspondence. I feel like Group Captain Luke Mandrake at this stage and wondering if I am talking to General Ripper and his problem with fluoridation and our natural bodily fluids!

You're game I haven't fired the Cessna up myself for nearly 30 years. I might be a bit rusty on take off. You will have to navigate.

I haven't seen the game, we had 90 odd more possessions but half the inside 50's. Can someone explain why? I think it was similar with the Tigers, we had hundreds more possessions but not many more inside fifties. If we are racking up multiple possessions chipping it around down back too much, then yes it is envitable that we will have turnovers. I think our game plan may change by round one to be more attacking surely.

I think your hopes may come true. I think Dunn may finally start to repay our investment what since 2005? I think with Roos giving him a simple and constant role he will finally work it all out.