perfect!


we have a few paximadia playing for us too...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

No Synbad, the problem with Houlihan is that he never has and never will have that grunt in his character make-up. It wouldn't matter if we had Byron Pickett & Glenn Archer in our team running through opposition with gay abandon (forget the obvious joke there people), Houlihan would still be doing the same thing regardless.

It doesn't matter how skilled you are, you cannot teach that mental capacity to be ferocious, you either have it or you don't. You can teach players how to kick and mark, but you can't get inside their head and re-program what is essentially 'them'.

And as for setting the tone, well he sets a bloody awful one. What would it do to the others general attitude if they see him pulling out of a contest ??

you can say that again

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SMFC 1959 : ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE, ONE CLUB

Thats just your opinion though.
Did Bradley have grunt?
Club champion played more games than any other Carlton player..
Club captain and two time premiership player...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

maybe it looks so shithouse the kids all think 'gee that's it, I'm never gunna pull out of any contests!'

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

That is my opinion and I'll stick by it.

Just on Bradley, he used to rack up 25-30 touches every week whilst running the equivalent of a mini-marathon, these are feats that Houlihan can only dream about.

Furthermore, think about the players that Bradley had around him, there is a list of virtual club legends who played alongside him for many years. What does Houlihan have ?? A list of substandard rejects who would not get a game elsewhere. His lack of grunt gets badly exposed when there is no-one else in the team to do the hard yards.

And to use your anti-Camporeale theme, how much is Ryan Houlihan being paid as a matter of interest ?? He put his hand up for a decent pay rise at the last round of negotiations and supposedly knocked back a $300K per annum deal to go to Melbourne. So if he wants to take the big bucks around that figure, then he shouldn't be shirking contests !! Dems the facts, and they are indisputable !!

I dont know Sheik how about you tell me what Houla is on????
And Bradley played at a time when Williams, Brown , Ratten , Johnston and Buckley won the ball.... and we were succesful.

We need balance at the club. ... we dont have balance.
I dont know whether Ryan will be around... maybe he will maybe he wont but theres alot of improvement in Ryan still...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If we got rid of everyone who shirked contests we would have hardly anyone left. Houla was ok yesterday considering he was dropped the week before. We are in no position to get rid of talented players.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Don't answer a question with a question, just pluck a figure out that would be within the ballpark.

I pointed out that we had players of that calibre around Bradley, that is not in dispute, especially the part about our success.

I agree we don't have balance, but we don't have talent nor depth, we are in serious trouble.

I'm at a loss to understand what this improvement Houlihan will make that you talk of especially given he is now a 100 game player for the club ?? If you listen to all of the other experts here, he has these "silky skills" so what else does he need to improve upon ?? I'm told he can kick (they say he's one of the few who can hit a target), he can smother (nice skill), he can take marks (terrific) and he knows how to handball too. What is it that you are referring to here ??

he can improve on his experience so he can be a three hundred game player.
Also he is relatively young at 23 years old.
Im not the biggest fan at times but other times i am a fan.
Just as you didnt come out of the woodwork last year and early this year but sweated on him till now...

I agree Houla is of the age that he needs to become more consistent.

But Sheik.. he did all those things yesterday.. he marked, kicked, tackled and smothered as well as handballed and kicked.

He just didnt do them all the time.

Whilst Houla isnt having a great season he certainly has alot of time to turn it around for himself.

As for Tony Shaw.. Houla is a year older than his nephew and has played 60 games more.. won more matches of his own boot than his nephew and will be playing next year without a knee re co for now....

Not everyone can play like Tony Shaw... and nor do you want a team of 22 short fat slow gutsy bastards in your team cos you know what Sheik???
... in this day and age youd lose every time against 22 Houlas.

The Burgoynes arent grunt players but they have others doing the grunt work.. (see Port importing Hardwick and Pickett)... they didnt get rid of the Burgoynes did they???


No you pluck a figure out that is within the ballpark.
Why do i have to do everything around here Sheik???
I hate it when people want me to do everything.....
Especially when theiur mothers have not taught them to say PLEASE!!!!!

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Out of the woodwork ?? I think you'll find that I have been on this guys case for many, many years. Who was it that coined the nickname 'The Blouse' for him ?? It goes as far back as the old TBV on the Ezboard format.


And please pluck a figure out, please do, I'd be greatly pleased if you did.

I reckon he's on somewhere in the late $200's, the club had to work really hard to get him signed due to that huge offer made by Melbourne.

if i plucked 120k ?

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You're gagging, surely .......... ???

Averages about 18 possessions. Not bad for someone who mostly plays in defence. Bradley didn't do that.

If Melb thought he was worth that much then he was entitled to try to get a bit more out of Carlton but he was never going to leave and is earning less than that.



Agreed. We're not in a position to lose skilled players though. We're not short of players to provide grunt.

If thats a ok performance from Ryan maybe thats why we are on the bottom..if we accept that as ok and keep shirkers because we wouldnt have anyone left after getting rid of them.... you can look forward to us staying on the bottom...you cant accept rubbish like Houlihan delivered and say its ok. That was a pivotal point in the match....

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Houla...shirk a contest???....

Well, not everyone has to be like Hickmott....but when it's your turn, it's your turn.
(Actually the thought of being polaxed is worse than it happening. After a the first time you realise that and don't care!)

Sporn actually had his head over twice when I thought he would be cleaned up and it never happened! Good on him.

AGRO, can't agree that the tribunal MAY have played on his mind. He had a chance to drop into the hole and didn't.
Synbad and Thrylos, hope you enjoyed the Paximadia....I'm a galaktobouriko man myself....and that's HEAPS softer!
(But then again I belong tp a group known as the "Elllingworth on"s )


As for Shaw....well I reckon Collingwood's last premiership Captain IS a closet Blues supporter. Follow his comments...he sticks up for us when everyone is bagging and his Houla comments were exactly because he was soooooo pissed off by it.

Any impartial commentator would have just thought he squibbed it and that would be it. A Blues supporter gets pissed off about it.

Hope you've bought your membership Tony!

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

I would like him to be traded. I would rather lose fighting than lose with skily skills where every third pass hits the opposition 's chest so delightfully.

besides i really really want players who can chase!!

not jor after them

but chase.

Houla has been handy for me teaching my son what i mean by chasing and not chasing

my son understands

and now Houla needs to be exchanged.

I want us to be better.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

There seems to be a mis-perception that I am defending Houlihan for this non-contest - the point I was making (that ever one has missed) was what the ludicrous and "sooky la la" Match Review Panel would have done with the incident.

But I do agree there is nothing wrong with a good "Greek Snot Box".

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

When he signed it was in the region of $180k per year. He was criticised for holding out for that but it's hardly an earth-shattering amount.

IMO I don't think he's a backman, especially not suited to marking the small foward pockets of the opposition (eg H Miller, T Clarke, etc). Surely a more appropriate match-up would have been one of the medium sized hawks such as Lekkas or Dixon. His two turnovers early in the game and his supposed 'shirk' in the final qtr (not entirely convinced as to what he was supposed to do apart from drop his knees into the marking player) when Franklin came sliding in, dropped the mark and was awarded the free-kick for a 'good effort'.

We don't have talent or depth but I'd cut the talentless (there's any of 10 to choose from) before we cut Houlas.

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In WADA we trust

if we are plucking....then its $250k for me....

As Synbad has said rather eloquently, sometimes I am a fan of Hoops and sometimes I am not. But I do know one thing, we can't afford to lose 23 year olds who can both:
a) get the ball; and
b) kick the ball well.

We don't have many of those.

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Go Blues