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Messages - PaulP

32
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Jack Silvagni - The Ultimate Medical Sub
If we are at the point next season where a handy player like Jack Silvagni is a sub or on the fringes of the best 22, there's only 2 possibilities IMO :

- the MC is incompetent or corrupt,
- our list is healthy, in form and deep.

There's no doubt in my mind as to the more likely possibility.
33
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Jack Silvagni - The Ultimate Medical Sub
This thread was started about 15 months ago, and it's interesting to see how things have changed.

There are, as best as I can tell, two main theories about the ideal sub : one, a fast, burst player, who can take advantage of a fatigued opposition, with pace, chase down and line breaking ability. And two, a utility player, who can play a variety of positions, creating minimal disturbance to structures. The former is more strategic, the latter is more contingency. Jack clearly falls into the latter category. The club generally plays him as 3rd tall or 2nd ruck, and I think Jack Martin and Tom De Koning respectively, are viewed by the club as being ahead of JSOS. And I agree. I read an article where Dermott Brereton stated that JSOS has no real home, and when combined with his limited mobility and athleticism, means he will be down the pecking order IMO. He is undoubtedly a solid handy footballer, but he is being eased out by better options. I think the sub role would suit him to a t.

It is a standard football truism that you need genuine, AFL level players beyond the best 22 to win a flag. This clearly means that in any premiership team, there will be worthy, deserving players that miss out. It sucks, and I wish it were different, but I can't see any other way.

In the overall narrative of our 2024 season, what happens with Jack Silvagni will be very much a minor plot line IMO, but also oddly intriguing.
36
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: RIP Bill Hayden
RIP Bill Hayden.

One of the very last of a capital L Labor, left wing, socially committed breed, before that New Labor / neo-liberal nonsense took over and darkened the horizon for good.
37
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The classic/fave car thread
I don't really have much interest in cars, but the notion of the No3 Holden did pique my curiosity. One least guess : the 3rd of 10 pilot cars that were built after the 5 prototypes. 
38
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The Voice
There's nothing good to come out of the no vote. The architects of the Voice proposal put forward the wussiest, most timid, inoffensive thing possible, and we couldn't even give them that. It reflects poorly on us as a nation. 
39
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The Voice
I think the majority of people made up their minds many months ago as to how they were going to vote, and spent the rest of the time either not giving it any thought, or looking for reasons to justify their vote.
40
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The Voice
Quote from: Baggers on
At the risk of creation a furore, and feeling a gentle tap on the shoulder from the trunk of an elephant... I wonder what the % of the respective voting sides would be if you eliminated the racist vote? I bet no-one is surprised that the Qld Yes vote struggled to get close to a third (of the vote)? :o

A question that is tempting to ask, but is for sure a dead end in terms of trying to get a genuine answer.
41
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The Voice
Quote from: Baggers on
We're a paradox in the area of change.

Deeply progressive, even far-sighted in some areas yet feverishly fearful and conservative in others. SA was one of the first  states in the world to give women the right to vote and our nation one of the first (just behind the Kiwis) globally, yet indigenous folks were not given the right to vote until the late 60s! And the White Australia Policy wasn't given the kibosh (in writing, ie) until almost the mid 70s!

Generally, we are near the front of the pack to embrace technological change but not so much EVs? Such a fascinating little box of contradictions are we.

I suspect we are like most countries, with forces, beliefs, views pulling us in different directions. Most countries, in times of relative stability, do develop a certain character, a certain way of behaving, certain ideas, that give those countries a certain identity. I think it's also worth noting the global trends to which many countries fall prey. We are at a point now where the left is pretty much dead. Most countries are drifting towards the right. And I don't mean the Murdoch idea of left, which is laughable. I mean a legit alternative to the corporate forces and ideologies which have dominated far too long. 
43
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
Quote from: northernblue on
@PaulP "constructive" being the key point from your post above.
Yourself and Lods have made some excellent points.
Up here the no vote was definitely as a result of peoples negative interactions.

Yes. I certainly understand that we all have a limit, and you may get to a point where you give them the proverbial finger and decide you're not really going to help them. I wish there was an easy answer to this. I imagine there are long standing hostilities on both sides. It's easy and tokenistic for folks like me to say you need to look beyond that. The only indigenous folks I've been exposed to (through my wife's work) are inner city corporate / semi corporate types (almost yuppies but not quite), and I imagine they would be rather different to the First nations folks you would encounter.
44
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Jim Park Analysis 2023
It's a pretty good top 10. Some may quibble about the order, but as a collective, they probably were our 10 best players over the season.

Thanks for all your work on this Stephen. Great stuff.