News 2018 General AFL Discussion

st_trav_ofWA

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 17, 2015
5,810
15,541
AFL Club
St Kilda
On the pokies thing.
Yeah soul sucking machines.
I'd love to see the saints use their club in a different way, make it a live music venue to attract the locals.
Host hot aussie acts, get some cross promotion going on with triple j.
Great PR and good news story even if it doesn't bring in huge profit or convert young members.
LOVE that idea !!!
 
I'd prefer the Murri's played in teams with the white players without the need for team selection based on racial background. It shows inclusion and equality, and that they are all good enough to mix it together in the big league.
To be honest the NRL preseason Murri's vs the rest of the world game has developed a fair bit of "us vs them" about it (from both sides).
I can see what they're trying to achieve but I reckon we're past that aren't we??
When a Qld or Aussie side is selected we love them all regardless of race, and conversely we hate you whether you're white, black or Islander if you play for NSW :greenalien:.
 
On the pokies thing.
Yeah soul sucking machines.
I'd love to see the saints use their club in a different way, make it a live music venue to attract the locals.
Host hot aussie acts, get some cross promotion going on with triple j.
Great PR and good news story even if it doesn't bring in huge profit or convert young members.


Jump on the Espy redevelopment and have a Gershwin room night for the club to cash in. Get some Saints bands to gift the club the door takings. Tex Perkins, Dan Sultan and some up and coming bands.
 
Welcome to country is a good initiative although probably something thought up by some do gooder government employee.
It can get a bit overdone when they roll it out at a presentation at work but very impressive when presented in language as it is at the opening of the Alice springs masters games for instance. It can actually be quite emotional. Like anything there’s a place for everything.
 
So today I got a long email from my brother who has been living in Gundagai for the last few years, explaining how during that time and probably for about a year before he had been on the poker machines. A rough estimate of how much he lost in this time is around eighty thousand dollars. Spent many Saturdays travelling to Wagga or Tumut just to gamble. He basically spent a lot of what he could afford on the pokies. Also spent a fair bit of money on lottery tickets.

His partner only found out about this on Saturday and is very upset as she thought he would be saving money for their future together, and they are likely to break up.

He's already begun to get help, seeing a gambling counselor. He doesn't see himself as a victim, hes taken ownership of his addiction problem (addicted to cigarettes too) just feels foolish and guilty.

I know this is no one's fault and he has an addiction problem and just taking poker machines away won't solve those problems, but today I read this article about Collingwood getting rid of all their (overt) gambling connections and i make absolutely no bones that I yearn with all my heart for a day when our club stops profiting from human weakness in this way.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2018-12-11/bombers-win-pokies-extension-as-magpies-bow-out

The Pies are a rich club, and one of the reasons they've got rich is from their use of Poker Machines so I'm not idealistic to imagine they're better than us, but I sure as hell celebrate another club cutting their ties with this shameful activity.

I urge anyone with similar problems to recognise that addiction is difficult to tackle alone, and that talking to others and allowing them to hear your story and possibly help doesn't make you vulnerable, you are strong to look yourself in the mirror and address your weaknesses.

I'm proud of my brother for doing something about his problem and hope anyone with problems like this can find the strength to do the same.


I had problems with pokies. so much so that i spent my pay in one hour. That was 7 years ago,. After that i started to get help. Since then I have had only 1 relapse. It takes guts to admit you have a problem, then it takes more guts to do something about it and it takes even more strength to keep away from the additiion every day.

Good luck to everyone for having the guts to admit you have a problem and doing something about it.

I wish the Saints would move away from Poker Machines!
 

St Muir

All Australian
Oct 18, 2018
796
3,118
AFL Club
St Kilda
I had problems with pokies. so much so that i spent my pay in one hour. That was 7 years ago,. After that i started to get help. Since then I have had only 1 relapse. It takes guts to admit you have a problem, then it takes more guts to do something about it and it takes even more strength to keep away from the additiion every day.

Good luck to everyone for having the guts to admit you have a problem and doing something about it.

I wish the Saints would move away from Poker Machines!
Respect to you Sammm, respect.
 
Oct 1, 2010
3,324
3,265
Vermont
AFL Club
St Kilda
Other Teams
Celtic, Glasgow Warriors, Wolves
Ex British Empire Countries (including home nations) have rubbish Anthems. Kiwis and maybe the Canadians excluded. Worst the Welcome To Country gets is as boring as the Anthem. At its best it's funny and insightful. If we were keeping just the one, it would definitely be the latter IMO.

Flower of Scotland is a dirge outside of Murrayfield. And God Save the Queen is objectively worse then Advance Australia Fair, but the sheer frequency with which it's played makes me hate the Aussie one more.
 
Do the USA include native Indian beats in theirs nup
Please list other countries that do -

Well actually South Africa has eleven official languages
( I kid you not) and their anthem is sung half in Xhosa and half in Afrikaans.
 
Last edited:
Disgusting comments as usual.

Please move on, if you are uneducated about the plight of Aboriginals in this country do not comment on it.

Those that have made derogatory & racist comments have been banned.
 

St Muir

All Australian
Oct 18, 2018
796
3,118
AFL Club
St Kilda
So he's a repeat offender...lol.

It's everyone's right to ask a question at an AGM and when he started reading from his piece of paper....I thought..."here we go again"

I'm also comfortable with where we sit with the Pokies......it's becoming quite a "hotbed " topic.

The only saving grace for me at the moment with them is that we generate the lowest rev/income from them in the comp.

I grabbed last week the latest stats on some clubs and I'll post later today.

The Hawks were absolutely smashing it out of the park with Pokies rev over the last year.
One of those rare times it pays to be not very good at something
 
Dec 4, 2000
51,663
125,105
The Bay
AFL Club
St Kilda
Other Teams
NO Saints LUFC
Welcome to country is a good initiative although probably something thought up by some do gooder government employee.
It can get a bit overdone when they roll it out at a presentation at work but very impressive when presented in language as it is at the opening of the Alice springs masters games for instance. It can actually be quite emotional. Like anything there’s a place for everything.
My daughter graduated from VU and there was a welcome to country.

Especially poignant considering the diverse mix of cultures represented by VU.
I thought it was an integral part of the ceremony.

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Welcome to country is a good initiative although probably something thought up by some do gooder government employee.
It can get a bit overdone when they roll it out at a presentation at work but very impressive when presented in language as it is at the opening of the Alice springs masters games for instance. It can actually be quite emotional. Like anything there’s a place for everything.
This is an interesting comment.

Fijians also have a spectacular number of drawn out traditional ceremonies that are performed in a formal setting that should still be performed in a more social (or less formal setting). However, we have learnt to 'abbreviate' the ceremony to a matter of seconds so that people can be acknowledged quickly in a social setting. I'm sure to the casual observer it seems like a whole lot of hullabaloo for nothing much really. But to the people being acknowledged it's a really nice touch and can be used to convey respect, admiration, and thankfulness in a very meaningful way.

Kind of like if you rocked up to your mates Christmas party with a couple of slabs of beer for the boys and instead of just smashing your beers, someone actually turned the music down, hushed the mob, thanked you for coming, told you you're an awesome guy and they're all lucky to have you as a friend, and thanks for the beers. Then proceeded to smash your beers.

It's not that they thanked you that makes that special. It's that they stopped the party to do it.
 
Last edited:
So today I got a long email from my brother who has been living in Gundagai for the last few years, explaining how during that time and probably for about a year before he had been on the poker machines. A rough estimate of how much he lost in this time is around eighty thousand dollars. Spent many Saturdays travelling to Wagga or Tumut just to gamble. He basically spent a lot of what he could afford on the pokies. Also spent a fair bit of money on lottery tickets.

His partner only found out about this on Saturday and is very upset as she thought he would be saving money for their future together, and they are likely to break up.

He's already begun to get help, seeing a gambling counselor. He doesn't see himself as a victim, hes taken ownership of his addiction problem (addicted to cigarettes too) just feels foolish and guilty.

I know this is no one's fault and he has an addiction problem and just taking poker machines away won't solve those problems, but today I read this article about Collingwood getting rid of all their (overt) gambling connections and i make absolutely no bones that I yearn with all my heart for a day when our club stops profiting from human weakness in this way.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2018-12-11/bombers-win-pokies-extension-as-magpies-bow-out

The Pies are a rich club, and one of the reasons they've got rich is from their use of Poker Machines so I'm not idealistic to imagine they're better than us, but I sure as hell celebrate another club cutting their ties with this shameful activity.

I urge anyone with similar problems to recognise that addiction is difficult to tackle alone, and that talking to others and allowing them to hear your story and possibly help doesn't make you vulnerable, you are strong to look yourself in the mirror and address your weaknesses.

I'm proud of my brother for doing something about his problem and hope anyone with problems like this can find the strength to do the same.

Sorry for your brother . That's a lot of money to lose. Hopefully he can get his life back on track.

I hate the pokies, I went years ago a few times and after about 10 minutes I was bored shitless. However I did see alot of people who were spending alot of money there. Pokies have done a lot of harm to people but like those betting ads on TV as long as they put those little signs on saying bet responsibly then all is ok, not. It's time those gambling ads were banned on TV imo. They banned smoking ads because it's bad for you, well in a different way gambling is bad for you too. They make it so easy to gamble now with all these apps for your phones. Then they have gimmick things like if your team is in front at half time you get up to $50 bets back even if they lose. Or something like that but when you read the fine print you realise you don't get money back but other bets but with all sorts of conditions like you have to then bet the equivalent or something so it's just another way to get you to place more bets. Bet responsibility my arse.


Go Saints
 
De Goey caught drink driving again overnight...


He's a loose unit. It's funny how many of these types Collingwood seems to attract. Great player, ordinary professionalism.
 

st_trav_ofWA

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 17, 2015
5,810
15,541
AFL Club
St Kilda
De Goey caught drink driving again overnight...
honestly ... its 2018 with all the rideshare apps, the availbility of taxis and the ease to get a lift now days its pretty pathetic that people still get done for this ... we have had an entire generation of kids growing up having the dont drink and drive message hammered into their skull, to get caught doing it once is stupidity to get done again thats just pathetic
there is no excuse for that bloke should lose the right to drive for 3 years for that in my opinion
 
honestly ... its 2018 with all the rideshare apps, the availbility of taxis and the ease to get a lift now days its pretty pathetic that people still get done for this ... we have had an entire generation of kids growing up having the dont drink and drive message hammered into their skull, to get caught doing it once is stupidity to get done again thats just pathetic
there is no excuse for that bloke should lose the right to drive for 3 years for that in my opinion


He's obviously got really poor life skills and growing up as an elite junior footballer probably didn't help. Apparently had a rented house that was trashed and even let his dog crap and urinate all over it in doors. Several drink driving incidents say he's struggling to make good decisions. A mate reckons he's got a bit of a drinking problem generally and has been on benders the night before training even. He's like someone out of another era. Hope he turns it around, he's an excellent player.
 

st_trav_ofWA

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 17, 2015
5,810
15,541
AFL Club
St Kilda
He's obviously got really poor life skills and growing up as an elite junior footballer probably didn't help. Apparently had a rented house that was trashed and even let his dog crap and urinate all over it in doors. Several drink driving incidents say he's struggling to make good decisions. A mate reckons he's got a bit of a drinking problem generally and has been on benders the night before training even. He's like someone out of another era. Hope he turns it around, he's an excellent player.
i get that some people are just s**t people and every person is free to their own lifestyle choices , if he wants to sink canns all day and all night then so be it but the instant he hops behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated thats suddenly him making life changing choices for everyone else ... its a pretty touchy subject for me as i have been around drink driving fatalities and seen the aftermath of it ...
FFS you ar a highly paid professional footballer , get a friggin Uber
 

Mikka84

Norm Smith Medallist
Feb 9, 2009
5,811
23,211
AFL Club
St Kilda
sounds like bollocks

not sure he's even driving again, let alone bypassing an interlock, committing a monumentally stupid act again, while being on good coin.
Coming from someone within the club. I highly doubt he’d be making up stories about his own player..

Re: Interlock? You’ve never driven someone else’s car? And he was obviously stupid enough to do it the first time. Wouldn’t be surprised he’s done it a second time.
 

JG22

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 12, 2016
12,311
14,159
AFL Club
St Kilda
Coming from someone within the club. I highly doubt he’d be making up stories about his own player..

Re: Interlock? You’ve never driven someone else’s car? And he was obviously stupid enough to do it the first time. Wouldn’t be surprised he’s done it a second time.
Ok, we’ll see what happens
 
Coming from someone within the club. I highly doubt he’d be making up stories about his own player..

Re: Interlock? You’ve never driven someone else’s car? And he was obviously stupid enough to do it the first time. Wouldn’t be surprised he’s done it a second time.
Is there any proof of this yet?
 
Back