ROUND 22

Have a good one Chimp chick and for your sake I hope your team wins. Wear a raincoat for those Sainters who spit when they talk and prey that the umpires don't have the temerity to award the Lions a free kick or you will be deafened by the call 'CONSPIRACY!!!'

regards,

REB

Saturday
Hawthorn v Sydney - Sydney
West Coast v Adelaide - West Coast
Port Adelaide v Fremantle - Port
St Kilda v Brisbane - Saints

Sunday
Geelong v Richmond - Geelong
Carlton v Kangaroos - Kangaroos
Essendon v Melbourne - Melbourne

Saturday
Hawthorn v Sydney - Sydney, but might be a whole lot closer
West Coast v Adelaide - West Coast because they are the new flat track bullies, limping to the finals, still think a straight sets exit is on the cards
Port Adelaide v Fremantle - Power should win easily, Hackmantle were basically cheated over the line, if only our forwards could get the same treatment from the umps as Freo, tredrea might kick 150 a year.
St Kilda v Brisbane - Saints easily, brissy are gone, even with the umps help last week they were gone, may need more concessions to keep them up the top, only able to succeed with extra help.
Sunday
Geelong v Richmond - Richmond because we want a home final, come on tiges do something
Carlton v Kangaroos - Kangaroos, Fitzroy (aka carlton)are in for a long hard decade, lead the way pagan and annoint that pee heart stevens as captain, he will lead the blues so well unless its dark then he might get scared.
Essendon v Melbourne - Melbourne are back in town, showing a bit of passion and will stitch up the bombers.

Dogs Bark
Swans get the bread
Eagles to soar at home
Power surge, sailors sink
Saints to see the light
Cats to paw the tigers
Flying Roos over bloos
Essendon to drop a bomb on the d's finals dream

SYDNEY - Hawthorn might woerry them for a while but last week might have knocked a bit of stuffing out

WEST COAST - second last round in 92 they were goalless till 10 mins in the last at Western Oval, third last round in 94 Carlton beat them by 10 goals. Still a grand finalist at the very least

FREO - the has-beens versus the never-beens

SAINTS - the aged versus the infirm

GEELONG - at home, easier game last week

KANGAS - but an upset would not surprise. Too many comebacks will eventually catch up with Roos, and Colbert and Rocca these days are looking as stale, feeble, predictable and past-it as Jase's NS tirades

ESSENDON - if they can do it two weeks running

REB I'm more worried the Umpires will feel the need to make up for some of the frees St Kilda should have been awarded over the season and give them all in this game.

brissy are gone, even with the umps help last week they were gone, may need more concessions to keep them up the top, only able to succeed with extra help.

As I've said in another thread - arrogant little tosser. When your lot finally stop choking and you can claim 3 Premierships flags back to back and get into a fourth GF in a row, come back and have a go! Until then ***** off

The comments were obviously ridiculous. No living, breathing organism can possibly be anywhere near as stale, tired or feeble as Jase's mouth-frothings re his Primary Obsession. Even the Pope wasn't that stale, tired or feeble ten minutes before death, and most likely not ten minutes afterwards either.

(Lucy, you might have one * too many but I have no other problem with the view you expressed.)

And clearly we choked in 2 finals efforts, and yes we also consistently lost players as we were unable to pay them what they required, however had we had access to 600K a year who knows.

Lets see how you go with no help from the AFL

Im hurt fred!!!! I'll ignore lucy comment, im sure she's used to being ignored.

harsh call on colbert, those comments should apply to franco and primus

Stay nice down there Lucy.

JSA - I can't even think of the words to use - your puerile, ignorant view of the Salary Cap Concession that have been cut substantially and will cease to exist in Brisbane very soon, just staggers me. The players we have, have wanted to stay and therefore have taken pay cuts to do so. You may start bleating Caracella, yes he left because we couldn't pay him the money he wanted as is his perogative.
Shattock, who you should be bloody pleased to have chose to leave to get more game time - sad he picked the wrong club to do it at.
Craig Bolton, left to get more game time and I'm really pleased to see him doing so well at Sydney.
Shane Morrison went to Richmond to get more game time, shame he is not succeeding down there.
Luke Weller went to Richmond to get more game time, that didn't happend so he has returned to Brisbane and is playing in the AFLQ.

Our Premiership flags were not won on money but on quality, hard working talented footballers, coaching staff, support staff and supporters, who in general are more concerned about supporting our team then hanging shite on other teams (apart from Collingwood that is - sorry Benno).

And yes I love to Fish.

Caracella not upto AFL standard
Shattock the same
Bolton doing well but in a team that floods back to help him
The other 2 are duds

Im saying you didnt lose anyone that you didnt want to lose. But without the cap concession, you wont be able to fit them all in, and they will have to take greater cuts and they may not be happy to take bigger cuts hence they leave. Im staggered as to why you would receive a concession anyway.

Your last line is correct except that you forgot to mention all of that was able to be kept together with the help of the extra 600K. They are the facts.

The Lions never lost a top line player to another club - those who left were fringe dwellers on their 22. They never had to lose a Brownlow Medallist (for example Woey) to stay under the cap.

I understand the team spirit and wanting to stay together for a premiership, but jase has a valid and relevant point, however much he has harped on about it...

I agree. There is no doubt that the extra dosh has helped Brisbane retain a few they probably would have lost.

Then how do teams such as Crows and Eagles manage to retain their elite players without having the same problems that the Vic teams seem to have.

To the best of my knowledge, the Eagles have never lost a player because they could not give them what they wanted. Gehrig went home because he was homesick(?) and others were traded in their favour.

I think that the Crows are in a similar position with regard to their players.

If those clubs are able to manage their lists, then why can't PAP and the Vics, without resorting to continual bleating about how unfair it all is.

For may part, I think the Lions have been a fantastic team, well coached and obviously well managed with players prepared to make sacrifices for their team. I hope that one day the Eagles can be compared to Brisbane in all facets of the game.

I think that the real money problems lie with clubs like Collingwood offering the likes of Johnathon Brown incentives if he was to relocate and Essendon who have some very novel methods involving websites( or no websites possibly).

That sort of chequebook recruiting is probably not available to the likes of the Bulldogs and the Roos and therefore those teams are the ones really disadvantaged.

I really do think that your anger is misdirected.

By the way its open to every club now!!!

In fact if you compare Brisbane team photos from 2002 to 2004 eleven players left the club for elsewhere, over 25% of the list.

Did Brisbane keep the right ones - yes. Part of the bitch is that not all clubs did that and Brsibane ONLY did because they had extra money - yeah right....... (not as much extra money as Sydney mind you - but hey let's not let truth get in the way of a good urban myth!!!!!) This tune might change of course if Sydney's extra millions kick goals in the GF and they win a flag.

The point dear pointed headed ones was nice illustrated in a recent article by Mal Michael. As a young player in and out of the side at Collingwood Mal had two jobs with companies promoting their products and earned an extra $50K a bloody year!!!!!!! Since his return to Brisbane and becoming a triple premiership player, all Australian and local Brisbane boy he has not earned an extra cent for outside company promotions. Part of the reason the money WAS there was to recognise that the opportunities to earn extra money in a crowded market like Brisbane is just not the same as a player based in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth. Have a guess at how much Micheal Voss would have earned in the last ten years if he'd played for Carlton (OOpps bad choice) Essendon or Richmond.

Eagles will find this out in a couple of years when judd and hanson go home, plus most of the eagles core players are home grown anyway. The 600K would be handy then the throw them a bit more to stay.

As Brisbane are finding out now the effect of the loss of just one champion - Lynch, they are hard to replace.

Dud, squad player, squad player, dud, overrated dud, who, squad player, dud

Big losses there...

Cost of living in Sydney is a genuine factor. Cost of living in Brisbane is a myth.

How come Bulldogs, Kangaroos, Melbourne arne't doing better considering they get money from the "competitive balance" fun. That's money that should be used for junior development or improved umpiring or something else surely. Why is it dues to prop up extra Victorian teams that possibly should have merged or folded years ago.

From what I've heard Jonathan Brown was refused permission by the AFL to for a $20,000 contract to feature in a commercial up here, yet if he had agreed to go to Collingwood would have ended up with more $$$'s, + a media contract (albeit on the bloody footy show),+ other endorsements. Doesn't seem quite right to me.

Exactly the point, jase. They went home!!!

As did Hedland and Gehrig. They never left because the clubs did not want them or could not afford them.

The number of champion players at Brisbane could have easily eaten away any top up on a salary cap but the way in which they were able to stay is testament to the fact that the money was not the motivating factor.

Again I ask, how much could Brown have earned by being lured back to Collingwood? Heaps! But the intangible factor came to the fore. He preferred Brisbane for reasons other than money and that is the crux of the matter.

When other clubs learn what that factor is, they will learn that money is not the answer.

Point: Why are the Bulldogs, a near bankrupt club, doing far better than Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond? And why will most of those players not leave for a richer club? Again that factor.

However, looking forward and positive. I think my Lions have earned the right to a full end of season break for a change. I also think we will play well next season when all those youngun's have a chance to bulk up and think how good they will be for the experience of playing so many games this season.

Bring on Season 2006 and my money is split between West Coast and Sydney for the 2005 Flag.