Blitzing the Blitzers Returns! Updated Omnibus Edition

A long time ago, in a far-away pre-Sorry Saga era, we had a series called Blitzing the Blitzers. Each week, BB would put the spotlight on a different member. Regular readers of the Forums get a sense of the community we have here, and get some idea about what their fellow members are like, but these interviews get all that juicy info together in one package. Newer members may have seen the interview with Stargazer in the eponymous history forum. But things became a bit too busy in my life and unfortunately I got distracted from continuing the series.

Thanks to some pressure from Captain Jack, I am dusting off the dinner jacket and getting the interviews underway again.

So, Captain Jack, welcome to Blitzing the Blitzers!

Let’s start by asking about your alias. A few of us antediluvian BBers would recall when you first logged on here, you used the name “bombertonton”. What was that about, and why did you change it to Captain Jack?

At the time I joined Bomber Blitz, I had an internet café in Rayong Thailand with my Thai girlfriend. It was named Tan Tan Café, after her. So, I just changed it a little. However, it was only meant to be temporary, because it never felt Essendon enough. I changed it shortly after in honour of Jack Clarke, my first Essendon hero.

There is a wide range of avatars on BB. Some people change theirs often, but you have had yours for a long time
 ever since the alias change. What message about yourself are you sending to the world with your avatar?

The picture I chose for my avatar is of Jack Clarke aged about 19. When I saw that picture in the link to our archives, I noticed that I looked a lot like him when I was about 17. Clarke was a champion of Essendon, my first favourite player and I am proud to keep his memory alive on BBlitz, even though it is only in some small way. It is the only avatar I have ever used on BBlitz and I will not change it for anything.

BBers live in many locations around the world, though most reside in Melbourne. You have mentioned posting from many exotic locations. Where do you hang your hat currently?

Currently in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China. This is about 150 km west of Shanghai. I am looking to move from China after more than 9 years here as I got engaged late last November. My fiancé is from Sumatra, so I want to move somewhere closer to her. At the moment, I am looking for a new position in the English education field somewhere between Penang and Bali. Once I relocate my fiancé will move in with me.

Tell us a little about Hangzhou, and how you came to be working there. I was there a couple of years ago and the amount of development underway was astonishing
 There were cranes everywhere as they were developing an area bigger than the Melbourne CBD – basically building a new city. Also, Alibaba was just starting up and its building was immense, covering an area nearly as big as a suburb.

I was working as an EFL teacher trainer at a little school in Zhuhai, which abuts the Chinese border with Macao. Almost 2 years ago, the school asked my fellow trainer and I to come to Hangzhou to run some training courses here. After 3 months, the school here, asked me to go to Baguio City in the Philippines to conduct some training for their online teachers there. I jumped at the chance, as I love Baguio. After a month I returned to Hangzhou to find the school I had worked for was slated to close in 3 days. I was offered a new position on the spot with the online school and the chance to return to Baguio. Alternately l could have returned to Zhuhai, which I consider the best place in China to live. Unfortunately, because of my age, the school in Zhuhai could not get me another visa. So, I jumped at the chance to do something new here in Hangzhou, and return to Baguio of course.

At present I live on the south side of Hangzhou across the river from the downtown area. A couple of my ex-trainees live a couple of km away. They came up here straight after their course about 4 years ago, and they said a lot of this area was basically still open farm land. You would not know it now, as it is rapidly being developed. About 8 years ago I was told that half the construction cranes in the world are in China, and I can well believe it. It is estimated that there is currently in excess of 90 million vacant apartments in China, an estimate I find entirely credible. This area south of the river is very new and there are high rise buildings in every direction for as far as you can see. So, yes it is astonishing in many ways, almost as impressive as the dedicated high speed train network, which is the single greatest investment in infrastructure of all time. It is simply brilliant. Hangzhou will host the G20 conference in September this year, which will help put this city of 8+ million on the world stage. The main venue is only about 5 km from my new office.

So your long-term stays in various Asian locations explains your byline of “Long Range Bomber”
?

Yeah. Being so far removed from what is going on back home, I do rely on BBlitz for a lot of information, yet I am always acutely aware that I am isolated to a fair extent from events in Oz and at Essendon.

When I think of the byline I usually think of a B52 from Dr. Strangelove, or a dam busting Avro Lancaster, painted black with red sashes of course.

At this year’s BB Christmas Party, what would be your “poison”?

I would start off with a couple of Snot Bombs (a gin and tonic, with a shot of crĂšme de menthe dropped in it). I was introduced to them when a team from Singapore came to Bangkok to play the Thailand Tigers, our local team at the time. The Sunday recovery session was legendary, messy by any standards.

Then I would follow up with a bottle or few of Merlot or Beaujolais. Sounds like a lot, but a Christmas party, is a special event, so that makes it okay. Otherwise I don’t drink much.

”Snot bombs”, eh
 who says BB is not educational?

The Americans call them boilermakers, or so I was told.

Care to share a strange fact about yourself? (You don’t need to limit yourself to one!)

I am a bit ambidextrous, different hands for different things, but am all mixed up. For football I kick right foot, handball either hand. Racquet sports, I am right handed, but write left handed, and I can write upside down. Cricket I bat right handed, bowl left handed over arm, but am right handed for underarm bowling like 10 pin or lawn bowls.

That is pretty strange
 My brother-in-law also bats right handed and bowls left, and he’s pretty strange too!
How do you spend your non-Essendon time 
 occupation, other hobbies and interests?

I love to travel. These days I don’t go to so many new places, although I spent a week in England for the first time last October. I prefer instead to go back to the places I have been to before, where I have made local friends. For example, I have been to the Philippines a total of 6 times, Vietnam 7 times, and I have lost count of how many times I have visited Sumatra. I have probably spent about a year there in all, since 1977. I am looking forward to taking my lady love to Palawan in the next year or so. I also have a dirty big camera, which is strapped to my hip, and I drag around with me.

I also like to collect things. Over the years I have collected, walking sticks, pith helmets, and over 3000 albums on vinyl or CD, and a similar number of movies on DVD, so many that I have yet to listen to, or watch them all. In China most of the movies only cost $1 or so, and when I first came here, I aimed to buy 500 a year. I managed to do that for about 3 years but I was finding/buying them so quickly I couldn’t keep up, I couldn’t watch them all, even if I was watching 2 a night. When I finally settle down, I will get around to watching them, but it will be a long term project. I had to catalogue both the music and movies into their own libraries, in order to keep track of them all.

As long as you got DVDs of Essendon’s grand final wins, what more would you need?
If applicable, does your other half share your interest in EFC? If s/he follows another team, how do you get on when they beat us?

My fiancĂ© is a local lass from Medan, in Sumatra, we only met last September. She knows nothing about AFL. However at some stage I will bring her home to Melbourne to visit family, friends and get married. A trip to see Essendon in action will also be one of my main goals, pun intended. As much for her education as for my live footy fix. One step brother’s wife is from Surabaya, and she is another dead set, fully fledged, paid up Bomber fanatic, so I will make sure the two girls get together when we go to see a game. I am also keen to introduce her to Tiffany Cherry at some stage. Our kid(s?) will be indoctrinated from birth, with red and black baby blankets. The area where we will settle, Lake Toba, already uses red, black and white in their traditional weaving, so it will be easy to accomplish. I need to get in early before all the local Batak tribe discover that the Saints have their exact same colours.

You better – we wouldn’t want St Kilda inflicted on anyone! What is the Lake Toba area like? Is that on Sumatra?

Yes, Lake Toba is in the northern part of Sumatra. It is the world’s largest volcanic crater lake, and is 900 m. above sea level, and almost 600 m deep in places. The lake is 110 km long and in the lake is an island the size of Singapore. You can’t tell these days that it was one volcano. I was told that it blew up about 40,000 years ago, and was considered the biggest volcanic eruption of all time, with some 4,000 cubic km of material ejected. It had the same effect as a nuclear winter, and according to anthropologists almost wiped out the human race, by greatly restricting the gene pool. I have been going there since 1977, and when I first went there, a room was 25 cents a night and you could live on $2 a day. Even two years ago, when I went back, it still only cost $5 a day for wonderful food and a great room on the lake front.

Sounds great, but perhaps not with the level of luxury to which Mme. Thurgood has become accustomed


Moving along 
 on the BomberBlitz Pizza¼ what topping would you be?

Salami, and olives. Red and black again. It’s got to be. Does that sound a little bit obsessive? Gosh, I hope so.

haha! That’s the sort of obsession we like! OK, now let’s talk about Bomberblitz


Nominate your favourite/Best thread?

I loved a series from about 10 years ago, called the Champions of Essendon, where we considered and voted for the best player for each number on the list. I think you might have even started that one. It made us not only relive some great moments, but also appreciate just how rich and successful our history is.

Yes, you’re right. I started that one. The idea was for Blitzers to vote for the best representative of each number during the Sheedy years. #5 was a killer, having to choose between Terry Daniher and James Hird
! On the other hand, Timmy Watson could be pretty confident of getting the votes for #32.
What about threads in the modern era?

These days I look forward to the various training threads, I am a big fan, especially of Jackie’s input (hi, Tiff!!!). In recent times the VFL match day threads have been mighty helpful. They have generated a lot more interest in the magoos than we ever had in the past. So a big thanks to DJR and all the others who take part in providing us with running updates and comments, and letting us know how Tippa and others have been progressing. The annual From Long Range Tipping thread is always one I look forward to. Many thanks to Mero for starting it, and to Bomber McVeigh for keeping it up and running it. I also like the Nobby Clarke vote threads, even though people usually don’t say much in them. Years ago in the Hangar I had a lot of fun starting a thread nominating song titles to describe different players in the AFL.

I am very interested in the history of the club, and I wanted to generate a bit more traffic on that part of the forum. That was how the Classic Posts thread begun, even though it has been mostly put out to pasture over the last couple of years. It started out as a thread to preserve the best one liners, but I think it was you who said one day that it should be used for more, and that it should be used to preserve the best posts. I just tootled along didn’t pay much attention to it for a while, then one day I looked up and there were over 700 posts in there, the next time I really noticed it, there were over 1500 posts. Blitz has grown, and I can’t dedicate as much time to finding those posts as I used to. The Saga has also taken its toll. There have been some great posts in those threads, but I can’t keep up these days. I also enjoyed starting a series of Head to Head comparisons, and the Mal Pascoe awards for the biggest case of foot in mouth disease anywhere in the AFL during the week, just for fun. I should resurrect the Mal Pascoe awards again, as they generated a bit more interest in the history board, and gave people plenty of scope to vent on non-Essendon topics.

On the other forums, I like to get the views of Blitzers on movies.

What’s the best thread you started?
I began the original movie thread, it has been through a few different iterations over the years, due to the crashes. I also started the black and red humour thread which appears to have died off a fair bit since the last time BBlitz crashed. All the crashes have taken their toll. I love any music trivia thread.

Best LOL moments on BB you can remember

The original Mal Pascoe thread. A Blitzer posted that his uncle Mal was a former player during the 1950’s and wanted any information about him. He said he wore number 32, only to come back later to say it might have been 34. Mero, the keeper of all things Essendon concerning the history of player numbers, pointed out the correct number. Confusion continued to reign for a long time. Mero also ran a footy trivia quiz, where the answer to question # 10 was Darren Bewick. That one just stuck and got trotted out as a stock answer to many issues. The more unlikely the link the better. Hurley forward or back - # 10 Darren Bewick. It is a bit old now, but I still like to trot that one out every now and then.

Best memory from the forums?

Getting in on the Ricky Mott phantom draft story to stooge the media, who fell for it completely. That was truly awesome Scotty. We could probably do something similar again, but on a different topic/issue. The MSM deserve nothing but our continued contempt, for the way they have slagged off the club and various Essendon people since news of the saga was first leaked to them. Besides if they are too lazy to research a topic properly, then they deserve to be taken for a little ride.

All too true!
BB provides many opportunities to sound off. Any Pet Peeves you would like to get on the record here?

Only one, the 32 (or is it 34?) times BBlitz has crashed over the years. A lot of good posts are lost each time it has crashed. Each time it crashes, it is brought back with a completely new format, and fewer features. It takes a while to get the hang of things again, find where things are, or find out what is missing. Hopefully it doesn’t crash again, nor the format change in the near future.

You’re right: it is a shame that some of those great threads have gone to cyber heaven and are no longer available. I think Mendozaaaaa once said the old posts are stored on some hard drives somewhere, and Andy once said that the National Library was keeping copies too. Nowadays, we are probably backed up by the CIA because of our name


I remember the National Library said they were going to keep records of our posts, and I have kept that mind ever since, whenever I am on BBlitz. I am conscious that I am posting as much for future generations as I am for current commentary. I am equally sure the CIA or the NSA monitor us, every time the word ‘bomber’ is used. We must drive some poor junior clerks in a subterranean bunker to distraction, at least I hope so.

:wink:
You mentioned the “#10 Darren Bewick”
. Catchphrases as posts - yay or nay?

Yay, one or a few, but not as many as I use in conversation. Like if someone asks how tall Aaron Sandilands is, I would say he is about 8 foot 15. Never used that one before on BBlitz.

How many people are on your ignore list?

None, zero, nadda. Never had anyone on it, not sure I would even know how to use it. Due to my long range status, I am mostly interested in finding out the opinions of others, whether I agree with their views or not. I seek answers and over the years have probably asked the most questions of any Blitzer on here, even though many of those questions have gone unanswered. These days I am more of an observer than an active poster. Besides, over the years, I believe I have expressed my views enough, my stances and opinions are probably well known by long time Blitzers, and there is no need to repeat myself.

One thing I will say is that over the last 3+ years that the Saga has dragged on, Blitzers have become more tolerant of the views of each other. For a forum this size, there is remarkably little sniping or flaming. Most of the time, I don’t pay so much attention to who a particular poster is, rather I focus on what they have to say, so I disregard the who, but there are a few I can recognize from their style after the first few words. I am greatly impressed by the supporters and the unity they have shown since the Saga first began. The club will be bigger and stronger as a result.

That incredible March to the MCG on the weekend, and the way the team responded by beating Melbourne is evidence of that!

The March will go down as an instant piece of Essendon folklore, along with the fantastic response of the playing group to come back in the last quarter and beat the Dees. I dips me lid to all those involved, the organizers and all who attended. The effect of that support cannot be under estimated. I have seen crowds of supporters get involved before and influence competitors, I know it works. So again, I applaud all involved.

Any suggestions as to how BB could be improved?

Some more regular features, such as the return of this series. I hope to get to know more about some other Blitzers in the future. More picture caption threads, they are always good value.

Black and Red Knight used to do a match review thread on a Monday or Tuesday. They were always in depth and a good launching place for game post mortems. Sadly he was unable to continue them, but if someone could start that particular ball rolling again, I think it would be a great idea.

Allblack’s off season team summaries in January are always something I look forward to once the calendar ticks over each new year.

More Tiff, always.

Agreed! Not only is BB Australia’s biggest sport fan forum, but it is the only one with its own comic. That comic is very impressive work by Jackie.

OK, let’s get onto what brings us all here: Essendon
!

end of part 1
[/b]

Blitzing CJ continues


Is Essendon in your genes? If not, when, where and how did you realise EFC is the way to go?
In my genes. I have 4 step brothers, about 9 - 14 years older. They got me into Essendon before I even knew what football was. It was one of the first words I learned to say. I estimate that I have been following them for almost 60 years, even though my memories only go back to about 1961, and winning the flag in 1962. Around the same time, our next door neighbour, the matronly Mrs. Mungeon knitted me an Essendon football jumper, my first for Christmas.

The gentle giant Geoff Leek, lived behind my next door neighbor, and at one stage got me all the autographs of the entire Essendon team, including coach John Coleman, and Bill Hutchison and ■■■■ Reynolds. As a kid I didn’t appreciate the importance of those autographs then, but I did appreciate the gesture in getting them for me.

That would have been fantastic to get those signatures! Do you still have them somewhere?

Unfortunately not. They didn’t survive high school.

Of course, Geoff Leek later worked for footy commentary with ABC radio. He was great. I remember one time in 1981, Sheeds asked him to address the team before a big game during that famous 15 game winning streak. Geoff was so psyched up, he said he was still shaking when he got back to the booth.

Geoff Leek was a total and absolute gentleman, and I remember him walking off the ground in the 1962 GF, into retirement and the sunset. Now that is the way to retire, your final game as vice-captain of a premiership winning team.

Fantastic! That of course was John Coleman’s first flag as coach, and he followed up with another in 1965. There have not been too many champion players who also made it as multiple flag-winning coaches. It was a tragedy that he had to step down due to ill health.

What’s your first Essendon memory?

Live, I think it was 1961 or 1962. One of my step brothers took me to see us play Fitzroy at their home ground, at the old Brunswick St ground. The sun was shining, the red brick dunnies in the outer stunk of ■■■■ and alcohol as they always did. On the ground Captain Jack and Hughie Mitchell, were linking up as if by telepathy and playing at another level to other players, as they usually did. The ground was so small that you could smell the liniment as the players past on the wing. Outside the ground you could see the old trams rattle up and down Brunswick Street, the sunshine was glorious.

What’s the best Bomber moment over the years you have been following Essendon?

Two moments, culminating in the 1984 GF win. The road to that win began years before, and was heralded by the famous leap into the unknown Tim Watson took when he hurdled Wayne Harmes in the night Grand Final win over the Blooos out at Arctic Park. (To Harmes credit he didn’t attempt to trip Watson.) That leap announced to the football world that Essendon the brave had returned and was now a serious contender for glory. That announcement was confirmed by Leon Baker’s equally audacious blind turn and goal that culminated in the 1984 premiership. Those two actions were bookends of the one process, they were never going to lose the GF after that blind turn.

I get goosebumps just thinking about those moments now. Of course the 1984 flag was special, but that 1985 side was even better: a champion team AND a team of champions. Hawthorn were clearly the second best side in the comp in those days and I think we won by a then record margin. And the margin would have been greater if that maggot Peter Cameron had not gifted Germie Brereton so many frees. So that sets us up for the next question: when the 1985 and 2000 teams play each other in Heaven, which side would you back in?

For me it depends on which year the game is set. If the game was played in 2000 between those 2 teams, then the 2000 team would win. They were on a mission that year, and nothing short of all out nuclear warfare, was going to prevent them winning, and even then they would probably still find a way to win. They could have played an AA team in 2000 and they still would have won that year.

Any other year, I would definitely go with the 1985 team. They were simply the strongest team ever to come out of Windy Hill. The only way that team could have been made any stronger would be if Max Crow had stayed and played in place of Kevin Walsh at CHB. That last point was disputed by Vinnie Sucks at the time I posted it in another thread I made years ago, but I stand by that claim still.

I agree with you. Walshy must have had the original embarrassing photos of Sheeds to keep getting selected
 I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way, but the moment I knew we would win the ’84 flag was after he was cleaned up by that mongrel Dippierdedrongo, or however you spell it. If you slow down the video, you can see that if Dipper hadn’t whacked him, Matthews would have – you can see him lining up to whack him as well. Bastards.

Younger Blitzers with shorter memories only have the 2000 team as a point of reference, so they can’t conceive of a team greater than the one they know, so they are basing their judgements on only one team. Sure the game had evolved a great deal in the interim, but all things being equal the 1985 team had more class. Free Spirit in particular wasn’t convinced when this issue was raised in a thread here, and said he would get back to me one day, once he had worked out a fair way to compare the two teams and put them on an equal footing. I am still waiting to hear from him on that one, I don’t think it can be done, so the above concession is the only one I am willing to give.

Yeah – that’s why I said they would have to play the game in heaven where the impossible could be arranged
 But also, I started a discussion in the early ‘00s and most of the experts agreed there would be few apart from James Hird from the 2000 side that could force their way into the ‘84-5 teams. As above, it was a team of champions, as well as a champion team.

I would like Sheedy’s one word answer to that question, but I doubt I would have time for the full explanation.

;-0 Back in the real world, who is your favourite (not necessarily best) player – first: of all time?

Essendon – Long after Jack Clarke retired, I was struck by the debut of a young Tim Watson. A dynamic player and as fair as the day is long. He was electrifying. There was always a hush of expectation around the ground when he want on the ball, especially out at Windy Hill. He had a habit of making things happen and usually at great pace. He was explosive, even from a young age. I did manage to talk with him once, as he waited for Simon Madden to drive him home after a game, which might have been after the day he kicked 7 goals while still a teenager. Once he arrived at the club I knew we were going to win multiple flags, not just one, it was simply a question of how many flags and how long it would take. He did things no one else on the ground has ever done, before or rarely if ever since, like the leap mentioned above. One day at Windy Hill he was in the centre and an opposition player was in the act of kicking on the left foot. Between the ball drop from hand to foot, Watson simply leaned in and plucked the ball out of mid-air with his right hand, as clean as you like, and then took off before anyone else even knew what had happened. If you had blinked, you would have missed it.

And to think that he played his first VFL game as a 15 year old! Nowadays, it beggars belief. That will never happen again.

What about a Non- Essendon player?

Malcolm Blight. He could - and did - do it all. Versatile, durable and tough, he ended up playing in every position of the ground, could play tall or small, kicked well off both feet. He won a Brownlow and Magarey medal for being the best and fairest player in two separate leagues, won the goal kicking award in the same two leagues, was arguably the best player in a GF win before the Norm Smith medal was awarded, and played over 400 senior games. He is the one player I would have loved to have had at Essendon in his playing days.

Another, though rare, champion player who had two flags as coach
 From today’s list whose number would be on your duffle coat?

Never, ever had a duffle coat, but if I did it would be Jobewan, aka SOT. He’s a Watson, and that family provides one of the greatest strands in the fabric of our club. Once Jobe hangs up the boots, I would switch to Gach.

Essendon was fortunate to have Kevin Sheedy coach us to four flags, as well as providing hundreds of great memories along the way. What’s your favourite ‘Sheeds’ Moment’?

The way he would regularly stitch up Parkin and the Blooos. One of my step brothers lives at the foot of Wheeler’s Hill. When we played Caaarlton out there, he would go up to Arctic Park and reserve seats for us between the coaches’ boxes. We would laugh at the antics of Parkin, who would punch the walls of his box with great force, when Sheedy and Essendon beat them. This was when the Blooos were winning lots of flags and believed they had right to inhabit the top rungs of the ladder. In those days they came into games just expecting to win against us. Sheedy had other plans and upset Caaarlton often. We expected Parkin to put his fist right through the wall some days. Even better was when he would storm down to the ground for the 3/4 time huddle. He face a vivid purple, froth foaming from his lips, the veins in his neck straining to almost bursting point. If he had dropped dead with a heart attack I would not have been surprised. The tag would have read: Cause of Death: Beaten by Sheedy
 again.

Haha! Great line!
Is there anything to reminisce about from the Knights/Hird years?

Knights. I was assured in strictest confidence via PM (but not Mendoza) by a few Blitzers who shall remain anonymous, who said they were in the know, and that we were a Monty to get Bomber from Geelong to replace Sheedy. So much for being in the know.

Sheedy. He said he had 2 regrets from his time at Essendon. One of them concerned the exit of Derek Kickett. He never said what the other one was. I started a thread once to speculate on his other regret, and thought it was most likely the result of letting Roger Merrett go to Brisbane. I would like to know if that was his other regret, and if not what that second regret was.

He also mentioned something about clearing Tony Buhagiar, but maybe I am misremembering that. What about the James Hird coaching era?

Hird has my complete sympathy. He has been betrayed so many times, and he and has family have suffered so much as a result of the farce perpetuated by Vlad and his cronies in the AwFuL and the lackies in the MSM, that I wonder he has not walked away from the game, never to come back.

The lowest point was when he was excluded from attending the Critchon medal presentation two years ago. For me, that was probably the lowest point the club has ever fallen to. That is not how club champions should ever be mistreated. One day the whole truth Hird believed in will come out, but I fear it is already too late to change the false narrative perpetuated by the boys club with at the top end of town, with their corporate first mentality, that has taken over the game.

Our club culture has been altered forever, we may well come back to be a power in the league once more, but we will never be the same club we were. The club was naĂŻve, the club blundered from one mistake to another, perhaps we have learned from that and become tougher and more ruthless, but the damage to the Hird family has already been done and cannot be undone.

Well said. It is a disgrace what Vlad and the AFL have done and are still doing to our club, and a disgrace that they targetted as the scapegoat the best and fairest player of the last 20 years.

If you ever met Woosha, what is one question you’d love to ask?

Through Ryan McKee I have offered the club my services to conduct a piece of research, to assist the development of the team. I would ask him, what aspect of football does he want me to research.

If you were “Gill for a Day” what bits would you leave out that we don’t need? That is, what would you change about footy?

This was the first question I answered, when I scanned through. I would do away with the rules committee. The game was in fine shape until they started tweaking it every season. Most of the rule changes appear to be reactions to developments in the game style. Let the game evolve on its own. Now they can’t wait to change it, every year. The game isn’t broken, so stop trying to fix it. I like to see good tackles rewarded, and would love to hear crowds getting involved again, with shouts of “ball” followed by “yes.” That isn’t a change of rules, just applying the rule that is already on the books. The increased effort to keep the ball in play looks like it is working well.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to get on the record here?

Yeah, nah, a couple.
#standbyhird
#standbythe34
Keep on Blitzin.

Great! Thanks, Captain Jack!

These were quite enjoyable back in the day. Glad to see they’ve returned. Thanks Albert and CJ.

These were quite enjoyable back in the day. Glad to see they've returned. Thanks Albert and CJ.

Ditto.
Nice to see them back.

Well done to both of you.

Great read both of you!

“Getting in on the Ricky Mott phantom draft story to stooge the media, who fell for it completely. That was truly awesome Scotty. We could probably do something similar again, but on a different topic/issue.”

Creative curiosity piqued


These were quite enjoyable back in the day. Glad to see they've returned. Thanks Albert and CJ.

Ditto.
Nice to see them back.

Thanks for your help with this.

one of dkp would be hilarious.

These were quite enjoyable back in the day. Glad to see they've returned. Thanks Albert and CJ.

Ditto.
Nice to see them back.

Thanks for your help with this.

Welcome sir.

Very good read, well done guys.

Loves a chat that bloke!

Just discovered this thread. Great read.

Thank you Albert and CJ.

TL:DNR 
 :wink:

Great effort guys, & a great read. Cheers.

Damned shame all the others have gone to god.

I think Reboot has his stored somewhere and may repost it if you ask him nicely.

And the one with Starry is in her forum.

I have 4 links to the early days Albert.
Mine, Megz, Stallion, and Sassi.
They are very old now.
They are from 2009!
We have been here a long time.

http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/573/blitzing-the-blitzers-reboot
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/574/blitzing-the-blitzers-megz
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/615/blitzing-the-blitzers-stallion
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/580/blitzing-the-blitzers-sassi

Here’s Bomber McVeigh
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/585

VD Sucks
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/592

Rama9
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/596

CB
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/605

That Nandoz chick
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/625

Matrix
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/636

Starry
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/645

Yay!
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/648

Boo!
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/658

Ooooh! TD!
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/684

This wasn’t the only thing you were wrong about No34- err I mean No32
http://bomberblitz.com/archive/News/696

Thanks, Reboot! I will try to find some of the other ones and will post them here.

Edit: And thanks, Gillsy!

Great work, guys.

I found plenty of great period pieces while searching too. So many memories!

Neagle
Reimers
Thumping Hawthorn in '09
Fletch breaking his leg in Brisbane (I actually flew up for that one - Bradshaw and Brown were kicking ridiculous goals from ridiculous spots)

I’ve never been more confused and bewildered and enlightened all at the same time as when I read VDs interview.

Disturbed genius