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demcnsinmymind · 7 months

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Promises made and kept, but with a twist (1/5) Aza/thoth, Lance & his own family

I don't think I've touched my main headcanon too much yet, but this is actually a big one so I need to talk about it. One thing that I've come up with that is loosely based on some things said in canon ( I did what you said and broken promises), is that the building Aza/toth made promises to Lance. Basically stating that if he does XYZ, then it will do XYZ for him. The main thing being letting him go of course, or more so, getting him out of Collingwood. The main deal was that if it got him out and back to the real world and his family (mainly his mom but also the OC daughter he finally wanted to start a connection with), then in return, he'd let it hitchhike out of the place along with him. In a moment of total desperation, he ended up saying yes to that deal and playing into its cards and thus, after much fuckery and chaos, dead cult members and a burning building later, it made itself comfortable within him and actually kept its promise - got him out of the loop, back to his own time, and eventually did get him back to Seattle/LA, back to his family, back to his mom.

But of course, it's not a good Samaritan, doesn't just do this out of the goodness of its nonexistent heart. Though sure enough, at first glance, it even seems like it because wouldn't you know it! With all its time and space mojo it can have the same effect on his mother's brain that it does have on his! Oh wonder! It doesn't just keep his major brain trauma in check, it can also manipulate/reverse his mom's Alzheimer whenever he/it's around! She does remember her sweet boy even after all this time! The reunion's so heartfelt! But alas, it's not permanent, not entirely irreversible, not sustainable. Because the longer it stays inside her mind, fixing everything that has been taken by the disease, the more he's slipping because it's not in his mind. So it's a constant back and forth, back and forth, only ever lasting a few minutes for the both of them, maybe an hour tops until at last, either of them starts slipping gets lost. And each time, with that comes the immense grief, that realization that something's wrong, that something was done to her son, that his mom will be gone soon, it's a constant echoing cycle of moments of happiness, followed by more suffering and repeated realization. Exactly what it's getting out of this. More to feed on.

In a messed up way, they all get something out of this. Delia gets to see and recognize her missing son after 13 years. Lance gets to see his mom, talk to her, see her the most lucid he's seen her in probably 18 years. And Aza/thoth gets something to sustain itself with in return. It'd almost feel fair. If it weren't for the fact that actually, it can possess both simultaneously, and for much longer than what it does for them. Because she's his mom, because the DNA's there, because she, just like him, is exactly what it needs. A half empty shell, lost and stuck somewhere in time, not really part of either world. Sure enough, she's old, hasn't been part of the ritual, is much sicker than him, so a full possession of her really isn't sustainable forever. But it is purposely keeping its actual capabilities from the both of them because that way, all that suffering's just so much tastier.

And LA! The abandoned daughter with a nonexistent relationship there. The awkward attempts at a connection. All those daddy issues. And allll that guilt. Isn't that something to latch on as well. So really. It does keep its promise to him. Gets him what he wants, and where he wants to be. And he's oh so glad and grateful for it all, and still way too wrecked from his ordeal to really see the actual gains its getting from this, the way it's manipulating every last bit of it to get more than just his body out of this deal. It gets all the emotions atttached to that family. All the trauma. All the loss. And more than anything, at this stage, it really does make him start to believe, that maybe, it is his friend. That maybe, this isn't so bad at all. Exactly what it wants. Him, and more people all around him. Suffering. It's not even causing that suffering itself. But it is playing right into it. Furthering it. Kindling it. Using it.

#headcanons #hc : aza/thoth #manipulation tw #really quite triggery #but it is what it is

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holisticpassport · 3 years

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My Covid Story

Apologies for any spelling errors, I’m on a time crunch. I’m a few hours out from leaving for my first flight since July 2019 (and before that, March 2018). Heading out to Sydney, I’m a mix of anxiety and absolute excitement. In January of this year, our sublet was almost up in Eltham and Cam and I had plans to pack up the car and begin doing workaways around Australia to help rebuild communities devastated by the historic wild fires (doesn’t that feel FOREVER ago?). When our sublet became available for a full lease transfer, we changed our minds to stay in our space, so that was the first instance of travel being knocked out of the picture. Then we had Valentine’s weekend open to go visit some friends in Tasmania, so we booked tickets and upon waiting in the airport, our flights were cancelled due to inclement weather. DAMN. Mid-march came around and it was Cam’s birthday, so we wanted to get out for a weekend of camping in our big bell tent, find a gorgeous spot in the woods out east near Warburton. When we arrived, every camping spot for an hour’s dive any direction was either full or completely not open at all. We picked a spot off a random road and spent one night there, but some rangers came by and said we couldn’t stay there due to the possible danger of logging trucks not seeing us. So that was a bust.

Then as you’re aware, this time frame leads up to the very tumultuous third week of March when Melbourne officially went into its first lockdown due to COVID. I documented this time in journal entries which I will add at the end, but ultimately the lockdown went until June, and the state reopened too quickly/had a fiasco with quarantined cases getting out of a hotel, thus sparking the second wave. We had flights booked to California for June to see my family and then planned to travel around Mexico for a few months, but that dream was quickly squashed when flights out of Melbourne ceased to exist at all. Months later, I had a flight booked in July to go to Sydney where I was to have my eggs extracted for donation. The day before I was to fly out, second lockdown went into effect and the flight was cancelled (thus forcing me to have the procedure done in Melbourne and cause a huge, historic controversy between Melbourne IVF’s CEO and the medical director of IVF Australia about how to transfer frozen eggs over a closed border!).

I’m struggling to comprehend just how important and meaningful my ability to travel today is. To think back to the first time in history, watching borders around the world close, flights become grounded, and witnessing a global pandemic unfold whilst in a foreign country—I remember thinking at the beginning how unfathomable the scale of it was. When people talk about things not seeming real or like it’s a dream you can’t wake up from, that’s exactly how it felt. I questioned whether I needed to go back to the U.S. in fear I might not see my family for years or be with them if they got fatally ill. Would I be able to even go back if that happened let alone would I be able to re-enter AU (the answer was no). And thank god I didn’t go back considering the absolute cluster fuck of a mess Trump made of the pandemic. But also, thank god my family has been healthy and safe. The level of fear for their safety was at an all-time high as civil tensions grew when the riots around the country kicked off in conjunction with the pandemic. I wrote to all of them to have a plan to escape to Mexico and get their passports if Trump won the re-election. This was a genuine fear I’ve never experienced before.

The level of frustration, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, self-hatred for lack of productivity during lockdown, and uncertainty about so many facets of life weighed down on me during this time. But I know how much worse our time could have been. I was immensely grateful for the fact that we had a home and incredibly gracious landlords who were human and understood the financial difficulties of this unprecedented time when so many became homeless as job loss skyrocketed. We were so fortunate that I was able to continue working even 2 days a week through the lockdown as a barista and Cam was able to get government support for six months as a NZ citizen who lived in AU over 10 years when so many other New Zealanders were forced to return to their country because of the time limit stipulation for support. We only had two family members contract Covid and were young and healthy enough to survive when so many families will be without a member at the holidays this year.

And I acknowledge my privilege in that my identity is so closely entwined with the ability to travel, that while it felt suffocating to not even have the choice to travel anywhere outside of a 5km (3mile) zone, I fully empathize with those in parts of the world where they could not walk more than 50 meters from their front door or people who didn’t have windows/balconies in apartment buildings who were going out of their mind. All of that does not diminish the struggles I faced with not being able to travel, but it does always keep my perspective in check. My trip today signifies how a city and a country came together during the most difficult period of our lifetime, followed strict government guidelines, and came out after 120+ days in full lockdown on the other side of a pandemic, now able to cross state borders without isolation or quarantine. To go to a live music show, have drinks on rooftop bars, walk around outside without a mask on, and see people going about their daily lives again on public transport and see a city bustling with energy—the months of mental hardship and growth was all to get back to a post-Covid world. Even though a vaccine is not out yet and we need to be cautious, the level of hopelessness has diminished significantly, and I’m not terrified my trip might be cancelled in two hours. I’m actually going this time!

There is also a whole other facet to my time in lockdown and that of course is the personal development and mutual growth in my marriage! That’s a whole separate post though which I hope to get out soonish. But here’s a bit of something I started a few months ago. Enjoy.

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I remember when it first started in the news; like a minor blip of a story flashing at the bottom of the screen: some mutant virus had infected a couple dozen people in some random city in China. I was working solo in a café serving the employees of a major shoe distribution company in the warehouse district of Collingwood, Melbourne. The TV was on in the cafe but muted the first few weeks of January as the main stories were about the most devastating wildfires in the history of the world, and we all just felt a communal helplessness. As the numbers grew in China and the story became a daily headline, the first case was announced in Queensland on January 25th. Everyone stuck around a few minutes longer each day after they were handed their coffee. I think back to the moment when Wuhan, the epicenter at the time, reported 1,500 cases and I thought surely there can’t be much more than that. This is just media sensationalizing something small. This whole story will blow over in another week or two.

If only.

It was summer in Australia, and my husband and I were planning what to do after our sublease was up in mid-March. I commuted daily from a suburb 50 minutes north called Eltham, a creative and eco-friendly heritage town. We lived in a triplex made of adobe mudbrick, surrounded by native forest, a communal garden, and enjoyed huge artisan windows that brought in natural filtered light through the towering trees. Our little studio was a quiet haven away from the chaos and constant flurry of people in Melbourne, especially during summer as it brought travelers from every corner of the globe. There was no way we could have possibly known that this little paradise would feel like a prison after six months in the world’s longest lockdown due to a global pandemic caused by that little virus in some random city in China now known worldwide as COVID-19.

As the weeks passed by in February, more and more countries began reporting cases. I did not understand how pandemics worked as the last one I was alive for and could remember was H1N1 in California, and I was about 17—far too consumed with college applications and boys to think about world affairs. The Spanish Flu was never something that was particularly emphasized in our history classes, so it didn’t even occur to me to compare what was happening now to that point in time. Then again, this was incomparable because in 1912, the world was a less globalized economy and there were no commercial flights transporting thousands of passengers across the globe daily. By the first week of March, my daily rush-hour commutes became the first real difference I noticed. The number of morning passengers on the train platforms dwindled from 50 to 25 to 5, and eventually, to just me. As the train stopped at over 30 stops from where I lived to the city, my carriage wasn’t even remotely full at 7 a.m.

There was less foot traffic in the city. Flinders Street Station, one of the two largest hubs that saw thousands of people daily, was eerily quiet and empty. We were two weeks out from leaving Melbourne to go travel, planning to go to New South Wales, AU to help rebuild communities that were ravaged by the bushfires. I was desperate to travel this year, and we were so close to leaving. I had picked up some other barista work in an advertising agency closer to the city. But day by day, office workers were being told to work from home if they were able to. Hand sanitizer became readily available in the café, bathrooms, and around the office. I remember staring out the window of this high rise building that overlooked the lush green stretch of Albert Park and thinking it looks so normal outside. Every day, I looked at the news in Australia, which I had never really done before. Industries were shutting down, and the panic was setting in for thousands of casual workers in the hospitality industry as it was only a matter of time before we would be shut down too.

Melbourne is a cultural hub filled with travelers who typically come here on a Work and Holiday Visa which gives them 1-2 years to work and live in AU. Most find work in hospitality as there are over 40,000 restaurants and cafes in this region. You couldn’t go a single day without meeting someone from another country which is why I fell in love with this city. I worked as a freelance barista through agencies that called for workers to be able to step in if someone called out sick or quit unexpectedly and they found themselves short. But my agencies had gone completely silent in the week leading up to the industry shutting down. There was no more work and travelers were finding themselves stranded. I journaled daily in the lead up to my final day of work in the city as I knew something big was happening, and I wanted to be able to recall when it all began. I also knew we would not be travelling anytime soon, around Australia or otherwise, when national and international borders began closing around the world.

March 17th, 2020

All that’s being talked about is COVID-19. Entire countries are closing borders and going into complete lockdown. Italy has been inundated with patients in hospitals and now have to choose who lives and who dies. AU isn’t taking nearly as intense of measures, but the general atmosphere is not normal. All events with over 500 people have been cancelled. Those who have traveled anywhere must self-quarantine for 14 days or face a huge fine. Some people still don’t take it seriously, thinking/acting like it’s just a normal flu when in reality its ability to be passed on and even re-infect someone a second time is much higher than the rate of a simple flu. In the states, my family says all the restaurants and schools have closed, even the Hollywood entertainment industry has closed down. So many independent contractors, myself included, are without means to live because there’s no emergency government funding in place. It shows what’s truly flawed with the system. Luckily Cam has full time work still, but for those people who have kids and no daycare options? No partner or family? Those who are traveling and can’t get back home? This is devastating for all of us, but them in particular. Supposedly, there are rumors that the virus dies with the warm weather, but AU is headed into winter. It could be why the virus isn’t as big in places like South America and Africa (*note* countries from these two continents are now in the top 10 most infected places as of September 2020) Europe is completely shut down as is New Zealand. I have flights to California in June, so I’m hoping I can still go. For how weak my immune system is, I’m surprised I’m not more concerned because I’ve been continuously reassured the virus only attacks those with underlying conditions, mainly in the elderly population. Even in calm, tight-knitted communities like ours in Eltham, we’re seeing the best and worst of humanity come out with people hoarding resources, but also there are those offering rides for people to stores or grocery drop offs to their homes. I’m very interested to see how the next three months progress all around the world. Right about now, it’d be nice to hide away in a beachside house in Mexico. (*Mexico is also among the top 10 most infected countries now*)

March18th, 2020

The government should announce today whether hospitality industry will close, potentially putting Cam and I both out of jobs. Luckily our landlord is being highly accommodating. Trump is giving Americans $1,200 and has postponed tax season by 3 months. Only seems he does something decent when it’s to keep the economy from tanking and his money is protected.

Cam and I both have throat annoyances and headaches. We should try to stay home, but can’t afford it. Today, they’ve dropped gatherings of 500 down to only 100 people, yet shopping centers and public transport remain open, which I would think are the riskiest places for transferring infections. It’s been stated this is a once in a decade event that will change the course of history.

March 19th, 2020

Amidst all the chaos from morning to night, people are finally taking time to nurture their interests and creativity. I’m taking two courses on sustainable fashion and fashion in design. I’ve also applied to be a mentor for women trying to gain work and leadership experience at an NGO called Fitted for Work. They have stylists that help women to prepare business outfits and tailor their resumes/do mock interviews. I’ve looked into an MA program I’m interested in at Warren Wilson College back in North Carolina. I think looking forward is the only way to keep the fear down about how long these shut downs may last possibly through June. The world economy is going to see some extremely confronting realities it hasn’t seen since the Great Depression. For the moment I’m looking into teaching English online which I’m already certified to do, just to try and earn some money. I’ll be interested to see all the art that comes out of this period and the photojournalism that captures this historic time.

March 21st, 2020

We went over to Williamstown (Cam’s parent’s house) as Cam had two shifts out that way. Restrictions in cafes are now 1 person per 4 square meters, so in the 100 person limit already imposed, it’s now down to 25. I’m nervous for Cam to keep working and going on public transport. It’s high risk and unethical in terms of coming in contact with people we could transmit it to without knowing (asymptomatic) because it takes 14 days to even show symptoms. We made the choice to start self-isolation come Monday as we can see in the next week or two the same spike will be here in Melbourne as we’ve seen in Italy and most likely soon to see in the U.S. Reading other peoples’ accounts about how they continued life as normal as though nothing had changed in Italy is exactly where AU is projected to head towards.

March 25, 2020

As of Monday, AU took drastic measures to ensure safety and closed many non-essential businesses with a series of daily updates for more and more businesses to shut or only stay open for takeaway. Overnight, nearly 80,000 people in hospitality work were laid off or lost work, Cam and I included. A stimulus package of 66 billion dollars was announced and Cam qualified for government payments through Centrelink because he’s a kiwi who’s been here over 10 years. Other kiwis who haven’t been here that long are completely without any kind of support from the AU government, even though in NZ, Aussies are supported. A very backward, selfish system who told them to go home.

We went to Centrelink on Monday at 7:45am in Greensborough (suburb over from Eltham). By 8:30 am when the doors opened there were over 200 people in line. The government has been terribly confusing with their messages out to the public, highly unprepared. People are confused about what they can and can’t do, what businesses are remaining open, who is eligible… it’s a mess. Why are liquor stores and hair salons considered essential?? There have been spikes in young people getting this virus as young as 18, and they are dying. The virus coats your lungs like a jelly ultimately blocking oxygen. We did what is hopefully our last grocery shop because being in the store is just as contagious as a café. There’s no safety or hygiene measures in place. We had gloves on and people were dancing around each other in the aisles to maintain 1.5m social distance.

The U.S. is becoming the new epicenter with horrific rapid spreading, particularly in New York. Flight around the world, including as of today AU, are being stopped and we can no longer leave the country at all.

To Be Continued…..

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darcycameron14 · 4 years

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Week 5

Entry 5

With the current pandemic going on that is Covid-19, Sporting industries are scrambling in ways to keep fans engaged. Collingwood Football Club have been looking at ways to build good public relations and keep fans and members interested in which is going to be a very different and difficult year of Australian Rules Football. Public relations is a strategic communication that builds mutually beneficial relationships between the organisation and their publics. one way that Collingwood have decided to go about this is launching a twitch feed. Twitch is the world's leading live streaming platform for gamers and the things we love.

The Collingwood Football Club will ask players to play against each other online whilst streaming their game through the twitch feed which can be easily located on the Collingwood instagram and Facebook page making it easy for fans to watch.

I believe that this form of Public Relations will be a great use of the Persuasion and Media effects Theory. By launching the world largest live streaming platform and getting players to promote themselves playing their games wether it may be NBA 2K or Fortnite, they're trying to persuade the fans (particularly the younger fan base) to watch them and stay engaged. This is a really smart way of staying relevant, getting a handful of your marquee players to stream something that todays younger generation are so involved in is a really good form of Public Relations.

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sebeth · 5 years

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Legion Of Super-Heroes #13

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

“State Of The Universe” by Keith Giffen, Tom & Mary Bierbaum, and Al Gordon

The issue opens with the continuation of the Shakespeare – Persuader brawl.

A few children in the pediatric wing of Quarantine worry over Shakespeare. Garridan, the son of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, comforts Ivy: “He’s gonna be all right, Ivy. I just know he is. My dad says Legionnaires are real strong. Like they’re real, real hard to kill.”

Garridan is dressed in an adorable version of Colossal Boy’s silver age costume. I wonder if Gim is Garridan’s favorite Legionnaire?

Speaking of Gim, he has arrived at Quarantine and is working with the Science Police to find a way to evacuate patients near the Shakespeare/Persuader brawl.

Gim and Kent unintentionally tag-team the Persauder, causing his capture.

A great introduction for Richard Kent Shakespeare and a nice way to touch in with Garridan, Gim, and the Persuader.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a more of this mature, self-confident, and comfortable in his career Gim.

The Persuader is the second member of the Fatal Five that we have seen in this volume. We’ll see more members later on.

In orbit above Earth: Circe has been called to task by the Dominators – they want damage control, they want results, and they want it now: “When we gave you effective control of Science Police Earth, allowed you to shape Earthgov’s public relations strategy, we expected results. It is time for you to demonstrate that our faith in you was not misplaced…Madame Circe, when you procured the services of Dirk Morgna, you assured us the Earthers would believe anything the ex-Legionnaires told them. We are now holding you to that promise.”

The Darzyl System: Mano, another member of the Fatal Five, reports to Starfinger that the Persuader has failed in his assassination attempt.

Starfinger isn’t happy. It’s not a good day for criminal overlords.

Back to Quarantine.

Science Police Chief Gigi Cusimano credits the Persuader’s arrest to Kent Shakespeare: “If you ask me, the Legion is sorely missed.”

Gigi was a supporting cast member in the Legion’s Baxter series.

Gim offers Kent a lift to Toonar. It’s as close to Winath as Gim can take Kent: “That is, if you’re ready to turn in your scrubs to get back into a Legion uniform.”

“To be honest, I couldn’t get out of here a moment too soon. Once I heard the Legion might re-form, I’ve just been counting the days. Of course, some of the kids out here…it’ll just tear out my heart to leave them. I haven’t even worked up the courage to tell them yet.”

A spying Ivy is devastated to hear Kent’s plans to leave.

An isolated farm on Khundia: a confused Jo deals with an equally bewildered Khund: “You don’t look like a Khund yet you are not a master. You are soft-looking like a Khundish girl, but you have the voice of a man.”

Only a Khund would think Jo, of all people, would have a feminine appearance!

Jo appreciates the wife of the Khund man making a stew for him. The Khunder officer states the stew appreciation is another clear sign of Jo’s brain damage.

Two Dominators, without the trademark head discs, land on the property. Jo uses his ultra-speed to rapidly leave the property: “Bloody liberty! Dominators! I didn’t recognize them without their head discs! A couple of Khund cud-chewers I can handle. But the Dominion? This is getting real weird!”

Jo muses to himself: “Khunds and Dominators together?! Cats and dogs maybe, but Khunds and Dominators? I must be on the Frontier…some world on the fringe of both spheres of influence, maybe? Or maybe U.P. Intelligence is out to lunch, Maybe the Khunds and Dominators aren’t the blood enemies they’re supposed to be. Where the blazes did Roxxas send me?”

For those unfamiliar with the Dominators: Dominators are a caste-defined society. The size of the red dot in the middle of the forehead indicates their status in the society. The bigger the dot, the higher the status. If a Dominator, doesn’t have a dot, he would be the lowest of the low in the society. A dot can be surgically made smaller or scraped off entirely if the Dominator has lost status in his society.

The Toonar Spaceport: Kent remembers his farewell conversation with Ivy. He attempts to reassure her that he loves her and will be back. It doesn’t go well and ends with Ivy stating: “I hope you die on your first mission.”

Children, so dramatic!

Deep space: Laurel curb stomps some Khunds. She deeply regrets not being on Winath during the battle with Roxxas. “If only I’d just stayed on Winath in the first place instead of running back to Zirr every two days to see how Lauren is doing. Baby daughter or no, I can’t ever forget my responsibilities as a Legionnaire.”

Laurel faces the modern dilemma of many women: motherhood vs career.

The Collingwood Inn on Gnogg: The bald head prosthetic Tenzil shoved on Brek’s head during his Earthgov trial is not coming off. Brek is quite put out and wants it off ASAP.

Tenzil: “Well then, I guess there’s only one thing left to try, now hold still!”

“Ow…ow! That’s my hair, you moron!”

“Hey! What’s going on in here?”

“My god! He’s eating that man’s head!”

“It’s okay! It’s okay! I’m a senator!”

“I’m a senator” is Tenzil’s defense for all of his shenanigans.

Winath: Rokk researches options for the new Legion’s headquarters: “There just isn’t enough room on Brande’s planetoid. And we couldn’t risk bringing down an attack on the U.P. Council, so we gotta stay clear of Weber’s World. But by the same token, we sure as heck gotta get off Winath before someone else attacks the plantation”.

Garth interrupts – he and Rokk were supposed to get in a round of links.

“So what’s the big headache? You need a new headquarters? How’s that a problem?”

“Things aren’t so simple anymore, Garth. The Legion doesn’t have the kind of friends it used to.”

“Well, you’ve still got one friend you can count on. Consider your headquarters problem solved.”

“You don’t mean here? We really couldn’t stay.”

“No, no…I’ve got something a little better suited to your needs, Rokk. Trust me.”

Before Garth can reveal the location of the new headquarters, he spies Furrball (Brin) in a hallway: “Hey, look who just wandered in! I guess Kono’s going to be relieved!”

Brin wanders past an arguing Querl and Celeste: “I’m fine! So I have a tendency to glow green. So what? Green’s a lovely color. You should appreciate that more than anyone.”

Kono encounters Brin: “There you are, you big stupid furball! What the Nykx do you think you’re doing, disappearing on us for days like that? I don’t know whether to hug you or kick your stupid butt to Tombor.

Violet overhears Kono’s dressing down of Brin: “She can sure dish it out! Wish I had her brass when I was that age. But I didn’t come down here to admire out latest Firebrand. I’ve been putting this off long enough. It’s time to take care of business.

Violet enters the room and asks Rokk if he “has a sec”. Garth hastily excuses himself.

If you haven’t read the “5 Years Later” series, Rokk and Violet’s home planets, Brall and Imsk, went to war during the five-year gap between the Baxter series and the present series.

Violet voluntarily joined her planet’s military during the war, Rokk was drafted.

Imsk’s military scientists created a doomsday weapon to use against the Braalians. Violet served as the chief of security during the project’s development. Violet protested the actual use of the weapon.

The weapon is deployed. Rokk is onsite at the weapon’s deployment at Venado Bay. The weapon strips Brallians of their native magnetic abilities. It also causes death and dismemberment.

Rokk loses his abilites and is badly injured and deeply traumatized in the immediate aftermath of the weapon’s deployment. Violet is also there – she is deeply appalled at the carnage she witnesses. Violet recognizes Rokk and approaches him.

The badly injured Rokk does not recognize Violet and lashes out, causing her to lose an eye and suffer facial scarring.

Violet is imprisoned by the Imskian military for her protests and refusal to take back her criticism of the weapon and its deployment.

Rokk and Violet both suffer long-term PTSD from the events of Venado Bay and the war in general.

Back to the present day.

The duo awkwardly attempts to start a conversation.

Rokk begins: “Look, Vi, I know you’re upset. And you have every right to be. All those months you spent in prison, protesting Venado Bay, and I didn’t even have the courage to thank you. I don’t know what my problem was. I guess I was afraid you’d never forgive Braal for attacking your planet. Or forgive me for so blindly obeying Braal’s lousy leadership.”

“Rokk, don’t…I’m the one who should be apologizing…I’m the one…who helped kill all those…god.”

“’C’mon, Vi. It’s gonna be okay.”

“I told…I told myself I wasn’t going to fall apart like this…”

“You’re entitled.”

By the end of the conversation, both Rokk and Violet are crying.

One of my favorite moments in the series. Neither Rokk nor Violet magically healed their PTSD or emotional trauma but they’re on the road to healing.

Kathoon: A heavily pregnant Lydda is reading a letter from Rokk: “You know, Lydda, that woman has never forgiven herself for just doing her duty. Did I mention the scar she has over her eye? Vi told me she got it over her eye? Vi told me she got it at Venado Bay. She say’s she’s never having it removed. She never wants to forget what happened there. What she did. It just made me want to keep hugging her until the whole thing disappeared forever. But I guess Venado Bay will never go away. It’ll always be with us. Both of us.”

It’s safe to assume Violet didn’t inform Rokk that he caused the scar. Violet correctly assumed the revelation would only add more guilt to the emotional turmoil caused by Venado Bay.

The “hugging” line adds another dimension to Rokk’s character. Starting with the 5 Year Later series and continuing through the reboot, the three-boot, and the retro-boot, Rokk has been portrayed as the serious, no-nonsense, all business leader of the Legion. It’s nice to see a sweet, comforting side of Rokk.

The letter continues: “Now that we’ve finally nailed Roxxas, I’ve got to get going on the arrangements for Blok’s memorial. Brainy says it’s too soon to make it a double ceremony so we haven’t completely given up hope on Jo yet. But damn, it’s hard to get over Blok. I guess I never realized how important he was to us all until he was gone.”

Rokk ends his letter with “It really is happening. Uniforms, headquarters, roll call. The Legion is officially back.”

Lydda excitedly yells “All right!”

The next few pages consist of a Brande Industries Memo from Marla Latham to Reep Daggle.

Volume 1: Disposition Of Known Universe

Currently the known universe is divided into these political entitites.

1) The Khundish Empire, 32%

2) Independent, unaffiliated, disorganized, 29%

3) United Planets, 24%

4) The Dominion, 9%

The memo states Khunds have conquered Lallor, Sklar, Tsauran, and Rann.

The Dominion is in a state of collapse “as worlds on the fringe continue to achieve independence”.

The memo notes the Dominion’s attempt to enslave the now-decimated Daxamite race and the “alleged secret domination of Earthgov”.

The extent of the Dark Circle remains unknown but may be as large as the Khundish empire.

Volume 2: Growing Threats

1) Mordru

2) Glorith

The memo notes the “destruction of magic at the conclusion of the Mystic Wars have proven totally erroneous. While the greatest known nexus of Magic was destroyed with the old Sorcerers’ World, many known ‘sympathetic points’ remain, most notably Tharn, the new Sorcerers’ World, as well as Orando and Venegar.

Volume 3: The United Planets

1) Current operations include “directing traffic, organizing defense, and enforcing the rules of the Recovery Initiative”

2) Compliance remains low, U.P. membership is still far below pre-Collapse levels

3) U.P. Militia has gained respectability as a barrier to Khundish encroachment

4) The critical blow to the U.P.’s collapse was the secession of Earth

5) The United Planets and the Science Police have relocated to Weber’s World

6) The corruption of Science Police Earth has undermined the credibility of all S.P. agencies

7) Organized crime has flourished.

8) Molock Hanscomb (Starfinger) of Darzyl is the most powerful figure in the underworld.

9) Leland McCauley III has emerged as the richest businessman in the United Planets. Rumors suggest that Leland McCauley IV has wrested control of the business from his father.

Volume 4: Earth

1) “With poverty and paranoia flourishing on Earth in the wake of the Great Collapse, that planet has lapsed into a period of uncharacteristic xenophobia and acquiescence to authoritarian rule. It is now alleged that the population has been manipulated and covertly ruled by the Dominion.”

2) Resistant forces have opposed Earthgov since 2990.

We end with an interlude featuring Glorith and the Time Trapper.

The Trapper informs Glorith of the “timelines that proceeded yours…what you owe me.”

He further reveals that “Mon-El obliterated my form, not my essence. All that was destroyed were my works.”

The Trapper and Glorith are referring to events that took place in issues #4 – 5.

Trapper continues: “I’ve seen how you performed my acts, lived my life to frustrate that poor fool Mordru once again. How you’ve become the new Time Trapper…but understand this, without me you can lose everything.”

Trapper issues the traditional “without me, you will fail but together we can rule the universe” speech.

Glorith rejects the offer, devolves Trapper into protoplasm and absorbs his essence. I don’t feel bad for Trapper as he did the same thing to Glorith in the Silver Age.

Glorith decides now is the perfect time to conquer the universe.

A great issue that wraps up the previous plot lines and sets up future storylines. The issue is a terrific example on how to handle a large cast – we checked in with 14 Legionnaires and 5 sets of villains.

#Legion Of Super-Heroes #Cosmic Boy #Ultra Boy #Lightning Lad #Shrinking Violet #Colossal Boy #Kent Shakespeare #Brainiac 5 #Glorith #Time Trapper #Dominators #Khunds #Starfinger #Timber Wolf #Kono #Celeste Rockfish #Night Girl #Matter-Eater Lad #Polar Boy

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getseriouser · 5 years

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20 THOUGHTS: "Said I Loved You...But I Lied"

AS Eddie would often say to us on a Thursday, “its been a big week in football”.

Carlton CEO Cain Liddle went to Brendan Bolton a week ago and seemingly, for the first time, expressed concern about wins and losses which up until that point all communication was about long-term strategy.

A foul loss to Essendon later and whooshka, Bolton barely survived 24 hours.

Shame for Bolton, but typical Carlton, there’s teenagers who look at this and think its par for the course – they would have no idea this was once a halcyon club who is unsurpassed for premierships won. The Blues? Really? No way.

1. Get Carlton stuff out of the way up front – firstly, they’ve sacked Bolton whose record does look horrendous. But he was on a hiding to nothing given the list culling and profile he now has at his disposal four years in. His youngest list over his tenure is the current list, so it feels like the rebuild hasn’t yet finished to judge him on yet. But one win to halfway is too compelling, I get that.

2. Brett Ratten won a final and finished with a better winning percentage than Brad Scott, who is a $4 favourite for the coaching job next year. And Ratten since leaving Princes Park went and spent many a successful year being an assistant under Al Clarkson. Want him back, much?

3. David Teague gets the job now until the end of the year, firstly, the worst part of the Carlton season has been their fowardline, guess who was the forwards coach? Next year, it need not just be about a new senior coach, but new assistants. Don’t undersell the impact of the assistants-cleanout at Richmond end of 2016, it made ‘all’ the difference.

4. Who coaches there next year, well, I think Brad Scott is too obvious, and I don’t think the ‘optics’ look good to go back to Ratten despite his 2019 credentials, so I look at Michael Voss. Has senior experience, is a Hall of Famer, great resume, and wasn’t that bad in Brisbane if anything derailed by risqué list decisions. I don’t think he is ideal, but the Blues are destined to pick the best they can get, not so much the best coach.

5. New coach though, it’s a list that can propel quickly. Won’t bore you but gee, another year of Curnow and McKay, give Gibbons another pre-season, Dow will turn 20, Cripps 23, Walsh another pre-season, Weitering could be AA next year, there’s a lot to work with – just needs a better fit than Bolton.

6. How’s Dylan Clarke? Unknown Bomber totally wipes out Patrick Cripps and wins 23 touches of his own. Onus is on Woosha to save his job, well if he can get performance out of the likes of Clarke, Ambrose, Parish, along with a few others, they’ll win a few games and show the sort of progress to prevent any guillotine coming his way.

7. Friday night was fun, North looked fresh, Richmond looked disinterested. But then again everyone except Geelong has had stinkers, look at Collingwood Saturday, GWS against Hawthorn and West Coast on Good Friday. Tigers and Pies should both be fine.

8. And they should both see 4th spot as being as good as 1st or 2nd really; if the Cats roll on to be minor premier, they’d host a Qualifying Final, and if its hosting Richmond or Collingwood it’ll be at their opponent’s home ground, not theirs, akin to 2016 and we know what happened there.

9. Patrick Naish, son of Chris, just needs to get a game. Had 25 touches on the weekend kicking three goals, had 22 the week before, 28 the week prior and 29 with four goals the week prior again. Get him in. Jet.

10. We like Naish, but again, Tom Lynch, on Friday he was literally no different to North’s Nick Larkey. No discredit to Larkey but I don’t really know him and he looked just as promising as the tall bloke for Richmond down the other end. Needs to lift, young Tom.

11. How good is Cam Zurhaar? 2017 rookie draft selection, built up top like a rugby league player and tackles like one too. North will spend the rest of the year identifying pieces that flesh out their 2020 best 22, he and Jye Simpkin look like real finds. Unlucky Scotty.

12. Craig Hutchinson reckons Rhyce Shaw can do more than warm the next coach’s seat, no matter his record. I disagree. Don’t think he should be favourite for the 2020 job, but I see a bit of Paul Roos about him. Not just in his situation, assistant who has come in mid-way through a year with a point to prove, but in his philosophy, his background. Whilst a little taller, Roos was a dashing backman, but always prioritised good defence first. We know about Roosy’s big possession games off half-back, but he always made sure he beat his opponent first going the other way. Shaw played similar, particularly at the Swans. And its that game style that flavours how they coach their teams. Let’s be tough, let’s attack our opponents and get the pressure right up, and when we do dashing and effective offense happens next. Shawy’s a watch.

13. Gotta knock the Dogs on this one. It seemed obvious from a mile out that they weren’t going to retain Luke Dahlhaus, a premiership player who became disgruntled at Bob Murphy’s criticisms and paved the way for his exit. But at only 26, he has gone to Geelong and looked a jet, averaging 20 touches a game as a high half-forward in the top 20 for tackles, top 10 for tackles inside 50. He would be one of the first half-dozen picked at the Kennel if still there, and the Cats got a freebie. That’s why one is top and the other is looking at a third year out of the finals post flag.

14. Score Review. Well, I’ll just copy paste Jimmy Bartel on this, "(the) AFL, they say 'we review every goal while the ball is going back to the middle', no you don't. Don't lie… You're a billion-dollar business and a six-year-old sitting at home can see it was touched. It's not that hard." Well said Jim, nothing more to add.

15. Got one going around about a premiership player, a best and fairest winner, who might have being relieved of a significant gambling debt by his current club’s vice president. Can’t confirm it, but feel pretty warm on it. Amazing places footy clubs, especially if this story is one, true, and two, never gets out.

16. Have hammered the Eagles lately, but credit where credit’s due, they looked boss against the Dogs on Sunday. Although, to be fair, the Dogs kick straight it ‘might’ have become interesting. But the Eagles are half-idling, half-cruising. They had the shortest pre-season so if they can bank wins now that all that matters. Still don’t think they win the flag, but they’re going ok we accept.

17. Dan Hannebery played three quarters of VFL footy for the Zebras and touched it 24 times – that’s a massive positive, good news. He’ll be a big chance for a Saints debut after the bye and whilst they look longer than long odds to make the eight, his addition certainly helps them get close to that 10th or 9th spots. He has three years after this, I still think St Kilda can get some value out of his acquisition despite Damien Barrett’s attitude.

18. State of Origin Game 1 tomorrow night, up at Suncorp, the home team will be half a sniff. Spine is the key in rugby league, your 9-7-6-1. The Maroons have got three superstars in those positions, with an Origin-experienced halfback playing hooker. Meanwhile, NSW have a much better hooker in Damien Cook, a fullback whose not far off Queensland’s, but an out of form halfback and a debutant at five-eighth. There’s more points in the Maroons on paper, they’re underdogs with your bookie, so give him a call.

19. We don’t mind potting the FFA here, mainly because they give us good reasons to do so. The sacking of Matildas coach Alen Stajcic was horrendous at the time, and now its even worse. Board member Heather Reid has come out and basically smeared Stajcic, suggesting his it would be “shocking” if his behaviours ever came to light. His character was smashed last year and this has only made it worse when in reality no-one still can say why he was flicked, flicked from a team super close to a World Cup tilt. Morons.

20. Had to waste another of my 20 thoughts on these clowns but they also ticked off the ‘surprise surprise’ memo from Western United that the stadium build for out the back of regional Wyndham will be delayed. Here’s a tip, that club never leaves Geelong, or becomes a country road trip like an APIA old-timers concert tour, becoming an unloved vagabond until the FFA finally puts the club out its misery. Disaster.

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jeremystrele · 5 years

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How Can Your Business Give Back?

Small Business

Fiona Killackey

Members of the Who Gives A Crap team in their Collingwood office. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Co-founder and CEO Simon Griffiths. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

‘If you do good you’ll be held to a higher standard than your competitors! ‘ tells Simon. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Who Gives A Crap launched on crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo in 2012. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Every June the business makes its annual donation, which usually means its bank accounts go from full to empty overnight! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

It gives 50% of profits to build toilets and has provided $1.8 million to charities to date. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

TIPS FOR BUILDING A BUSINESS THAT GIVES BACK

1. Know your why

What’s the reason your business exists? What’s the long-term impact or legacy you wish to create? Knowing this is the first step in working out how your business can give back and the best possible charities or causes you will support. Perhaps you wanted more flexibility in your life after becoming a single parent, or perhaps you felt there was a gap in the market for a more ethically produced product. Maybe you were influenced by trauma in your past or perhaps you wanted to build something that would enable minority groups to have more of a voice. Whatever your why is, uncover it, understand it, share it and ensure however you choose to give back aligns with it.

2. Research the contenders

When it comes to charity partnerships, rushing in can cause long-term confusion for your customers, and financial loss for the business. Do your research. Is the charity you wish to partner with stable? Who else do they work with and how does your business align? What support (content, reporting, field trip access) can they give? How transparent is their practice (will your customers be able to genuinely see how their money has impacted the planet/people)? How do their business goals align with your own? Ideally, you want to forge a long-term partnership that’s beneficial to both parties.

3. Understand the numbers

The amount you may wish to donate or give back may not match the reality of your sales. Go in too large and you may be left financially vulnerable, go in too low and you may not be able to make the impact you desire. Ask youself, what does this figure look like today, and what does it look like five years from now? Is it sustainable? Work with an accountant or CFO to crunch the numbers so your donation and/or partnership makes sense and won’t leave your business open to instability. And remember, you can start small then scale as your business does. Giving back doesn’t always have to mean going big!

4. Invest in your brand

Thank You began purely as a water business, before offering additional product categories. This was only possible because they had invested in building a strong brand and loyal audience, who were devoted to the overall cause – “life-changing products” – rather than one specific product (water). Consider your messaging: is it about the people and the vision behind the brand or does it focus too heavily on one product line? If you were to pivot how would your customers react? A strong business is one that is able to carry their audience with them as they grow and adapt (even if that means dropping or changing offerings).

5. Walk the talk

If you’re aligned with a charity to empower women through education, what training and education opportunities do your own staff have access to? If you’re working with an environmental cause, how does your workplace wastage stack up? Well before launching any marketing or media around giving back, ensure you’re ‘walking the talk’ when it comes to your own business practices and processes. Aligning with a charity or cause will magnify scrutiny of your business, and you must be ready to answer any and all questions that your customers – and the media – will have.

Fiona Killackey is a business consultant, author, and mentor for My Daily Business Coach. You can sign up to her weekly email full of small biz insights and tips here or purchase her new ebook, all about having a great business year here.

The Who Gives A Crap team (left to right): Tim Baxter, senior growth marketing manager; Megan Olney, head of customer experience; Simon Griffiths, co-founder and CEO; Tim Jacob, financial controller; Phil King, head of sales; Ellie Smith, head of people and culture; and Zoey Hopkins, inventory planning analyst. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

IN PRACTICE: WHO GIVES A CRAP

Since launching on crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo in 2012, Who Gives a Crap has become a household name, with their toilet rolls, tissues and paper towels stocked in homes, restaurants and hotels across the globe. Created by Melbourne trio Simon Griffiths, Jehan Ratnatunga and Danny Alexander, the business gives 50% of profits to build toilets and has provided $1.8m to charities to date. We sat down with Simon to discuss the brand’s vision, advice he would give to others just starting out, and why financial acumen is crucial when building a business that gives back.

Who first inspired you to create a social enterprise?

Who Gives A Crap is all about impact – we’re on a mission to show that businesses (and our customers and staff!) can have a huge positive impact on the world by making better decisions. Who Gives A Crap’s main inspiration are the 2.3 billion people across the world who don’t have access to a toilet. That’s roughly 40% of the global population and means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation – that’s more than 700 children per day, or one child every two minutes. I wanted to start a forest-friendly toilet paper company that donates 50% of its profits to help to improve access to basic sanitation, hygiene and clean water in the developing world.

How do you balance profit and business viability with giving back?

Our goal has always been to have as much impact as possible, so we structured the business to ensure we’re able to grow quickly (as growth ultimately means more impact), while maximising our donations along the way. When we started, we had a decision to make: donate a small amount of profit, donate 100%, or somewhere in-between. Donating 100% of profits can significantly impede a business’ ability to grow, while donating 10% or less might have meant it would take a long time to have any meaningful impact. We decided that 50% was the perfect number – it allowed us to continue to invest in the rapid growth of the business, while still having a significant impact along the way. A few years in, we’ve been able to double or triple the size of the business every year while donating over $1.83 million, which we’re incredibly proud of!

It hasn’t always been easy, though. Managing cash flow is a challenge for many businesses, but it’s especially hard for us as we have to balance making a big annual donation with the usual costs of doing business. Every June we make our annual donation, which usually means our bank accounts go from full to empty overnight, and we need to ensure that we can do that without slowing down production, shipping, marketing and, of course, paying our suppliers and team! We’ve gotten incredibly good at modeling cash flow as a result, so it gets easier every year – we’re expecting this year to be the smoothest yet!

What advice would you give to someone who has a business or a business idea and wants to give back but is scared it will make their business non-viable from a financial perspective?

1. Doing good is good for business: regardless of how our customers initially found us, our impact is what they remember most. Our impact helps us to find new customers, and keep existing customers engaged and coming back to buy from us again – our social media posts relating to our impact have the highest engagement, and we see a strong correlation between our biggest sales days and the days we’re talking to our customers about our impact. We hope that our model will inspire more businesses to do good

2. Doing good isn’t easy: if you do good you’ll be held to a higher standard than your competitors! We tackle this by providing lots of information on our website about our impact, where our profit goes, our production standards, and a whole bunch of other questions. Doing this well builds trust in your customer base, which, for us at least, has meant that our customers often go above and beyond to tell other people about what we’re doing.

3. Decide what impact you want to have, then design your business around it: lots of people told us that it would be impossible to run a business that donates 50% of its profits, but so far it’s worked really well. If we were a regular toilet paper company we’d look at the cash required to make an annual donation and say that it’s not possible, but because we started with this constraint from day one we’ve simply found ways to make it work.

4. If you’re on the fence, think about the impact we could have if every business donated just 10% of their profits! I think that successful business owners have an obligation to give back, but it’s important to do it in a way that’s true to who you are.

What’s next for Who Gives a Crap?

We’re hoping to see more than just toilet paper, tissues and paper towels in our customers’ homes before the end of the year, but I can’t say more than that for now! In the meantime, we’re concentrating on building up our USA and UK customer base (as well as at home in Australia) to encourage more people to make the switch to toilet paper that’s good for people and the planet. And of course, we’re looking to maximise our donation as we get closer to our June 30 donation deadline.

Who Gives a Crap is currently hiring for their LA and Melbourne hubs. Visit them online or connect on Instagram.

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footyplusau · 7 years

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It seems the only way is up when it comes to clubs using the AFL’s ticketing policy

Clubs are 10 times more likely to raise ticket prices under the AFL’s controversial pricing system, an AFL Fans Association investigation has found.

Dynamic ticketing was introduced in the lead-up to the 2016 season with fans told the system would be “favourable” for them.

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Glenn Archer apologises for junior footy scuffle

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Previous slide Next slide

AFL plays of round 14

Hawk Mitchell helps ground the Crows, Swan Mills takes a ripper defensive grab, Roo Higgins does a ‘Charlie Dixon’, Dees break a western hoodoo and the final touch from Docker Walters delivers ecstasy for Chris Scott .

Glenn Archer apologises for junior footy scuffle

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Glenn Archer apologises for junior footy …

Glenn Archer apologises for junior footy scuffle

The former AFL star and two-time premiership winner says his conduct was “inappropriate and unacceptable”. Courtesy 1116 SEN, Garry, Tim & Hamish.

Riewoldt denied certain major

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Riewoldt denied certain major

Nick Riewoldt looked destined to kick another six points but the Suns’ Jack Leslie had other ideas.

Saints return to top eight

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Saints return to top eight

St Kilda are back inside the top eight after a sluggish 32-point win over Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium.

Richmond continue dominance of Carlton

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Richmond continue dominance of Carlton

Richmond have continued their dominance of Carlton, sealing a sixth straight win over the Blues.

Sea Eagles too good for Sharks

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Sea Eagles too good for Sharks

There was no second-half turnaround for the Sharks this week as the Sea Eagles leapfrog them on the ladder.

Frantic finish from Fremantle

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Frantic finish from Fremantle

The Dockers gave it their all in the final 30 seconds against Geelong to set up a frantic finish decided in the final kick of the game.

AFL plays of round 14

However, of the 56 times dynamic ticketing has been used by clubs this year, prices have been lowered only five times.

Under the system, clubs are allowed to increase or decrease the price of tickets by only $1-$3 at a time, a maximum of four times a season, with rises capped at $12.

Hawthorn fans show their support . Photo: Getty Images

The chief culprits are St Kilda, Richmond and Geelong, who have each increased ticket prices seven times this year, closely followed by the Western Bulldogs (six times) and Fremantle, Carlton and North Melbourne (five times each).

This flies in the face of what AFL general manager of clubs and operations Travis Auld told SEN in February last year.

“Our research indicates that in many cases it will be quite favourable for supporters,” Auld said at the time.

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“What it means for a number of clubs is prices will go up and in some cases, they’ll go down depending on the demand for the game.

“But certainly, for the smaller games we’ve got some big stadiums that we want to try to fill so we want to make the prices as attractive as we can.”

Only four clubs – Sydney (twice), Collingwood (once), GWS (once) and St Kilda (once) – have decreased seat prices while Adelaide, Gold Coast, West Coast, Port Adelaide, the Brisbane Lions and Melbourne have not used dynamic pricing at all.

“Our praise goes to all clubs who don’t exploit their fans through dynamic pricing,” said AFL Fans Association president Gerry Eeman.

“We save particular high praise for the Demons, who are the only Victorian club not to have used dynamic pricing to increase ticket prices.

“Certain clubs are using dynamic pricing to gouge fans who do not have a reserved seat membership.

“The system simply makes it more expensive to buy reserved seats and is incredibly confusing.

“Furthermore, dynamic pricing affects members. If you have a general admission membership and you want to or need to reserve a seat, most clubs will make you pay the dynamic price increase applicable to the seat you select.”

Eeman told Fairfax Media that dynamic pricing was used far less last year, with many clubs not using it at all in 2016.

“It’s really ramped up this year,” he said.

“It was only used by a small handful of clubs last year. Most of the others wanted to see how it was used and see the reaction and thought if there was not too much negative feedback, they would use it this year.”

Victorian clubs are the main users of dynamic pricing. Powerful interstate clubs such as Adelaide and West Coast, for instance, play at Adelaide Oval and Domain Stadium respectively where reserved seating memberships are the norm with only a small mandated section for general admission.

The most publicised example of dynamic pricing was on Anzac Day when Essendon – playing Collingwood at the MCG in the annual blockbuster – lifted the price on some level 4 seats by 80 per cent in total, raising them by 50 per cent in March and by another $12 leading up to the game. The spike equated to a year-on-year price rise of $32 ($40 to $72).

But the fans’ association investigation also found:

– Hawthorn increased eight of nine price categories by $1-$6 for their MCG round 5 game against West Coast which drew 28,997 fans.

– Carlton increased six of eight categories by $5-$10 for their round 10 game at Etihad Stadium against North Melbourne which drew 32,802 fans.

– Hawthorn increased prices in eight of nine categories by $1 and $5 for their round 12 MCG clash against Gold Coast which drew 27,392 fans.

– Carlton lifted prices for their round 12 game against GWS at Etihad Stadium in four of eight categories by $3 and $5. The game which drew 23,194 fans.

– In round 13, North Melbourne charged up to $87 for level 2 seats for their Friday night Etihad Stadium game against St Kilda before a crowd of 26,107. North increased four of eight categories by $9 each.

– St Kilda increased five categories for their round 14 Etihad Stadium game against Gold Coast by up to $12, but decreased two by $3. The game attracted just 16,844 fans.

The post It seems the only way is up when it comes to clubs using the AFL’s ticketing policy appeared first on Footy Plus.

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jlawbenn · 25 days

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50 things about me / intro challenge that I’m currently making up as I go along anyway welcome to my blog! Now how do I pin this post

1. My name is Jordanah, preferred pronunciation is Ordanah and my most common nicknames are Danah and Jordan

2. My pronouns are she/her/hers, the gender I was assigned with at birth.

3. I’m in my mid twenties and have an insane amount of kids a number so peculiar it always blows people’s minds!!!

4. I was born in Texas US but my mother was Croatian Yugoslavian born and raised and I spent most of my childhood living between Croatia, Scotland and Germany. My father was a Slovene-Jew, and my mother’s side somehow also have Lebanese roots.

4. My mother had her first child at age 14 and I had mine at 15!

5. I’ve been married and divorced more than once 😬

6. This list started off exciting and now I’m depressed

7. @fazcinatingblog is my bestttt friend and it’s only through Alex Fasolo and Jordan Roughead that we met!!!

8. I am a massive Carlton fan with a 6 or 7 year membership and have attempted to raise my children Carlton (and failed.) Any family members of mine that came over from Europe (my brother’s family namely) are Bulldog supporters. However I also hold a Collingwood membership, Geelong membership and Essendon membership for my children.

9. Teams my crazy kids’ support are Geelong, Collingwood, Carlton, St Kilda/Hawthorn (he’s v confused), Melbourne/Norf Melbourne (guess his fav city), and Essendon.

10. I am always carrying some sort of injury and it’s always usually done in the most stupid of ways. My most recent injuries are; broken ribs at Collingwood premiership, broken rib, finger and concussion at opening round in Sydney, sore shoulder from tripping down a step and banging into the ladder.

11. I have a diploma in hairdressing, a certificate in business, a certificate in youth work (with a v keen interest towards social/case work), enrolled in a diploma of education and am really interested in becoming a teacher one day when my kids are a bit older!

12. I have tattoos

13. I have piercings but I never wear them anymore so do I really have piercings?

14. I was loving this list but now I’m over it

15. I go for the Proteas / South Africa in test cricket and Melbourne Renegades in BBL.

16. My NBA team is probably the Dallas Mavericks

17. I love Taylor Swift, The Beatles, 5sos, Doja Cat and Little Mix just to name a few

18. I’m hungry

19. I have this condition where I can make any bone in my body loudly crack and I’m double jointed, I freak a lot of people out. I can be sitting and put my foot over my head behind my neck! Yeah I probably have that Ehlers Danlos Syndrome

20. I hate airports, like passionately, and I will become an absolute ratbag in them

21. I have really severe ADHD combined and I cannot. Sit. Still. And I’m super impatient and just don’t have the ability to wait.

22. I have a severe math’s disability called dyscalculia. I can hardly do basic addition and the rest may as well be in Irish

23. My favourite AFL players are Charlie Curnow, Jack Carroll, Jordan Boyd, Tom De Koning, but right now I’m in a bit of a personal depression slump so that’s it, I just don’t feel much enjoyment around the footy lately.

24. I will jump on my best friend when my team wins if I’m at the game

25. I’m perfectly fine with Irish people, but I feel like none of them like me? There’s been several instances. I’ll name two. I was at the pub with my best friend watching the footy last year and the Irish group at the table just started attacking me for sitting there and even blocked off my seat, but they were fine to my friend? And neither of us had said anything to them? And on the other occasion I was dropping my daughter off at school and an Irish teacher yelled at me because she thought I was a high school student and wanted me to get to campus. I mean. Honestly.

26. I have an older brother who is 1. an idiot and 2. Has worked at many different AFL clubs in Victoria doing physiological stuff and worked at the HFC shop (and hated it)

27. I am really partial with the weather - if it’s freezing I absolutely love it but if its anything over 17 degrees I hate it and will complain non stop

28. I have had my gallbladder and spleen removed, and now my abdomen is not only covered in a horrid cesarean scar but surgery scars.

29. I had a massive Linkin Park obsession and dyed my naturally blonde hair black and in contrast to my blonde eyebrows I looked like I had none.

30. I’ve had cancer and so have my daughters.

31. My kids’ favourite footballers are Sam De Koning, Darcy Moore, Charlie Curnow, Jordan De Goey (we’ll sort her out), Jack Ginnivan, Luke Uniake Davies I think, Josh Dunkley

32. I have a G Flip song stuck in my head and it’s not even my favourite one

33. I’ve met G Flip!!! Laura and I sat in a corporate suite with her last year for Hawthorn V Collingwood and bloody hawthorn won

34. I attended the 2023 grand final at 9 months pregnant (technically overdue, I’m nuts honestly) and nearly killed myself

35. I have video footage of me nearly falling to my death at said game

36. I’m absolutely terrified of feathers, birds, metal spoons, lightning, dogs (including the western kind), adelaide football club and anything bigger than me that can crush me to death. And escalators

37. I’ve done my ACL before and it was really stupid

38. I wish the new season of Stranger Things would hurry TF up because it’s my fav show

39. I absolutely cannot stand Dale Thomas and accidentally started an online war once because I voiced my opinion

40. Not trying to compare anyone here but my favourite AFL wags are Natalie Docherty, Annalise Dalins, Chloe Geraerts, Bella Rendell and Demi Duncan.

41. My brother’s best mate is someone on the Collingwood AFLM’s team. We see them very often.

42. I love writing, I write really long, tedious, painful shit fanfics on Wattpad just for the fun of it and Laura always tells me off for putting the characters in death defying situations. My fanfics all base mainly around a main character and not so much the sportsmen. My username is the same as it is on here!

43. I think I’m a really terrible artist and that my 9 year old is the best but everyone says I can draw Darcy Moore really well.

44. I could not speak one word of English until the age of 9 and even then it was very broken

45. In school I passed Italian with A+’s and several high distinctions. I failed English with F’s and D’s constantly.

46. I hated high school and once, the sickbay nurse screwed up my file with another student’s and I had a massive allergic reaction to the pill they’d given me (I told them I didn’t take pills) lol that’s how they found out I had anaphylaxis

47. I went to primary school with a former Hawthorn player and he’s an asshole lol, he’s at another team now and my daughter isn’t happy about it

48. My favourite food is margerita pizza with no basil. My favourite drink is Shiraz.

49. I’m happy because there’s only one more thing!

50. Free Palestine 🇵🇸

51. Bonus fact, I love the F1 and Max Verstappen is my favourite driver, then George Russel. Don’t even get me started on Ferrari because I cannot stand them.

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mikeyd1986 · 7 years

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MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 52, May 2017

On Monday morning, I had my Healthy Cooking on a Budget course at Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne East. This week we made a lentil and pasta soup, macaroni and cheese, foccacia bread with rosemary and a risotto. On paper, it seemed like a lot of dishes to cook in two hours but thankfully we shared duties as a group and it was easier to manage. We learned a lot of different skills including kneading dough, cutting vegetables, frying and using chicken stock. It actually feels good to be able to make my own simple meals and not spend a fortune on the ingredients. Plus it’s much healthier than buying packaged foods. http://www.ballaballa.com.au/progra...

On Monday afternoon, I started working through Lesson 4 of my online Wellbeing course through the MindSpot Clinic. This lesson focused on dealing with the behavioural symptoms of anxiety and depression which include avoidance and safety behaviours. We tend to avoid things due to fear and low energy. By using the technique of Graded Exposure, the symptoms can gradually be reduced over time. There’s also a really helpful guide on assertive communcation which is something I still find difficult to do at times. http://www.counsellingconnection.com/...

On Monday night, I had my strength training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness. I was feeling a bit run down probably due to the sudden change of weather but unless I’m sick to the point where I literally can’t get out of bed, then I’m gonna keep living my life. I recently learned that UFT - CrossFit Fountain Gate will be closing in a couple of weeks and all the personal trainers will be moving to UFT PLAYgrounds in Berwick. Of course the one thing that was dwelling on my mind was the possibility of bumping into my former personal trainer Nick Bradbury again.

For the record, I have forgiven him and moved on. However, part of me has been worrying that he still has unresolved issues towards me and that bumping into him will be awkward. But Luke has assured me that everything will be fine and I trust him. I genuinely want to get along with Nick and let go of everything that happened last year. I hate conflict and I’m way too old to hold onto stupid grudges. I’d rather make peace and love.

I had a pretty good session tonight. Once again, I was overthinking a bit especially when Luke asked me what I did in my spare time. I hesitated so much worrying that he’d think I’m a boring person but upon reflection, it’s simply not true. I enjoy reading, doing art, shopping, going to the movies, yoga, meditation, coffee dates with Mum and of course fitness classes.

The truth is that I still get really hard on myself in moments like this and honestly I do try my best to keep myself actively busy and productive during the week. Of course, sometimes my depression and anxiety can interfere and therefore I tend to procrastinate due to lack of motivation and low energy. Sometimes getting out of bed is an achievement for me. But I do try and do activities every day. https://www.facebook.com/breakawayf...

WARM-UP...Tonight’s warmup exercises included hip opening stretches, weighted squat holds, weighted butterfly hold and weighted glute bridges. I was struggling a bit with my squat holds due to my hips being really tight and not quite finding the right position to hold myself in but otherwise the rest of the exercises were fine.

DEVELOPMENT...Tonight I got to do weighted back squats again, doing 5 rounds of 5. I’m slowly learning to keep my chest lifted and my weight evenly placed into my heels. Otherwise, I think I’ve improved heaps since I last did them.

WORK-OUT...Tonight’s workout involved 3 rounds of the following exercises: 200m rows, 10 ring rows, 10 wall balls and 5 burpees. Luke set a goal time of 12 minutes for me. My performance tonight was a mixed bag. I smashed the rowing machine and was finally strapping myself in and out without being a klutz. I made the ring rows more difficult than they needed to be but eventually got through them.

My wall balls were all over the shop. I’ve never been that great at throwing a ball so it was really inconsistent and difficult to catch at times. My burpees however have improved tremendously. I feel a lot more confident about doing them now than when I first started doing crossfit training. Overall, I did pretty well and finished the workout in just over 10 minutes. The fact that I’m trying and not giving up is proof that I am good enough.

On Friday morning, Mum and I went down to Springvale Botanical Cemetery to pay respects to my late Grandma Mrs. Yvonne Margaret Dixon. We dropped into the on site florist and bought a couple of bunches of mixed flowers plus a small balloon and a tiny teddy bear of a stick. At the burial site, Mum played several songs on her phone from Glen Campbell, Elton John and George Michael whilst placing the flowers and gifts inside the plastic vase containers. It was a beautiful tribute, letting her know that she’s gone but not forgotten.

On Friday afternoon, I treated Mum with an early Mother’s Day present...lunch at the Cafe Vita et flores (Springvale, Victoria, Australia). We shared some scones, coffees and chicken salad wraps together, sitting near the wall-mounted fireplace. It’s been a really tough year for me financially so I really couldn’t afford to buy mum a lot but I can tell that she appreciated it. http://cafevita.org.au/cafe/

On Friday night, I went to see the new Alien film entitled Alien: Covenant at Village Cinemas Fountain Gate. Part of me was feeling conflicted at the fact that I had nobody to go with despite trying to put the interest out there. My social life has been rather dull and non-existent lately and so this has really impacted negatively on my mental health. It may come across as me being an attention-seeking sad sack but the truth is that I’ve been lonely and independent my whole life mainly because I’ve been forced to be that way. I really don’t have many friends who want to hang out with me socially and that’s my reality.

Alien: Covenant takes place 10 years after the events of Prometheus (2012) with the crew of the colony ship named Covenant being pre-maturely woken from their cryosleep. After discovering a ghost transmission from an unknown planet, the crew decide to investigate the source of the signal and see whether this planet is worthy to build a new civilization of human life. On the surface, the planet seems uninhabited and yet contains similar Earth-like conditions including a water source, weather systems, mountainous terrain and vital food crops. But naturally, nothing is as it seems.

Director Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Alien) takes us down a familiar road here in terms of the human vs. alien fight scenes but he manages to deliver plenty of gore and slow building dread leading up to those pivotal moments. The connections between this film and Prometheus are well handled with the concepts of creationism and the origins of life being further explored here. We also find out what happened to Dr. Elizabeth Shaw from the previous film.

Michael Fassbender reprises his role as the synthetic android David and he also plays the cloned counterpart of crew member Walter. This is very much the stand out performance as he manages to make each character very distinct. Katherine Waterston delivers a strong performance as Daniels which mirrors the female lead of Ripley from the original Alien film. And there’s also a brief cameo from Guy Pierce playing Peter Weyland in the opening sequence. Overall, a really solid entry in the Alien franchaise. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2316204...

On Saturday morning, my parents and I met up with my Aunty and Uncle at the Rochester Car Show. I’ve never really been interested in cars so I was worried that I would get bored quite easily. Quite a few blokes were rocking black leather bikie jackets and looked rather intimidating so I stuck close with my family. They had a large collection of classic cars and bikes on display from Ford Falcons and Mustangs to Porsches and Harley Davidsons. They also had a jumping castle, sausage sizzle, pony rides and even camel’s milk samples.

On Saturday night, we hung out in the outdoor living area designed by my Uncle Warren. It featured a plasma TV, wall unit, outdoor dining setting, fold out chairs, a BBQ and plenty of beer. We lit up some fire pits with logs, twigs and fire lighters before the temperature dropped and settled in for the night, watching an AFL game between Collingwood and GWS before putting the Suicide Squad DVD on.

On Sunday afternoon, we celebrated Mother’s Day by having a buffet lunch down at the Kyabram Club. For $25 a head, we certainly got our money’s worth. There was soup, roast vegetables, roast lamb, roast pork, chicken nuggets, chips, calarami rings, slices of pizza, apple crumble, ice-cream, pavlova, fruit salad, chocolate mousse and cheesecake.

Today was completely guilt-free for me though I was being mindful about not overloading my plate on each serving. Despite getting over being sick all week, I’m glad that I was able to take time off work and spend Mother’s Day with my family.

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demcnsinmymind · 1 year

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The big ole Friedkin's cult after 1948 lore post

Buckle up folks, my brain came up with more convoluted cliché stuff!

So, yay! As if my possession timeline/lore page wasn't long enough already, my brain decided to come up with even more stuff for Friedkin's cult! Don't mind the fact that Friedkin had a total screentime of maybe 5-10 minutes throughout both movies where we only saw him sacrifice babies and ram icepicks into people's brains without much explanation.

BUT WHO CARES! I'LL ADD EVEN MORE CLICHÉ'S TO THAT AND MAKE IT EVEN MORE COMPLICATED!

Anyway, to recap what I've come up with so far, based on and inspired by canon:

Friedkin ran a cult inside Collingwood in the 40s, one that was looking to turn a human being (experimented with and selected from the wide pool of helpless patients inside the hospital) into a suitable host for the ghost of Friedkin's son, who killed himself while trapped at the frontlines of world war II. All thanks to Friedkin's experiments with a wide range of occult scriptures, his cult ended up bringing their 'idols' into our realm instead of Friedkin's son, namely L/ovecraft's Nyarlalothep "the crawling chaos" and messenger of the outer god Azathoth, which tagged along, too. Accompanied by a whole truckload of other demons, ghosts and creepy things that slipped right through the tear Friedkin created within the building.

It all came to a climax when Lance was dragged through the hole all that mess tore into the building and into 1948, and he in return got possessed by Nyarly first, followed by Azathoth right after Lance helped kill Friedkin along with other patients and then burned the building to the ground. In a nutshell, 1948 was a paradoxical mess and the origin of everything and long story short, that paradox + Azathoth expelled Lance right out of that messy past and back to 2016. I'm terrible at summarizing that lore page but here we go. The detailed page makes more sense than this short paragraph, I swear. Anyway, I never really thought things further for said cult until now, but today is the day folks, and I'm having a ball.

The cult - 1948 until 2016

So get this: not all members of Friedkin's cult were dragged through the time mumbo-jumbo, killed and distorted the second Nyarly and Azzy were drawn inside Collingwood by their experiments and rituals. In fact, some of the nurses/orderlies who had participated in the rituals and experiments weren't even on duty when the whole loop started/ended/crashed. So even with Lance and the patients getting their sweet and bloody revenge on the cult after weeks/months/years of abuse and Collingwood going down in flames - Friedkin's cult slash the cult of Azathoth didn't entirely vanish or cease to exist after August 1948. Quite the opposite, it went on and on for many centuries.

Picture it like cults akin to the one in the awesome podcast Archive 81 or cool movies like "The Ritual" from 2017 or the freaky Midsommar stuff. Or hell, even your typical real life religions and cults. The teachings and beliefs were passed on amongst family and friends of the ones who survived. Hell, some of Friedkin's staff and cult members were in their early to mid 20s in 1948 and are around 95~ish in 2016 and still alive. And with all the chaos that happened in 1948, Friedkin's death a day after their most promising ritual was supposed to take place, the fire right after? They knew their ritual had been successful and that their cult was far from done and defeated.

They were well connected within Ryerson Valley. They got their hands on the investigation notes. They knew the description of the man who supposedly started the fire and burned down their workplace and ritual grounds. They knew Lance was Friedkin's pet project and with him missing post August 16th 1948 and not showing up again, remembering all his talk about the future, the 2000s, time being messed up and all, they knew through all this chaos and strangeness that he would turn up again. In the future. Just like he talked about. They just had to wait for their little possessed success story to turn up again.

So they bid their time and faded into obscurity. They kept their eyes on Collingwood. Watched it get built up again. Watched it get closed in the 60s due to it never recovering from Friedkin's reputation, the fire, the stories. They watched the renovation efforts fail in the 80s and 90s. They waited until March 2003 until Lance did turn up again, only the beginning of his loop for him. They knew he was the one. They watched and let him and his team step foot inside the building. They didn't stop him. They didn't warn him. They didn't let any of them see them. They knew he had to step inside and vanish one more time for them - to end up in their past. And once he was gone, once police turned up again to start their investigation into the disappearance of a film crew, they stood and they watched and they waited some more. Days. Weeks. 9 months, the amount of time Lance had spent with them in 1948. And then some more.

Original cult members started dying, a few every other year, but they never stopped believing, until they reached 2016. In August, there were rumors of the elders sensing the presence of Azathoth within their realm once more. He was back. The host. The one. This time at the end of his loop and down along the linear progression of their living time. Lance Preston, discovered by Kenny the caretaker, brought in to be examined and taken care of at Danvers state hospital.

Now in charge of the cult of Azathoth from Ryerson Valley, Maryland is a 33 year old woman named Andromeda Peterson, granddaughter of one of the original members of Friedkin's cult. Coming from a long line of psychiatric nurses, she happens to work not just at Danvers', but is also the head of the CPH (short for Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital) historical society - which happens to be more than interested in Lance. Stating his curious case and disappearance inside the hospital they've been trying to preserve as the main driving force behind their interest.

Short IRL interlude. Andromeda's FC is Han/nah E/mily Ande/rson in C/ollin M/inihan's movie "What Keeps You Alive". Fun fact - CM is one half of the Vicious bros aka the dudes who wrote GE! So I'm kinda staying within that universe haha. HEA was fantastic in that movie, holy moly. I am absolutely stealing some of her mannerisms from that movie for Andromeda. I mean check it (she's the one with long red hair)

youtube

The cult post 2016 in my main possessed!verse.

Anyway, back to the cult shenigans. Previously, I hadn't really mapped out yet who Lance killed because I loved that he killed someone in canon but hated the second movie and refuse most of it as canon for my depiction of him. But now I got it figured out!

So as stated in my previous lore and bio stuff, Lance was institutionalized at Danver's state hospital after he turned back up in his 'normal' timeline again, and it took him a bit to adjust until something kicked him into action and made him flee from the hospital and investigation into him - thus getting him back outside and ready for his main post-canon verse where he's possessed by Azzy.

But now I got a neat idea and it shall be my new headcanon.

Members of Friedkin's cult/the cult of Azathoth catch wind of him turning back up and being at Danvers and thus it turning back up again, so they're more than eager to get a hold of him so they can further their chaotic fuckery of unleashing Azathoth/chaos/the end times and what not. And since Andromeda as well as a few other members of said cult are working at Danvers, they naturally start turning up right on his doorstep to 'take care of him', 'interview' him about Collingwood, take his record for their 'historical society'.

Basically an expansion of this scene that was cut from the movie but I'M KEEPING IT SUE ME

All thanks to some of the questions being weird, having Azathoth inside his brain as well as the familiarity of Andromeda's methods of gaslighting and just generally being fake and shady as fuck for a nurse (just like Friedkin and the 1948s nurse squad), it doesn't take Lance long to figure out that the cult still exists even in his time and is still interested in keeping their whole stick up of trying to fully unleash Azathoth and wreck hell. Maybe to turn Danver's hospital into a next purgatory like Collingwood (because he also learns, from Azathoth, that the torturing and experimenting on patients is still going on even at Danvers, though more selectively, smarter, and covert), maybe to fuck their entire existence, whatever it is, Lance soon catches on to their fuckery.

And naturally, he freaks. He runs from them. And while trying to do so, he ends up killing someone, the cameraman, a med student and actual genuine member of the historical society, who doesn't actually know about the cult and is in it for the urban legend and history of the place, is fairly naive/somewhat dumb and has been talked into recording the 'sessions' for Andromeda (the guy is basically headcanon pendant to canon Trevor from the second film). So on his way out of Danvers and away from the cult, Lance finds himself forced to kill someone in the freakout to stop them from filming and gaslighting him, and next to breaking out of a psychiatric hospital, has to be on the run from the police and investigators because he's now also wanted for murder.

Andromeda survives his defensive freakout along with the rest of the cult that wasn't there when it happened (again) - so with Lance on the run now, she and thus they are on the hunt for him just like the police, to get their hands on his body as a vessel and Azathoth as their deity and bringer of doom.

Funnily enough though, Azathoth has no interest in their cult and them whatsoever, since they already gave it everything that it needs - Lance, a vessel to parade it around places. It doesn't care for worship or any structures and whatnot, and will be more than happy to kill members of the cult if they get too close. Because unlike it, they want Lance - his consciousness and soul basically- dead and entirely gone so their vessel reaches its full potential for everything they're crazy about , but Azathoth is having none of it because it wants to keep Lance just the way he is. Alive and miserable, and playing on its team sort of.

I'll be flashing their interests and goals out a bit more one of these days and I might integrate her as the head of said cult in modern times a bit more too but here we go, that's all I got for today.

#headcanons #lore #hc : paranormal #hc : cult #hc : azathoth #he made me do it : possessed #Youtube

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getseriouser · 6 years

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20 THOUGHTS: Nic Nat Tackle Whacked

DONALD Glover, aka Childish Gambino, has released a very provocative music video for his latest hit This is America. Why mention that here? That’s a song and subsequently a film clip too that is about gun violence, American politics, race-based atrocities. This column is about none of those things, most weeks anyway.

But one theme that Glover touches on with the way the video is choreographed is about where your eyes focus. In it you naturally take notice of him, centre of shot, dancing, smiling, making faces. The subtext explored is that because the viewer does this, they miss all the more important stuff happening in the background, which is natural but undesirable human behaviour – a metaphor the for the political landscape in the United States on a number of sensitive but highly pertinent issues.

So what’s the link?

Whether it’s state of the game, suspicious tribunal reports or the reasons we immediately think in diagnosing why Essendon’s bad, or the Brisbane-Collingwood game is good, our proclamations might not necessarily be accurate. What’s happening in the background, what’s the root cause of what we’re seeing and sensing. Are we just being lazy in our judgement?

Not here we ain’t. We proclaim we get serious here. And we do. On that note…

1. So we start with tonight’s tribunal sittings. Firstly, Tom Hawkins, touching the umpire. The precedent on this is Heath Shaw, who was dismissive in his physicality without being overly demonstrative. Hawkins was similar. But we say Shaw was a good ‘precedent’ but in reality, that will be relevant in predicting the punishment as how good a mood the sitting Tribunal members are in tonight. How good was their day, did they have a good lunch, did their Uber run late which really got their goat, did their Foxtel not record Masterchef last night and they can’t get the Tenplay website to work as well? For me, it’s a week. Not because he is playing Collingwood but because any sort of fine doesn’t say much. If umpire contact is a big deal, when deliberate, then it’s a week.

2. Now, young Nic Naitanui. Tackles a bloke strongly and he has a date with the tribunal. But as per the Ryan Burton-Shaun Higgins incident of a few weeks back, the theme in 2018 is that if your actions are good, ok, legal, but the injury is purely accidental, you’re ok. So in that case, from a technique standpoint, other than a push in the back free Naitanui did not do anything to warrant a suspension. So he should get off, not even any sort of minimal fiscal sanction either. Watch him get two weeks down to one or something and we’re back for an appeal on Thursday but he should not get anything.

3. Quick divert to other sports before back to the Footy – first, Ice Hockey. Yep, you saw that coming. Shout out to Nathan Walker. Who? Yep, fair call, but he is someone you should know about. He is the first Australian to play in the National Hockey League, he has played only nine games, seven of which for the Washington Capitals. But today he was the first Aussie to take part in a playoff game. And he scored a point too, an assist. Bloody good on the bloke.

4. And then also in the US, Ben Simmons. Haven’t touched on the fella in this column yet but oh my. His 76ers are only a game away from having their season come to an end, still a pretty good performance even if they don’t get the chance to play for a title. But no question now that he is this country’s biggest star. The fact he plays just like Magic Johnson, someone we’ve all heard of, and just maybe could be just as talented as Magic too, is phenomenal. Sure, he will go to the Olympics and help the Boomers finish with a Bronze, maybe, one day, perhaps, but what he’ll do in his NBA career on a global stage will amaze. He won’t just amaze us patriotic few back here, he’ll amaze the natives over there, which is quite something.

5. Quick couple on the A-League, and we have to touch on the Grand Final. Yes, it was a pulsating finals series, the standard on show was reasonable and Victory deserve all the plaudits. Now the bad stuff. Adelaide vs. Carlton on free-to-air Saturday night rated 415,000, 170,000 of that in Melbourne. Only 183,000 people watched the A-League on ONE, 64,000 of those in Melbourne. Both NRL games out rated the game on Foxtel, and the Swans-Roos game matched it as well. So it’s a good thing no-one was watching to see the horrendous attempt at a pre-match obviously choreographed by sugar-high local kindergarten students. Or the missed offside goal…

6. How does that happen? We acknowledge the score review in the AFL is poor, but compared to the stuff up in Newcastle Saturday night it’s as perfect as Baby John Burgess hosting a TV game show. The fact that the television referee, known as the VAR, lost his feed to do his job correctly 20 seconds before the only goal in the game, a goal that was clearly offside, that the assistant referee missed it too or believed that his mate upstairs would see it anyway so not to worry, that the game continued without any pause or review – disastrous. Then, the audacity with the statement on Sunday morning to not just admit the stuff up but adjoin it with an apology, that they “understand the disappointment and frustration of the Newcastle Jets”. The FFA is as good as running the A-League as Steve Harvey announcing the winner of Miss Universe. Oh my hat!

7. Ok, so some Footy again. Where to start. Let’s close off this ‘state of the game’ nonsense. Firstly, the Brisbane-Collingwood game wasn’t the saving grace, which I’ll touch on shortly, but it was decent we concede. But clearly what we could do to ensure that all games can be attractive, not just one or two a weekend, is twofold – remove the ruck nominations and be far more stringent with incorrect disposal. Remove the need for ruckmen to nominate, it means a quicker stoppage, no time to set up, and as long as only two go up, we’re good. The third man up was the issue, why we need to outline who the rucks are beforehand is redundant.

8. And then incorrect disposal – how many times do we see play on when the ball spills out, or is dropped, or someone attempts to kick but misses, but gets let off because he had a crack? Bin it. If you take possession, you must get rid of it legally unless your tackler knocks it free, then we are cool for that to be play on. You’ll get a lot more free kicks and less ball-ups. But no-one will be put off because everyone knows if you had prior and you don’t get rid of it properly you’re in danger. So there’s two good moves, no need for zones, which is laughable given it will do precisely zero to congestion. Malcolm Blight, you’re a legend, but on this you’re drunk, or old, or both. Sorry mate. You think it sounds legit but practically it does nothing.

9. Now as for that Lions-Pies game, oh, the ecstasy afterwards, the number of children that will be born in nine months’ time off the back of it. It only gets the love because it was a high-scoring thriller. It was high-scoring firstly because both teams uncharacteristically kicked straight, it even broke some league accuracy records. If they kicked at league average it would be 14 goals to 13, or similar, and just a ‘good game’ then. The game in Sydney on Saturday was arguably closer, and if anything more akin to a finals game standard, but everyone got swept up in Sunday twilight. Spare me. The Lions were gallant, the Pies were good enough, move along. Rub your eyes a bit and then look again perhaps? It was decent but not orgasmic.

10. As for the Swans-Roos result, that’s a far more relevant game to look at, so let’s. Firstly, the home team. That’s the third loss at home, which is strange. Yes, no Franklin, but they didn’t have the Budweiser down at Geelong and got away with it. The forward line, or forward of the ball play, is hit and miss right now for the Bloods. They are so Buddy-focused that without him they are so unpredictable it can mean on-the-road success to a off-guard Geelong, or equally make them ripe for the taking at home to North. A reliable plan B is necessary, may mean they don’t win that Cats game, but it assures them of the home win instead, which is probably a better outcome going forward when he misses.

11. So how about those Roos? A big scalp. Needed it, so far their wins were not massively persuasive. But ahead of the ledger, playing some good football, the combo of Brown, Ziebell and the return of Mason Wood inside 50 is very dangerous. Reliable down back too but I fear that when it comes to big games, much like the Melbourne loss they a month ago, up against a class, top-8 midfield they’ll be found wanting more often than not. But, great signs for the rebuild, this isn’t about 2017 for the Shinboners, so it’s all good stuff.

12. Hmm, Essendon. Not good at the moment. Brendan Goddard continues to add to his portfolio of ‘really bad high possession count games’ and the whole ball movement is just ordinary. Certainly putting talent on the park each week but they’re not able to do enough when they have it for long enough, but worse still are not defending anywhere near enough cohesively as a unit when they haven’t got it. Clearly looks a confidence thing, couple bad losses have set them back, a good game or two can turn this around pretty quick; momentum is pretty powerful when you have it (West Coast) but gee, when you haven’t, it’s horrible – hard to stop, hard to turn around.

13. Joe Daniher is copping plenty around the traps, out of form, a bit of a poster boy for their performance as a team in one sense. Now this is an All-Australian centre-half forward only 12 months ago, so he deserves a little more credit. And mind you, yes, he might not be playing his best, but I don’t think the team setup is helping him too much. For mine sharing the 50 with James Stewart and Jake Stringer is hindering Daniher. Yes, Daniher meshed ok with Stewart last year, but now with Stringer spending a lot of time inside 50, Stewart is now in Daniher’s way. This team does not look good with all three, and its main impact is being felt with the form of their key man. Either Stringer has to get on the ball more, or despite how well he has played in his role Stewart’s spot needs to be looked at. Harsh, yet Daniher can play a lot better but a shuffle of the magnets is required first.

14. A tick to this column, pardon the forthcoming narcissism. This time last week we whacked Jon Patton, he then had another off night Friday (did a lot rucking though, granted) and the football media then jumped on. Remember where you read it first. They all either read my column or are just massively behind. Either way, stick with this column each week first and foremost.

15. Freo are just not bringing the effort this last little bit and it’s very concerning. Lots to like about their 2018 prospects as this column outlines but the stats that measure effort and want are looking a little wanting. Has the club been distracted by the Ross Lyon stuff? Do they need a good old-fashioned week of training where mouthguards are required? This team is good enough for September, if they miss it’s a lost opportunity. Still only early May, they remain a ‘Hold’.

16. Nat Fyfe though, playing beautifully. Best on ground for sure on the weekend, with the reigning Brownlow medallist sharing the same field. They didn’t really play on one another for comparison but as we speak, if you had to do the old-school lunchtime picking teams, Fyfe goes before Martin. Don’t let any Victorian bias let you down, Fyfe is just better.

17. Um, St Kilda. It’s all a bit scratchy isn’t it? And the real shame is you ask Carlton fans, is there anything to be positive about, winless from seven, worst start in their club’s history, a club that’s properly old, not GWS old? And they respond no, sure, Curnow, Cripps, but no, not really. It’s a very sulky and sad kind of response. But if you ask them to choose between their list and the Saints’, then there’s a pause, followed by a wry smile. They answer theirs, and wonder off with the slightest pep in their step. And I agree with them, the Saints list might just be league’s worst right now. I’d rather Brisbane’s list a well. Trouble at Moorabbin.

18. Couple on Hawthorn. Think Fox Footy’s Tom Morris might be on good oil here, the Hawks right now would be favourites for Tom Lynch. They will offer more money than Richmond off the top, and whilst I still believe Collingwood won’t be outbid for salary or term, just feel Lynch would chose Dingley over the Holden Centre. As a Roughead replacement it’s perfect. And to be coached by Clarkson, the man who was coach of the last 100-goal season, it makes too much sense.

19. And on Clarkson too, he might be the biggest threat to Richmond right now. This column doesn’t massively rate his Hawks, but is besotted by his ability to get results, make things happen, strategically and tactically get his team towards the top. And Clarko knows this year’s yardstick, it’s the mob from Punt Road, and can now over the course of three months analyse and break down and plot a method that his less-talented team can deploy should they meet in September. If I’m Damien Hardwick, I’m almost somehow preparing for that already in readiness, Clarko is that good, and dangerous.

20. And lastly this week, Bomber Thompson. Bad week for him last week, and then curiously this week those especially grubby journos thought it public interest to run a column exposing his long-term love interest who just happens to be Thai citizen. What’s curious is what is the point in doing so? She has nothing to do with anything related to the two-time premiership coach getting into hot water with the law, she’s got very little if anything to do with his social spiralling away from football. The only reason you run that story is, and we’ll be careful here even though we know we don’t need to, is because of … how to be delicate here… her interesting backstory. Or should we say his interesting backstory. Now that’s no-one’s business, nor really that interesting. But clearly that’s the only reason you run that story, yet they didn’t mention it. Bizarre times.

(originally published May 8)

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getseriouser · 7 years

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20 THOUGHTS: Predict the Unpredictable

WHO knows what’s going on?

As Jimmy Bartel put it after Mitch McGovern slotted the tying goal last Sunday, “is this season for real?”

There’s little point trying to anticipate or guess what’s coming up because each and every week we are further proven wrong by stuff you just would not have seen coming.

The perfect way to sum it up is for years now, by this time of the season, we’re having that conversation that the season is too long, there are too many meaningless games, we’re all suffering home and away lag craving for the finalists/contenders to sort out a premier because we knew the two or three best teams months ago.

This year, not at all, every round feels fresh and exciting and as for those laying claim to being serious Grand Finalists, um, we could provide some teams this week but the list might look totally different as early as next.

It’s fantastic.

1. Let’s get the Patrick Dangerfield stuff out of the way up top. Yesterday he accepted the sanction, and he had to, it is a team sport after all and because of the way the rules are set up, the concussion that was suffered, he had no grounds to appeal. And because of the Cam McCarthy suspension which was the most alike, he was always in trouble. Now should either player have sat out a week, no, that tackle should not warrant a suspension, but that’s a question on the rule, not the ruling applied here.

2. Jimmy Bartel made a good point Sunday afternoon on television, suggesting that from a Brownlow eligibility perspective there should be greater emphasis on penalising non-football acts (strikes, trips, behind play incidents) than things like tackles gone wrong or accidents in the act of playing. That would then mean incidents like Dangerfield’s tackle might be ok, but Toby Greene-style sniping would definitely still matter. Further interesting given that Bartel is a MRP sitting member too.

3. So we now face a potentially mega awkward scenario Brownlow night. At least when poor Chris Grant missed out, he wasn’t in the room. Not only will Dangerfield be in the room but as last year’s winner he will present the medal to Dustin Martin after a vote count he probably finishes first. To make matters worse, what if Richmond bundle out of the finals prior the big dance leaving Martin officially on the market with a decision to make when he wins? Or worst still, Martin, having already had two fines this year, does something so minor he gets fined again in the next month and thus misses a week, meaning both first and second are ineligible. How bizarre?

4. Been a while since we whacked Damien Barrett but it feels good to do so again and reasonably up front in this week’s column. Barrett on his regular Monday Triple M slot when asked if Geelong and Dangerfield should appeal he responded with “I think he should”. Firstly, who made you an important voice, or the Geelong Footy Manager, and secondly why should he, whether you think that deserves a week or not, he had no grounds to amend the ruling unfortunately. Give us something Damo.

5. Lastly on the media, and we’ve potted Barrett, now let’s pot the Media Worst on Ground for 2017, Mark Robinson. Wrote a column for yesterday’s paper suggesting that “when Patrick Dangerfield polls the most votes on Brownlow Medal night, the AFL will be embarrassed”. Why? Because of the unfortunate event they made the winner ineligible because of a rule they’ve had all year, again rightly or wrongly? Or because it feels bad that the winner misses out? What if it was Nakia Cockatoo who made that tackle, would you care as much then Robbo? Or are you letting emotion cloud sound judgement again? Or perhaps pushing double standards? Either way you need to take your hand off it please.

6. But on-field, how great’s the season? Hawks-Swans Friday was fantastic, everything on Saturday afternoon was stellar, especially the ending to the Power-Saints game, then we had two mega Sunday fixtures, the shootout at Etihad and then the game of two halves at the MCG. This is happening weekly and the statistics on the season’s closeness and randomness go on and on. No complaints here.

7. Nick Riewoldt, what a champion. The most games as captain for St Kilda, second most games played, the third most goals. Six time Best and Fairest, five time All-Australian. Probably the best centre-half forward after Wayne Carey of recent times, sure, Jonathon Brown, Lance Franklin, it’s an elite bunch, but for everything ‘Roo’ is and what he has done, he is my pick. Walk up Hall of Famer for sure.

8. Bloody hell the GWS are on the skids. Aside from their biggish win over Brisbane a few weeks back, since their victory over Sydney in Round 5 they’ve actually been rather poor by their lofty standards and ambitions. In the twelve games since (again, Lions match aside) they have six wins and two draws with a 98.55% percentage. That’s fledgling mid table stuff. And sure, they’ve had injuries, they’ll get some back, but they better hurry up – this team was two and a half kicks down to Freo, at home, at the start of the last term.

9. Got to hand it to Alistair Clarkson. Where other coaches of perhaps other, underachieving Melbourne clubs won’t, he has reinvented his side on the run from the poorest of poor starts into amongst the most in-form sides of the competition, if not the most in-form after perhaps the Crows or Swans. To see James Sicily go from being in-and-out of the side as a key forward to a midfield, behind the ball success story, seeing Jack Gunston go from number one inside 50 target to onball accumulator, he even has found success with a backline of essentially a crèche plus Luke Hodge. Brilliant coaching, brilliant agility of utilising personnel in different roles, making proactive changes, and the proof is in the pudding. Two months ago the Mitchell and Lewis decisions were awful, now they are genius.

10. So who gets eighth spot? Dead set going to be musical chairs? Right now West Coast hold serve but you still think Essendon or the Bulldogs will grab it, primarily because who can rely on favourites holding out the rest of the season in forecasting a final ladder? What we do know is that if a team, be it the Eagles or Bombers as an example, are able to put together a really nice August and claim a finals spot, the form that got them in might be the sort of form to do damage once September kicks off, a 2016-Bulldogs ‘lite’, if you will.

11. Daniel Wells will get the three votes on Sunday you’d think (Mitch McGovern was indeed huge, and we’ll touch on him next), and his record this year will frustrate Nathan Buckley no end. Wells has played exactly half the season thus far, and when he has played the Pies are six wins and a draw from nine games, with 114%. Without, one win from nine games, with 81%. It’s once again a year of excuses for the Pies, but a fitter Wells is worth another win or two, they’re probably a game out of the eight and fighting for finals and not languishing in 13th.

12. Mitch McGovern is jacking his price up big time. Four great goals, but more importantly was his workrate and hands on Sunday, and to be fair this season. Gets back to be part of the team defence but works really hard to be that option deep on a fast break. But also, a great size to be an aerial target, a great leap with a strong grip. Out of contract, the lure of going home to play with his brother will be there, plus there’s cash for him from Melbourne clubs too. The Crows will have a battle to keep him. Mind you, he is benefiting from the best two opposition defenders going to Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins, keep that in mind.

13. The other battle the Crows will have in terms of a signature is Jake Lever. When Dustin Martin is getting offers, we believe, around the 1.2, 1.3m per year, to hear offers not too much inferior for a 49-game intercept defender, it is amazing. But his talent looks well validated aside and where should he want to stay you think the money will be there for him, it wouldn’t shock to see one or two Melbourne clubs press so hard he chooses to return home. If not, he will be turning down millions.

14. Really thinking the North Melbourne offers to Josh Kelly and Dustin Martin should be taken seriously. They have definitely, definitely committed verbal offers to both with almost unmatchable, unbeatable term and dollars. And you look at what they’ve done, sure, they’re not the lure of a big, brash Melbourne club like an Essendon or Collingwood, but you can see the makings of a side this year, despite sitting near the bottom, that gets back into the eight soon and with one or both additions, wowee, you got to concede some enthusiasm about the club’s outlook.

15. Two schools of thought going around for Collingwood’s coaching fiasco – one, they go and poach a rival club’s coach or go all out for Paul Roos and just make something happen, or, and this is getting more and more traction sadly, they do a 2016 Richmond, keep the coach but re-do the entire footy department around him and reset for a fresh tilt with the same main man at the helm.

16. Do we rate the Bulldogs chances should they make the finals? Unsure. Maybe get Tom Campbell, Matty Boyd, Tom Boyd, Jake Stringer back into that side, get some continuity into the group with as few changes week to week, and this is a team that knows how to win finals. But is that largely on blind hope, blissful optimism all because of what we’ve seen last year and little to what we’ve seen this year?

17. All-Australian Ruckman watch, and queue some potential bias, but stick with. Three main contenders at this stage, Sam Jacobs, Paddy Ryder and Brodie Grundy. Jacobs is averaging 40 hitouts, 15 touches and three tackles a game, Ryder is going at 36, 13 and two. For Grundy, he is doing 37, 18 and four and interestingly, is in the top ten in the league for stoppage clearances, the same as Josh Kennedy and Olli Wines, no other ruckman comes close. For what it’s worth, for those Blues’ supporters, Kreuzer is averaging 31, 15 and five.

18. Three big games this weekend, and we start with the Dangerfield-less Geelong hosting Sydney down at Sleepy Hollow. Sydney have not lost two in a row since Rounds Five and Six, and will be hell bent on taking a big scalp before September. This column has remained unconvinced on the Cats all season, and without their best player they are as vulnerable as a dopey sea lion during Shark Week on Foxtel.

19. Sunday is stellar for those looking to put a good innings together on the couch, and it starts with Richmond and Hawthorn at the ‘G. Should be a big crowd and there’s a lot on the line, especially for the Tigers. This is the first time in a long time where they are going to be the big dog in this matchup, and whilst they have had success over the Hawks in recent years, it has been as the plucky underdog, not as the heavily favoured. So how do they go when the tables are turned, and with Hawthorn now the pluckiest of underdogs all of a sudden, winning games, looking good, they’ve won four of the last six.

20. The Showdown ends a monster Sunday, and it’s a super interesting rendition of the rivalry this one. The Crows played a half last weekend against the Pies, and to their opponents credit it didn’t look like they were off the first half, they were just outplayed, which could show the way for those facing the ladder-leaders going forward. It was at this time last year these Crows went from top two into fifth and that was their 2016 fate sealed. For Port, they got out of jail last week, and given the loss to Melbourne the week prior, they need to find something quickly – this team has top four credentials if they switch on, and to finish fourth when their cross-town rivals finish first would be monumental for the Power, and that starts this weekend.

(originally published August 2)

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getseriouser · 7 years

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20 THOUGHTS: “I couldn’t give a Rat’s Tossbag!”

RICHMOND do it again, can’t tell if its amnesia, they’re taking a mountain of piss or the Tigers are just that good at stuffing it up, consistently.

Still, equal fourth, on percentage, if they can get it right in what’s a very weird, open year, there are still plenty of reasons to remain optimistic. Although, the pattern of behaviour is overwhelming.

We now face ten weeks of uninterrupted nine-game rounds, this is well and truly business time for many clubs. The eight is usually set by now, this year it’s taking a little longer but it won’t be long before we can definitively separate the challengers from the pretenders.

Onto the footy:

1. Let’s cross off the Hall of Fame last night first given we saluted the Legend-status recipient in our headline in Malcolm Blight. Things to remember about Blighty that might not immediately come to mind – his playing career is essentially split down the middle between North Melbourne and Woodville-West Torrens. To win a Margery as an Eagle, a Brownlow and a Coleman once moving over and becoming a Roo, is such a terrific achievement. Also, interestingly, a great coach, winning two flags with the Crows, but his winning percentage as Cats’ coach was better, 61% to 55%.

2. One from last week, the speculation on Leigh Montagna and by association somewhat, Nick Riewoldt. 34 and 35 years old respectively come Round One next year, at a glance it’s a no brainer to phase at least one of them out, if not both, on their ages alone. However, and where ex-players in the media need to adhere to the Brent Harvey precedent, judge them on their footy. Harvey played well into his mid-30s, and he played well too, and these Saints veterans’ form are justifying another year each surely. Montagna is averaging 26 touches and four tackles game (yes Dermott, he isn’t just a receiver), whilst Riewoldt is averaging 20 disposals and eight marks playing more or less on a wing. Combined with the Saints looking to win finals this year, if not go very deep next year, it’s a no brainer, Dermott.

3. As for those Tigers, sure, Damien Hardwick can paint the picture of how close they have been in so many games, and it’s true, had they won all those stuff-ups they’d be top two with a bullet. But at the end of the day we are judged in finals. Thus far, Hardwick’s Richmond are 0-3 in September, most preeminent was the rollover to Chris Judd, on his own, when Carlton won a final from ninth. And the relevance here is that come a crunch finals game, which low and behold all finals usually are, what confidence can we have in the yellow and black to find the intestinal fortitude to be clutch? Very little. It’s almost at the stage where unless Richmond exorcise their close-game demons by the end of August they’ll be redundant participants in the finals series.

4. On the Tigers, quick one on Dustin Martin, here’s some categoric updates on his situation. Richmond, whether honestly or by a course of media manipulation, have publicly stated they don’t know what Martin intends to do, nor have a strong suspicion as to what’s most likely. Further, we understand that Martin’s management have met with other clubs as early as the finals last year, and as recently as within the last ten days. He well indeed could somehow remain at Punt Rd. but how, it’s very hard to see the wood for the trees on this one.

5. The Bulldogs have hit the airwaves, former Melbourne spear-head and male-cattle lookalike David Schwarz went on the record stating he believes off-field, changeroom issues are influencing their wavering form. Jake Stringer has come out denying said rumours, stating his ex has done nothing wrong and that Jason Johannisen is ‘like a brother’. Further, Ms Gilmore, Stringer’s ex, has said Johannisen is her best mate, nothing more. That’s all very true. Doesn’t stop the fact there has been some ill-feeling at the Kennel vis a vis Stringer’s actions, domestically, and that Johannisen has sided with Gilmore more so than Stringer most definitely. Schwarz is right, but then again so are technically Stringer and Abby.

6. What Johannisen does at year’s end is super interesting. The reigning Norm Smith medallist has big cash to go home and given his engagement at the Whitten Oval wouldn’t be as sky high as it could, or has been, it’s a very persuasive option. However, Luke Beveridge and he have a great relationship, Johannisen is more likely than not to be loyal to the Dogs and the relationship with Gilmore is one that could play a major factor too. Very hard to get a read on this, I don’t think we will until he decides.

7. The other player movement point of interest this week is Sydney. Desperate to move on Kurt Tippett to try and keep everyone else and still lure a ‘big fish’, the market for the ex-Crow isn’t a busy one. However, Tippett was front-loaded somewhat, the new CBA instantly helps the likes of Zak Jones receive the money he’d accept to reject Melbourne’s approach, and still land that ‘big fish’. Watch the Swans come October for sure.

8. The CBA will do wonders for the list managers who want to go shopping. Expect to see some stupid contracts thrown around though because the money seems more bountiful and the cap more flexible. It doesn’t. This is a one-league sport and everything is on a sliding scale. But some clubs will still stuff this up and regret it for years to come.

9. Hawthorn are one team who are a bit desperate to get some list management decisions back in their favour. Essentially, as it stands, the Hawks have given up two 2017 first rounders, one being pick two, and two 2016 second rounders, for Jaeger O’Meara, whose knee is as suspect as Stephen Dank at a footy club. Such a massive commitment for such a high risk. They get him on the park, it’s half-justifiable. But getting him on the park, and regularly, will be difficult.

10. Good to see Harley Bennell back in full training, or something resembling a whole session. Fremantle have done very well to control the narrative on the ex-Sun, and suppress the behaviours off-field that could or should blow up in their face. Aside from the calf issues which are somewhat suspicious in their own right, the, shall we say, off-field choices of young Harley should right now be a footy media’s dream. And we already have photo evidence of such two years ago too. But all is quiet. Well done Dockers.

11. Speaking of the footy media, Nathan Buckley somewhat teed off on door stopping Monday night. The battle of players becoming more accessible to the media and the relationship to often-uncomfortable, spontaneous microphones being thrust in players’ faces will drag on for years. The American sports do it, and do it well, European soccer is the polar opposite. Buckley is probably right, however the ability to talk to players is inconsistent, some clubs are far better than others, and that there is an opportunity for improvement.

12. Our journo we take to task this week is Jon Ralph. He said, “for Buckley to suggest Collingwood’s website does a thorough job of covering the club was just ridiculous…(they) never ask the hard questions. As Buckley said, it is “on our terms”.’

Buckley also stated that media people often take 10-12-minute press conferences out of context, taking a grab or angle not reflective of the overall content which tarnishes the trust the audience and clubs alike have.

Ironically Ralph has done just that with his view, he has criticised Buckley who merely pointed out the club isn't about asking the hard questions, or increasing reach, it’s about connecting with its members. So, by that absence of key detail, Ralph wrote a column about the media taking content out of context, by finishing said column by taking Buckley out of context. C’mon Jon.

13. Are Melbourne the real deal? Yes. They dropped games earlier in the year they should not have. However, the resolve they displayed on Queen’s Birthday was impressive, the win over the Bulldogs last weekend even more so. Other than the Crows or Port in Adelaide, or the Giants in Sydney, there’s not too many games now these Demons shouldn’t be starting favourites in (this week too, maybe) and even then, an in-form Melbourne will be a very tough ask going forward, especially with the key returns of Max Gawn and Jesse Hogan. Get. On.

14. Geelong on the other hand. Eight wins from 12, an impressive record, however they have not won a game outside of Simonds Stadium since April, and whilst they face a very winnable game against Fremantle there this weekend, they face three very tough fixtures, Sydney, Richmond and the GWS at the venue to come. They’ll end up still with an attractive win-loss by the end of August but they are looking more and more like the most beatable top-four team since the early 1900s when there was only eight teams in the comp.

15. A quick one on Buddy Franklin’s hit last week on Connor Menadue. Got away with it but gee, got form with lining up the crouching player, he was nothing but lucky he got the Tiger’s shoulder not the head. Has a very sloppy technique, especially when fired up. One day it could be disastrous, he needs to be very careful.

16. Can’t believe how quiet the build-up has been to Gary Ablett’s 300th this weekend. I wouldn’t be shocked if for many reading this it might be the first they know about it. Often thrown around as the best player of his generation, many putting he and his father on level standing, some even suggesting he is in the greatest of all time discussion. Yet, when the Suns play St Kilda at Etihad on the weekend, in front of a modest Sunday twilight crowd, the two-time Brownlow Medallist notches up one hell of a milestone, one that should be getting serious air time. But it hasn’t really.

17. The bye rounds, we had Port and Gold Coast stuff it up with the China junket, but weeks of six games, Thursday games, super quiet weekends in Melbourne, it’s not right. Either have a clear weekend off where there are no games, or get it done over two weekends maximum, five games one week, four the other, just so it’s a quick and semi painless. It’s been an unnecessarily meandering month of footy.

18. Onto some big games to finish – firstly the Dogs and North. Gee the heat has come for the Bullies so we’d expect them to win and really show something. But the Roos are plucky and on the fast Etihad track could cause them some trouble. Nothing but a Bulldogs win should be expected but the fall out if they were to drop it would be very undesirable.

19. Melbourne has a stern test travelling to Perth to take on a West Coast team equally as comfortable at home as they are uncomfortable interstate. The Dees though, not without a chance. They are up and about, playing sublime footy, and whilst the Eagles are usually formidable in the confines of their home deck, they have more than enough examples in 2017 of being flimsy and vulnerable. The Demons are a show, and should they win, they are an even more serious threat of doing deep, September damage.

20. And lastly the big game on Sunday, Richmond taking on Carlton. Make no mistake, the Blues can win this, Brendan Bolton is getting his blueprint to click and stick and their recent form suggests the days of being easybeats are over. The Tigers will battle the scars of close losses gone with the impetus to make amends and flex their muscle. But Carlton won’t be a pushover, and I tell you, if they can just get it close, we all know how that fairytale ends…

(originally published 21 June)

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footyplusau · 7 years

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Jeremy Howe’s five biggest competitors for the 2017 AFL mark of the year

Collingwood defender Jeremy Howe has earned a reputation for being one of the best high-flyers the game has ever seen.

But Howe went above and beyond (pun intended), even by his own lofty standards (pun intended, again), on Monday when he treated fans at the MCG and millions of viewers around the country to one of the best marks he has ever taken.

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AFL plays of round 12

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Melbourne thwart Collingwood in thriller

The Demons defeated Collingwood in an exciting finish to move into the top eight.

AFL plays of round 12

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AFL plays of round 12

Doggies whimper against Swans, Big Tex gorgeous on the left, Gold Coast own the Hawks again, McDonald-Tipungwuti lights up Etihad and Jeremy Howe performs his usual aerial brilliance.

Stars freeze at the ‘G for Motor Neurone Disease

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Stars freeze at the ‘G for Motor Neurone …

Stars freeze at the ‘G for Motor Neurone Disease

Celebrities slide for the Big Freeze to raise money to fight MND at the MCG Round 12 match between Melbourne Demons and the Collingwood Magpies on Monday.

Carlton pip Giants by slimmest of margins

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Carlton pip Giants by slimmest of margins

There was a massive difference between the two teams on the ladder but it appeared no one had told the Blues that as they held on in a tight finish.

Carlton’s cheap shot on Steve Johnson

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Carlton’s cheap shot on Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson became the target in a fiery moment during the Carlton and GWS match.

Bombers blitz Power

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Bombers blitz Power

Essendon had their shooting boots on in a demolition of a lame Port Adelaide outfit.

Suns sneak home against Hawthorn

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Suns sneak home against Hawthorn

The Gold Coast Suns held off Hawthorn in a tense final quarter at the MCG.

Melbourne thwart Collingwood in thriller

The Demons defeated Collingwood in an exciting finish to move into the top eight.

The spring-heeled jack leapt onto former teammate Tom McDonald’s shoulders, then used them as a springboard to jump again further skywards before taking a chest mark and crashlanding from a dizzying height.

Collingwood’s Jeremy Howe soars over Melbourne’s Tom McDonald. Photo: AFL Media/Getty Images

It was a sight to behold and considering McDonald is 194 centimetres tall, it puts into perspective just how high Howe actually got. St Kilda’s Jarryn Geary and Sydney’s Luke Parker were also nominated for the Round 12 mark of the week, but they really shouldn’t have wasted their time because Howe is going to win in a landslide.

Howe’s incredible grab is going to take some beating for the 2017 Mark Of The Year, but is it already guaranteed the coveted accolade? The following five marks are probably his hottest competition after 12 rounds.

Round five: Taylor Garner (North Melbourne)

The young Kangaroo soared high into the Perth sky as he spectacularly used teammate Kayne Turner and Fremantle veteran Garrick Ibbotson as stepladders to pluck a sensational mark at Domain Stadium. North went on to lose the game in heartbreaking fashion, but at least Garner produced something memorable from the trip out west.

Round two: Paul Puopolo (Hawthorn)

The Hawthorn pocket rocket defied his small stature to jump on Adelaide defender Jake Kelly’s back on the Members Wing at the MCG, before getting another boost and reining in a magnificent one-grabber between his eyes. Unfortunately his heroics couldn’t inspire his team to victory against the Crows on that sunny autumn afternoon.

Round seven: Kayne Turner (North Melbourne)

The high-flyers get the lion’s share of kudos when it comes to the mark of the year but Turner showed that immense courage can be just as effective in catching the judges’ eyes. The thinly built Kangaroo showed total disregard for his own personal safety when he ran with the flight of the ball straight into Adelaide’s Luke Brown on the Blundstone Arena outer wing. The fact that North were up by 58 points at that stage of the game and the 21-year-old still displayed such desperation for the ball made the mark all the more admirable.

Round 11: Jarman Impey (Port Adelaide)

The Power livewire exhibited super athleticism when he climbed on Dallas Willsmore’s left arm, kicked clear of the Hawthorn youngster in mid-air and clung onto a very impressive mark while falling back down to earth with legs and arms flailing about. Impey capped off his aerial feat, which was set up by a lovely centring kick from teammate Charlie Dixon, by converting his set shot from point-blank range. It was one of many highlights from a rampant Port Adelaide first quarter which saw them keep the Hawks scoreless while kicking 6.5.41 themselves.

Round three: Shane Kersten (Fremantle)

The former Cat won over fans from his new club pretty quickly when he planted a knee into the back of Western Bulldogs defender Fletcher Roberts’ head and coolly accepted a long ball in at a decent height in the forward pocket, despite Dogs ruckman Tom Campbell’s best efforts.

Other nominations

Round one: Charlie Cameron (Adelaide)

Round four: Nat Fyfe (Fremantle)

Round six: Joe Daniher (Essendon)

Round eight: Easton Wood (Western Bulldogs)

Round nine: Charlie Cameron (Adelaide)

Round 10: Mitch Hannan (Melbourne)

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Who gets your vote for AFL mark of the year so far in 2017?

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Who gets your vote for AFL mark of the year so far in 2017?

Hawthorn’s Paul Puopolo in round two10%

North Melbourne’s Taylor Garner in round five5%

Collingwood’s Jeremy Howe in round 1282%

Other2%

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