Well, at the risk of seeming like a smarty pants, I suspected Hewett or Cerra. Balance. Plus Hewett was a little slow last week and would be a good replacement for a tired (or injured) mid when some of the early heat has gone out of the game.
Yep There is a method in the madness. Whether it comes off or not we'll see. I'm guessing the thinking is that later in the game even the fittest of the Melbourne mids will tire to some extent bringing them back closer to Hewett in terms of pace. His role might be to negate that 'late game' effectiveness.
Of course, the game may be over by then. Blues by 30 (in the first quarter )
Issac Humphries in the NBL who is a prominent player also came out and that news was received well by the majority who play and follow the game. Given Clarko, Finlayson and now Powell of Gold Coasts slurs i reckon it might be a while before we see a AFL player brave enough to come out...
It would take courage, but wouldn't it be a 'statement' at this point of time. It might, in a bizarre way, be exactly what the game needs to happen.
Carlton legend Brendan Fevola has declared he is "sad" at the fact that no gay AFL players have felt safe enough to come out and express their sexual identity after podcaster Scott O'Halloran revealed he previously had a years-long relationship with an AFL player.
Speaking on Fevola's Melbourne radio show, The Fox's Fifi, Fev and Nick for Breakfast, O'Halloran said he had a relationship with a now retired player for "about 3-4 years", adding that he would "never ever share their identity"
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Funny this... Ian Roberts came out nearly 30 years ago in Rugby League. Women AFL+Soccer players seem to have no trouble with it. Colin Hughes the gay footballer on Ted Lasso declared himself...teammates seemed more concerned he didn't trust them with the info.
I guess the question is... Is it anybody's business? Do we really need to know? Is it important that we know" Would it be a positive for young gay footballers, or would the atmosphere in a teenage team be a little less tolerant than a professional organistation
Thank you Mantis. That explains in perfect detail the complexity of the emotions involved in domestic violence situations. There's the physical aspect, the emotional impact, the financial impact and the changes in relationships as people age. Change is possible but sadly probably very, very rare.
Can it be real change? For some abusers the loss of family and the financial burden, would no doubt be seen by them as 'what their behaviour has cost them'....for others it can be a trigger to anger and a more violent, even deadly response.
My own father had his demons. Nothing approaching the abuse of Mantis's father, never anything physical. but he was a POW in Changi and on the railroad, and like many from that generation who suffered from issues such as alcohol abuse, gambling, and importantly mental health issues he was left with scars that impacted on our family. My sister once said he was a better grandfather than he was a father and that was true.
Forgiveness... to someone who has wronged you and your family because of a bond, even a kind of love for a person who has caused you much pain... It's conflicting and hard, almost impossible, to understand for anyone who hasn't experienced it.
It's funny, but true, that maybe the best healing comes from talking about it, or as Mantis has done writing it down. These are the stories that should form the basis of discussion and education. Everyone's story has a similarity in the abuse but everyone's story is different, and the outcomes sometimes vastly different. Best wishes for the future Mantis
That is absolutely horrific reading Mantis. I am so sorry you had to endure that... If you wouldn't mind a... couple of very senitive questions and don't feel any obligation that you need to answer them.
1) How did things eventually end up for yourself, your poor mother, and your stepfather? 2) A couple of times you shifted the narrative from the past to the present (as if it was actually happening now) when describing the events. It is obviously still very raw. Have you ever spoken to a professional person about these events.
Domestic violence has been around since folks lived in caves. It exists in all cultures. It stems from factors such as passion, possession, control, power...and mental health. It can be verbal as well as physical It is often passed down through generations...'the abused becomes the abuser'. It is not something that is transparent and more often occurs behind closed doors.
We're seeing a lot of demonstrations and a lot of talk It might make folk feel good, as if they're at least doing something, but the solutions are still far away. I'm not sure anyone has the answers. Lock the abuser up? Lock the abuser up for longer periods? They'll just stew and work themselves up for revenge, because they'll regard themselves as the victims. Once the abuser is released the woman and family will forever be looking over their shoulders. It's very difficult to relocate a person(s) to the extent that they are untraceable and anyway it would mean a disconnect from family and friends. Providing some financial support that allows the abused to leave the situation only works to the point where the abuser is kept at bay...and in the extreme deadly circumstances that are the focus of most of the protests the abuser usually finds a way.
Again, credit and great respect to Mantis for sharing his story. If we look back, society has probably come a long way from the times where these things were not talked about. Examples such as this, used in terms of education of the next generations is probably the only way forward. But that will take many years to have a significant effect.
And while I'm at it... that public spray from Vossy at Cerra is an alarm bell. Not on. The first thing Vossy, as the leader, should have asked himself was, "This is on me. What haven't I got through to this bloke for him to not be going forward with disposals?" A reflection of your leadership clarity of communication, Vossy? I know there are those who believe a good old-fashioned spray is good stuff - nuh. A quiet, motivating yet firm explanation in Cerra's ear (encouragement to the positive, not berating from the negative) would have been far more productive.
Hard to know without a bit of background. It probably stood out because it’s not something we’ve seen from Voss a lot in his time at Carlton. It may be that he’d checked Cerra earlier in the game about a similar incident, and gave him instructions not to repeat it. You could understand that having been told once the coach would have been upset if Cerra had gone against a specific instruction.
Charlie might be carrying a niggle that is preventing him from churning out kms or being explosive. Who knows? All I can see is that he isn't himself. Again, I dont want to highlight him when you have 7 or 8 that were very bad.
I don't recall him bending over to try and pick up a ball much in recent games. I'm sure there is probably some vision of him doing that, but recently.... If he loses a contest it's sometimes a case of 'that's all folks'. I wouldn't be surprised if he's playing sore.
Our whole side has lost confidence, it makes them hesitant, and when they hesitate they look slow and are under more pressure using the footy than they need to be.
Is it a loss of confidence, or more the effort needed as extra responsibilities are required due to the players missing? It could well be one leading to the other. Players may be required to perform their own roles but also to take on a few additional tasks that would normally be undertaken by those missing. Indeed, if that extra work starts to take its toll and a player starts to make errors they would not normally make... it can certainly affect confidence. If a player has confidence in those around him that will have a positive effect on his own performance. I'm not sure that's the case at present.
In the cold light of day.... What a difference a goal makes.
If we'd won that game narrowly, or even drawn it, the reponse would be completely different.
We didn't, and it seems to have stung.... -because it was Collingwood. -because it was only a goal. -because it was kicked by the opposition player who needed watching more than any other.
One of the things that stood out was that when Collingwood went forward it looked very similar to the way Geelong attacked last week so obviously there's been a bit of homework done. But that poor defensive display is probably due in a large part to missing personnel. We're desperately missing Saad and McGovern. It also doesn't help when the pressure in the middle and foward is lacking.
There's lots of criticism of the lesser lights in our side, probably fair, but it was also our better, more experienced players who didn't really fire.
Curnow is kicking his share of goals but his second efforts are disappointing. Pittonet started like a house on fire but once he went off with that knock his influence waned. (It was actually around that time the Pies gained control) Williams is not a defender. He spent most of the time watching and manhandling his opponent rather than the ball. He doesn't have the tank for mid-field, and I'm not sure what he could offer a forward line where defensive nous is also a priority for us. I did notice him looking and favouring his ankle at one stage. I'm not sure that achilles is 100%, but with a hamstring injury he's likely to miss a few anyway.
One funny (not so funny) aspect of last night's game was the number of our absolute poor kicks that were sprayed or went straight into another player. That was probably due to pressure at the ball and the inclination to just get ball to foot and hack it out.
We're in a block of games where we are playing top sides. It was always going to be a difficult period and it's been made even more so by missing key players. We've got within a goal of the premiers, who are just hitting their straps, and we played with many of our players well below their best in terms of skills and intensity. They were missing a few key players. We were missing more.
Lots to work on, but plenty to work with, especially as players return.
It used to be a really good event. Everything the Olympics should be, rather than the 'phony war', political rubbish that the Olympics have become.
But the Commonwealth games have become a bit of an irrelevancy. Nice for the athletes, good for us spectators because medals come thick and fast, but in the scheme of things with Olympics and world championships every two years as well as the lucrative circuits, like the Diamond League in athletics, the event has lost a great deal of its prestige.
Yep. If he does play VFL this weekend I'd like to see him tried as a forward.
He's running a bit hot and cold at the moment but I think he has the traits necessary to be a good 'swing' player. The more strings to his bow the more likely he can cement a senior spot. If we don't try it for a few games we'll never know.
If you have access to a crystal ball that allows us to predict anything other than the now, then let me know.
Otherwise, we can only use previous trends and statistics to give our best guess on what will happen.
For the record i was being a bit broad with my 'full side' comments. I was more referring to a normal injury list of a handful of people.....rather than the umpteen we have now.
The problem is that being so adamant that a current trend is the basis for future outcomes is just illogical. It may work out as predicted, it may not. The game we follow is so fluid, so unpredictable, that the guy we criticise today is sometimes the champion of tomorrow. We see it often when the first half of a player's season is compared to the second half. In that respect things like statistics can be a 'brake' on our thinking. We adopt a position based on stats and form at the time and refuse to move until it becomes so obvious that maybe things weren't so clear cut.
I have no idea what's going to happen, especially with the ruck situation. Injuries, loss of form and other variables make it impossible to predict. But I do keep an open mind, and try not to make definitive predictions. If you do that with AFL you're probably going to be wrong as often as you're right.
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