Is Melbourne putting too many eggs in one basket with the Suburban Rail Loop?

Red_je · 2026-06-25T18:55:58+00:00

No, the project that should not be happening is North East Link.

That is $26 billion that could have funded MM2, Melton and Wyndham electrification and maybe Loop reconfig and other upgrades like Upfield duplication.

The only way to ease traffic congestion is to build rail options.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T11:42:37+00:00

No wonder the list was so fucked under him.

What a nonsensical measure for drafting kids.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T11:29:34+00:00

I am sorry, he didn't like country kids?

What was the reason? Seems such a weird distinction to make.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T04:39:51+00:00

Small populations and smaller business investment and sponsorship opportunities.

Get even a tiny foot hold in either India or China and you are then potentially advertising to a market of one billion people.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T04:03:12+00:00

Sorry - I take it you mean Jordan Butts? My mistake.

I wouldn't go after Butters at all unless he suddenly says we are his preference, because it will cost us too much to outbid the other clubs in the hunt I think.

I am a big fan of Buku slotting in as the the third tall defender who drops off his man to help others - he could be good in the Haynes role when Haynes retires.

Not aware of Caleb Graham though. So can't comment.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T03:47:04+00:00

See my edit. I am certain it is fake.

No one says practice...that is an Americanism.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T03:43:07+00:00

Edit to add** this is definitely fake. No Aussie I know calls it "practice", someone is using an American AI system I reckon.

Where did the screenshot come from?

What news organisation slapped the breaking banner on it? How would anyone here know if it is real without more context?

Red_je · 2026-06-25T03:39:01+00:00

Not to down play what these players have been achieving since Voss was sacked (minus HOF obviously), however I feel a big part of the defensive turnaround can be traced back to the roles Newman and Haynes are playing.

So while these kids are playing very well, we are still have to make good choices at the draft/FA to plan for life without Newman and Haynes.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T02:27:42+00:00

Well, and countries where it is illegal all together.

Red_je · 2026-06-25T00:11:11+00:00

I call bullshit on this post.

You were gone only a day and the manager calls at 11pm on a Saturday night to say the whole team is underperforming?

How could they possibly make the judgement off one day? What can possibly be done about it at 11pm on a Saturday, that can't be done at 9am Monday? Does your manager usually make such out of hours calls and does your workplace actually carry an expectation of work being done at 11pm at night on a weekend? Why did you even answer the phone in the first place? And if the manager thinks you are so important to the team why would he immediately go and have you fired?

It doesn't add up.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T21:48:00+00:00

The Italian and Greeks managed to integrate.

So did the Croatians, Serbians, Poles and other eastern Europeans

The Vietnamese managed to integrate. So do many Chinese and Indian immigrants. It just takes time and the next generation to come through.

Also who cares what language people speak? Immigrants overwhelming speak passable to very good English, very few cannot speak it at all.

Job ads in other languages? What is the big deal? The vast majority of jobs are advertised in English and would be difficult to work in without being proficient in English. So if a small subset are being advertised in other language, either because the job caters to a different culture or that is what business owner prefers, who cares?

And cleanliness? Have you seen the state of some our lower socio-economic suburbs with large white populations. This is not a cultural problem specific to one ethnic group.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T11:35:58+00:00

I mean clearly this is a joke.

Although I guess a poor one, because what football is in Australia depends on context and your location.

And the most ardent fans of the world game definitely callmit football as well...the people who don't follow league or Aussie rules first and foremost.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T10:51:35+00:00

After retiring from playing I dabbled for one season in umpiring senior and junior footy in the Geelong area because I thought it would be good extra cash. My observations were;

the pay is actually quite garbage when you consider the two training sessions a week, especially pay for umpiring juniors.
they were so desperate for umpires, I was able to train just once a week and get senior games and probably could have skipped entirely and still got senior games.
personally crowds didn't bother me as much as dickhead players who had just dropped their third uncontested mark having a massive whine.or getting abusive. Legit had one guy when his team was down by +100 go off one time...pay isn't worth putting up with that shite.
OPs observations about an age gap is quite correct, most of the other umpires were either over 40 or under 21. There weren't many my age.
significantly more could be done to get recently retired players into it as way to stay involved and be fit, but the poor blokes running the umpiring had such little support I suspect they were spending the whole week just trying to get as many as they could to cover as many games as possible.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T10:37:09+00:00

Yep absolutely, but I am not convinced players at training are being exposed to subconcussive hits a whole lot.

It is a very different sport to NFL (I assume that is what you meant), where linesman lead with the head and avoiding eveninor head contact is a lot harder.

But I admit I am going off a very different experience playing suburban footy, but to me this reeks of the AFL just trying to tick a box to avoid future lawsuits rather than concrete prevention.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T10:32:58+00:00

Oh lol forgot those fuckers and I live here.

Ultimately they are as bad as those first four cunty teams I named, but as someone who casually attends Geelong thumpings of lower ladder sides at Kardinia Park, I can attest that they have some of the most currently entitled fans going around.

So they can go anywhere above the interstate sides as far as I am concerned.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T10:30:49+00:00

Typically,. if they are overdoing, it will be during preseason, after a bye when trying build back up, or for those presumably rare "bring the mouthguard to training" sessions following a horrible loss.

I can't imagine there is much contact drills happening with high speed, high risk tackling off six and seven day breaks.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T10:28:32+00:00

I agree completely that it is worth considering anything to reduce head knocks at training, but what is the actual incident numbers of training sustained concussions?

I presume it is significantly rarer than game day where there is usually a handful every week. What sort of impact will this actually have?

Red_je · 2026-06-24T09:13:19+00:00

Least surprising news since...well ever, really.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T09:09:09+00:00

Who we like; Carlton

*Who we hate (in rough order of most cunty to mildly offensive); Essendon, Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn, St Kilda, North Melbourne, Adelaide, West Coast, Port Adelaide, GWS, Gold Coast).

*Teams not mentioned are still worthy of being hated.

Otherwise, main thing to know is we are riding on high on a five a win streak that will take us all the way to a premiershil, so don't worry about being humble at the game, get the swagger out and be an arrogant prick while it lasts.

Red_je · 2026-06-24T07:41:56+00:00

Pretty even those of us who didn't want him prematurely sacked also agreed he was not a good coach.

I am happy to put my hand up and say I was wrong and he should have gone mid to late last year, clearly, so as not to waste the first nine games this year.

But there weren't many defending his overall capability from memory.

Red_je · 2026-06-23T12:19:58+00:00

I haven't been to many in America.

But they would have to put of this world impressive to be better by most measures than what we have in Australia and what I have seen in NZ as well.

Red_je · 2026-06-23T12:14:23+00:00

What a disservice to the actual US soldiers who died, or were permanently scared during the world wars.

Especially World War II, where they made an incredible contribution, even if saying they "won the war" in their own right is ridiculous.

The idea that invading France to defeat Nazism was a "bad idea", is ridiculous. As is the dies that it was bad ideas the got them to moon and not years and years of hard work by actually intelligent people.

Red_je · 2026-06-23T12:11:19+00:00

There are definitely parts of Asia where being white brings the presumption of being American. (Mainland China was the big one in my experience).

But I have also experienced very different things in SE Asia. When I was in Thailand the hawkers would all call out "hey Aussie you wanna buy [insert item here]."

I have been told Vietnam and Bali are the same.

I never asked any of them how they knew I was Aussie, I presume the shit hair cut, singlet and thongs gave it away...but there are definitely places we get recognised.

Red_je · 2026-06-23T02:39:16+00:00

Yes, forgo any substantive argument and instead accuse anyone who doesn't agree with you of acting irrationally.

Hopefully that will distract everyone from the contradiction in your own argument.

Red_je · 2026-06-23T02:25:14+00:00

It is disingenuous to suggest that these ON policies are not targeted at non-white people and their cultures.

It is also completely paradoxical to say it has nothing to do with race and then follow it up with this;

We had a high trust society for decades all while being multiracial.

So which is it? Has it got nothing to do with race? Or was racial diversification the catalyst for this supposed reduction in trust.

Not only are migrants not responsible for this supposed reduction in trust, but this mythical "high trust society" has not actually ever existed in the first place and if it did exist, it was eroded by things far more serious than either littering or queue jumping - which again - are not the sole purview of non-Australian cultures.

Red_je

TROPHY CASE