six suspended

after a hard year of underachieving for freo the season is ending on a high note with harvs suspending six players for disciplinary reasons. i reckon this really bodes well for the future as we have needed a tough coach for a while now and finally it looks like we've got one. as much as i love chris and damian, they were probably too nice for their own good and the players tended to get away with a lot (at least that's the impression i get from what i've read). hopefully next year there will be a new discipline around the club and we can get on with the business of winning our first premiership.

naturally there's also the added benefit that a sub-strength team going to play port adelaide at footy park this weekend is unlikely to play well enough to give west coast second spot on the ladder. yay

today tonight sucks

anyone who has had the misfortune of watching 'today tonight' will know what a pile of steaming parrot droppings the show is. it's amazing that it hasn't been done for false advertising by calling itself a current affairs show when it's really the televisual equivalent of 'that's life' magazine. well, wednesday night was a new low for this rubbish programme with one of the most self-serving, objectionable pieces of bile it has screened when it responded to the boycott of channel 7 by the AFL players. in attempting to defend the 'journalist' who thought it appropriate to air details of stolen medical records for which the channel had paid, the show proved once and for all that it doesn't have a shred of objective journalistic integrity but is rather just a mouthpiece for spouting the subjective opinions of station management. comparing an outraged brendan gale to a jilted lover and disputing the amount paid for the stolen medical records as if somehow this was important or justified their actions was ludicrous. no one really expects any sort of serious journalism from 'today tonight' but this was really beyond the pale.

says it all really...

farmer judd brown

i've found the workings of the afl tribunal and reporting system to be quite fascinating lately.

first there was the admission from campbell brown that he lied (or fibbed as they put it on the tele.. what exactly is the difference between a fib and a lie and where do they fit in the spectrum of untruths?) to the tribunal when he said that chris judd didn't commit one of the most cowardly acts there is on the footy field in eye gouging. for this moment of honesty he was fined $15,000 by the afl. naturally judd hasn't had any sanction imposed on him. so let's think about this for a moment. by fining brown, the afl is confirming that his original testimony was untrue and, by extension, that chris judd was guilty of eye gouging. yet somehow judd has escaped scot free and brown's ended up with a huge fine. that'll teach brownie for getting his eye in the way of the finger of a clean-cut brownlow medalist.

next came the case on the weekend of jeff farmer's face spontaneously exploding in the game against st kilda. we know it was spontaneous as there was no video footage of baker punching him. the fact that farmer had to be helped off the field with his nose spread across his face and not knowing if he was arthur or martha doesn't prove anything. if there's no video footage then no one can be charged. how ridiculous! it wasn't all that long ago that players were charged and convicted based on verbal evidence alone as there was no video footage to rely on. these days we rely far too heavily on the tele footage. it's a great tool but shouldn't be the only acceptable evidence. i hope baker gets his just desserts but am not holding my breath. i remember only too well when aaron sandilands' jaw spontaneously broke in the immediate vicinity of seaby during a western derby and nothing ended up being done.

postscript:
well, baker got 7 weeks so i guess there is still some chance of justice for victims of gutless off-the-ball thuggery

post postscript:
hmmm.. maybe i was a bit hasty. it's sounding like baker was a tad hard done by so i guess i should retract a bit of my original postscript (but not all..)

joys of home pt 1

sausage sizzle outside bunnings.. yum!!

footy

wow, what a great weekend of footy results. on saturday i drove up to claremont oval for the top of the table clash between my mighty tigers and subiaco. going into the game we were second on the ladder and subi were the favourites to win the clash, especially as they had chad fletcher and shane parker playing. as it turned out claremont were way too hard at the ball for subi and ended up winning by 38 points which puts us equal top on the ladder but with a game in hand. this means that if we win every game for the rest of the season we will end up as minor premiers and earn a home final.

then yesterday freo were fantastic in the second half to crush essendon. our first half was pretty ordinary with a lot of skill errors that a better team would have made more advantage of but after halftime we were brilliant. after spending last sunday arvo sitting amongst the rabble and low-lifes that make up the majority of weagles members, it was nice to be back amongst a freo home crowd who seem to be somewhat better educated footywise. i was particularly proud of the standing ovation given to kevin sheedy before the game and again after the game as he left the ground. there's no doubting that freo's members are more passionate about their team than the weagles members but we're still able to recognise and aplaud someone as central to the success of the game as kevin sheedy.

there's still a very hard run towards the finals for freo but if we make it we will certainly be in full momentum. as for claremont, it may finally be our year after having gone for 11 long years without a premiership. having lost the 2004 and 2005 grand finals will make winning this one even sweeter.

perth

i've been travelling up to work each day on the bus from golden bay where i'm housesitting for my brother and it really struck me this morning how beautiful perth actually is. i've always said it is but sometimes one takes it for granted and doesn't really see the beauty. well, this morning my eyes were opened again as the bus drove along the kwinana freeway towards town and i was able to look out over the river. there were swans and pelicans swimming peacefully whilst cormorants sat on rocks with their wings opened to catch the morning sun. the water was lapping gently against the shore and the boats were bobbing in their moorings and the view across to kings park was stunning. i've been to quite a lot of beautiful towns and cities in other parts of the world and it's true that perth doesn't really have the grand historical buildings of a place like prague or sibiu but the natural beauty of perth is truly unbeatable.

derby 26

what an absolute ripper of a game yesterday. i must admit that i wasn't particularly confident going into the game given what i'd seen last week against geelong but obviously that was the kick in the pants my boys needed because they were brilliant yesterday. their ferocity at the ball and the more direct play is exactly what we need to display on a more regular basis if we want to fulfil our potential. i really love going to the derbys as they're usually a good, close game played with all the hardness that the freo derbies were known for. yesterday was no exception with both teams showing a real aggression. i'm very proud of my boys and hope that they can keep playing this way.

another thing i find with western derbies is that they usually serve to intensify my dislike of west coast and many of their supporters and yesterday was no exception. the booing of josh carr when he went on stage to accept the glendinning medal was inexcusable in itself but the sheer hypocrisy of the west coast members was staggering. it was only last year that they took the moral high ground (a very rare place for west coast supporters to be) when chris judd was booed by freo members upon winning the glendinning medal. at the time i sided with the wce members and said that i was very unimpressed with the behaviour of the freo members. for them now to exhibit what they so recently claimed to be disgusting behaviour is yet another example of how morally bankrupt they are. at least the freo members were booing the decision rather than the player but there was no doubt yesterday that the boos were directed purely at josh carr.

i've now read in the paper this morning that carr also had cool drink bottles and even a meat pie thrown at him by the rabble that pass as wce members and that police had to intervene at half time when a wce moron tried to physically have a go at jeff farmer. these people are the lowest of the low and should be banned from attending anymore football matches.

bring on derby 27!!

update on me

it's been a while since i gave an update on what i'm up to so i figure now's a good time. i'm still homeless at the moment and counting down the days until the tenant moves out of our flat in scarborough so that i can move in... less than a month to go now!! i'm currently housesitting for pete and ali in golden bay which involves a long commute to work and back each day. presently it's taking between 2.5 - 3 hours for each round trip which i can handle as i know it's only temporary. i started working for schlumberger last wednesday and so have now done just over a week. the work is fine and the people i work with are very friendly. i'm working in the payroll dept so it's familiar territory for me. probably the worst aspect of the job is that i now have to wear a suit every day (except for dress down fridays) which is something that i've not had to do before.

i've had the opportunity to catch up with quite a few people since i've been back which has been really enjoyable. corey's new coffee shop (http://www.epicespresso.com.au/) is really lovely and vanessa's coffees are as delicious as ever. i'm enjoying the footy and even got a hug from the elderly lady i sit near at the freo home games. all the crew there seem pretty glad to have me back in my old seat at subi oval although we've lost both games i've been to so far and i have a bad feeling that this could be extended with the western derby this weekend.

so, all in all, it's lovely to be home and it kinda feels like i was never really away.

freo coaching

it's been a huge few weeks in the afl with four coaches now out of a job. what i reckon is pretty significant for freo is that there are now three very experienced coaches available. personally i think we'd be foolish to go down the road of an untried assistant yet again when there are coaches with proven track records available. i reckon our best option now is to approach sheedy to take over as senior coach and do a deal with harvs under which he would be sheeds' senior assistant coach with a view to him taking over outright in three or four years. this way we could have the benefit of a coaching legend to guide us during what is likely to be our best chance for a premiership for a while and in the meantime harvs would know that he will be the heir apparent. this would give him the opportunity to work closely with sheeds and they could gradually bring in the support staff that harvs wants so that his structure is firmly in place by the time he takes over as senior coach.

if we don't offer the job to sheedy then i reckon we should ask either daniher or pagan but should do everything possible to get someone with experience and who can instill a fair bit of discipline.