AFL round 6 ‘expert’ tips

Update: All ‘expert’ tips are finally in. Make sure you read Baldrick’s.

What is the point of Rivalry Round?

It beats me why the AFL persists with the stupid idea of giving certain rounds names like Rivalry Round. What is the point and what do they hope to achieve? Anyway, this is the so-called Rivalry Round and here are the ‘expert’ tips. Last week’s results and year-to-date in brackets:

It’s open

Looks pretty fresh to me, Lee. (click on image to enlarge)

A Bright welcome to Woolies  

It’s been a long time coming but the new Woolworths supermarket in Bright has finally opened. Not surprisingly it was packed with shoppers. My impression is that a lot of them had come from other towns & outlying areas like Mt Beauty and even Myrtleford. See, I told ya so Save Bright. Anyway, we’ll give it our first try-out tonight after the crowds have gone … back to the hills. You can also click on these smaller photos of the outside to enlarge:

      

On the radio

I’ve been asked to make my comments about the opening of the Bright Woolworths supermarket tomorrow (Thursday 29 April) on ABC Local Radio. I’ll be talking with Joseph Thomsen sometime between 8.30 am and 9 am. It’s on 89.7 FM in Bright, 91.7 in Myrtleford & 106.5 elsewhere in the area. I think he’s having a Save Bright spokesperson too. Please have a listen.

(PS: I won’t be ‘bagging’ anyone. I want to put forward a positive point of view because I believe it’s a great thing for the town)

UPDATE: Did you hear it? I was on around 8.55 am – followed by Save Bright’s Lee Rosser. Who won?

Only morons own Pitbulls

Kill it.

And only real d*ckheads walk their dogs without a lead

It really pisses me off to read the news of yet another pitbull terrier attacking  an elderly person in the street.

Making matters worse it seems that in this case the owner was walking her dog at the time - without having it on a lead! - and did not hang around to help the victim:

The family of Siegfried Schoppert, who was still in hospital yesterday after undergoing a skin graft to his thumb on Monday, has been left disgusted by the owner of the dog who did not help the 73-year-old. “The woman just left him there … he was soaked in blood,” daughter Lorraine Frederick said. Her father hobbled home and called her to go to the hospital.

Comment:

In defence of Waldron

Australia's most hated man ~ courtesy of News Ltd.

Oh yeah, he did it all on his own

This might be the first (and only) Australian blog post written in defence of embattled former Melbourne Storm CEO Brian Waldron, the man accused of being ‘the architect’ of the NRL club’s salary cap rorts. The man who has been painted (by News Ltd) as the villain, a crook, a rat, a cheat and a fraud. The man who was sacked from his job at a different club in a different code of the game as soon as this news broke. The man vilified in the Herald Sun, which just happens to be owned by News Ltd who just happen to be the owners of Melbourne Storm and who desperately needed to find a scapegoat and to point the finger elsewhere.

In short, Brian Waldron is probably this country’s most despised man at this point in time. And, of course, it’s all come about by that wonderful vehicle of justice known as trial-by-media. But ask yourself this:

Woolies week

Woolies will attract the sh*t-kickers, says Save Bright

The new Woolworths supermarket in Bright will open its doors this Thursday 29 April after what seems like an eternity since it was first proposed (the initial application being lodged with the Alpine council way back in November 2006!).

Despite Save Bright’s rather vicious, misleading and FAILED CAMPAIGN (!) to prevent it going ahead, they still won’t shut up and go away.

This is their latest missive (WARNING: get ready for a big belly laugh):

No public meeting on gondola

Task force avoiding the risk of facing public dissent

The Alpine council’s task force looking into the Mt Buffalo gondola proposal, which has been conducting its so-called community consultation via a series of closed meetings with service clubs and the like, has now backed away from holding a public meeting over the controversial proposal and, instead, is to hold what it calls an “Open House Information & Feed Back Session” at the Alpine Visitor Information Centre in Bright.

Fix this creek drain, please

We're just lucky the downpour wasn't for all that long ~ click on image to enlarge.

We had a lot of rain in Bright yesterday and at one stage, a bit after 3pm, it really bucketed down (for about half an hour). Every time we get a deluge like that I worry that the inappropriately engineered Stackey Gully Creek (which is really a man-made drain by the time it gets down near our property) will burst its banks and flood part of our property.  As you can see in this photo taken about 4pm it wasn’t far off doing that yesterday due, of course, to the culvert under Gavan Street being blocked by the debris that the Alpine council has failed to clear. I can’t remember the last time this section of the creek drain was cleared but they better do it soon because I’ve got no doubt that next time we get a big deluge it will  flood the pool & tennis court area, as well as a huge section of Gavan Street, cutting the town off to traffic. I’ve sent this photo and a few others to the council requesting they fix it.

Wanna bet?

In light of all this Melbourne Storm/Brian Waldron/St Kilda rubbish  that is flying around I think I’ll start up an online ‘Betfair’ type betting system. You know, not a bookie as such but a facilitator of bets between individuals. I’ll even kick it off with the first offer:

I’m looking for suckers punters wanting to back St Kilda to be stripped of its 2010 premiership points and win the wooden spoon. I’ll put $1,000 to your $10 that they won’t.

Any takers?

AFL round 5 ‘expert’ tips

The headline we'd really like to see.

 It’s Round 8-out-of-8

This round is so easy to pick that I think we’ll all get 8 winners. Um, well, maybe not in Rox’s case.

Getting back to the Melbourne Storm shock and its loss of the 2007 & 2009 premierships due to salary cap cheating, it kind of makes the AFL look lame in comparison. Remember Carlton? They were found guilty of rorting the system for 20 years but still held on to all the premierships won during Elliot’s reign of corruption & cheating. Yes, 1981, 1982, 1987 and 1995 – give ‘em back Carlton! Anyway, I really think the NRL has gone too far by stripping the Storm of any points won for the rest of 2010. What sort of farce does that create? Oh well, it’s only rugby so who cares? Here are the ‘expert’ tips for round 5 in the game created by God. Last week’s results & YTD in brackets:

Abbott goes for the youth vote

Somehow I don’t think Tony Abbott’s latest policy-made-on-the-run will go down very well with young voters … or even with his own Liberal party colleagues. Abbott keeps finding new ways of ensuring he loses the election. Maybe he should seek some strategy advice before he opens his mouth?

Here is are 4 reasons …

 … not to trust the Alpine council and its tourism board with our money

Has anyone else noticed the glaring errors in the Alpine council’s & Great Alpine Valleys Tourism Board’s advertisement currently running on regional TV? I received an email the other day headed “Disappointed” pointing out the discrepancies. Anyway, judge for yourself; here’s the video. The email (from ‘Elliott’) and my comments are over the fold (click on “more”): 

Things our guests leave behind #2

No, you’re not seeing double. Yesterday’s ‘gift’ left behind by a departing guest  has been surpassed.

This is what was left behind @ Grevillea Gardens  today:

Hmm, an interesting selection.

So, the question is: Should I drink them?

What would you do? Is there a legal or moral dilemma here, or should I just take the view that the beer our guests keep leaving behind is really a tip, like in a restaurant?

Things our guests leave behind #1

We’ve had false teeth, hearing aids & slippers among the many items that our guests @ Grevillea Gardens  forget to pack when they leave. Obviously if it’s something valuable or important we send it on to them but, if it’s like, a pair of underpants, it goes straight in the bin.

However, what one guest left behind this morning will not be returned to them … nor will it be thrown out:

Mt Buffalo (and the goat) on ABC TV

Update: Ray Dyer ‘misses the cut’ ~ see foot of post.

Man on a mission ~ Ray Dyer (and goat) in last Sunday's Herald Sun. Pity he can't spell. Click on image to enlarge.

Dyer to go State-wide?

Tonight’s ABC show Stateline (ABC 1 @ 7.30 pm) is to present a story on the Mt Buffalo Chalet saga (or Mt Bufflo, according to Ray Dyer). It’s particularly relevant as tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of this now abandoned and derelict building. But will this just be more of the same old story we’ve been hearing for the past 3 years? I think so.

While I am a great believer in the preservation of our historic and iconic buildings (and while I hope the Chalet can be ‘saved’) I really do believe that both the Alpine council and the Bright Chamber of Commerce have placed far too much emphasis on the importance of the Chalet to our local tourist trade.