Great Expectations - The AFL Draft Is A Lottery

For all the scouting, for all the analysis and for all the speculation, the AFL Draft is still very much a lottery. And one that puts great expectations on young men who are still only 17 years old.

The 2012 AFL Draft took place last night on the Gold Coast and the leadup had the usual 'toing and froing' over who will go when and to what club. The footy media ran phantom drafts and supporter sites were full of discussion and excitement about this kid and that. Stars were born last night apparently and every club rolled out the usual proclamations afterwards about getting what they wanted and believing they had picked up a few bargains.

There's no guarantees in AFL football though and history is littered with high-end draft picks who never got a game or who didn't live up to the expectations of the media and supporters. For years to come, there will be even more speculation about the success of each pick with an inordinate amount of footy media space questioning why Club A went with Player B instead of Player C. Ah yes, it'll keep many a footy reporter busy and in employment for years to come all that talk.

The thing is, we're talking about 17 year old boys here. And all this coverage and all this spotlight puts enormous pressure on these kids to deliver. Because in many cases they are expected to change the fortunes of entire clubs that are over a hundred years old and are made up of forty-odd players and immeasurable numbers of support staff. Not only that, they are expected to have an impact almost immediately and if they don't, then obviously Club A picked the wrong kid and it was a waste of a good draft pick.

It's quite ridiculous and very unfair if you ask me as many 17 year olds don't have and can't have the maturity, determination and dedication needed to be a successful AFL footballer. Its just human nature. Certainly I didn't at 17. Perhaps even at all. But every year so much pressure and expectation is put on kids this age to be the next star and to be a club's saviour. Especially as the average career of an AFL footballer is less than four years so a teenager drafted at 17 is more than likely to have finished his career by the time he is 21. Still very young.

It's also complete folly to put so much trust in draft picks and the nuances of 17 year old footballers. I should know, I'm a Melbourne supporter. As has been widely documented, the Melbourne Football Club had a blind faith in the draft and young kids bringing it success but look what that has achieved. Or more to the point, look what that hasn't achieved.

Conversely, look at someone like Jack Watts. He's copped all sorts of criticism for apparently not living up to 'our' expectations but he is still only 21 and might have another ten years as an AFL footballer. Brendon Goddard was in the same boat for a number of years as well before he eventually became one of the top three players in the league by the time of his mid-20s. 

Yes, teenagers can't instil success without some sort of example being provided to them by older and more experienced players on what it takes to be an AFL footballer and to be a successful club. Clubs like Sydney and Geelong have understood that from the beginning and have reaped recent success as a result.

That's why I don't fall into the camp that expects Gold Coast and GWS to dominate in a few years time as I just can't see the draft and the draft only delivering a premiership in such a short period. It's blind faith to think otherwise and I think some harsh lessons are in for those supporters who believe that their latest 17 year old will deliver them the ultimate success.

It's a lottery that's for sure, and it would be wise for all this excitement and all this speculation to be reigned in a little. But hey, considered and rational analysis doesn't sell newspapers or get x number of website hits so I'm not expecting any massive shift in the coverage any time soon.

But beware the faith in a bunch of 17 year olds delivering an AFL premiership for your team. Trust me, I've had all sorts of experience in that and have the emotional scars to prove it.

EDM.

Expectations & Disappointment - A Week In Qld Politics

Well, what a week it’s been for the Newman Government. Plastered all over the front page of The Courier Mail every day, and not for any good reasons. Scandals-a-plenty with nepotism and clandestine contact with lobbyists and other family matters being revealed and discovered.

The biggest scalp so far has been former Minister for Housing and Public Works, Dr Bruce Flegg. A couple of sackings of staff in his office raised quite a few eyebrows before one of them turned on him and released a bunch of emails showing the Minister had lied about the amount of contact he’d had with his lobbyist son.

The nature of that contact also came out with other emails showing that the son was making recommendations on who Flegg should appoint to senior management positions within his department. Most children of Doctors ask for a new car. Flegg junior asked for a new Deputy Director-General.

The revelations obviously meant Flegg had to resign and he did. But not without a mea culpa where he blamed it all on ‘sloppy administrative processes’ on the part of his former staffers and even had a go at the media and Opposition for dragging his family into the whole sorry mess.

Ah mate, I think your son brought himself into it and with your compliance. If he didn’t want to be involved in politics, why is he working as a lobbyist and attempting to take advantage of the fact his father is a Minister?

The other big story this week has been the continuing saga of Ros Bates, Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, the fact her son gained a public service job when thousands were being sacked, and her very own lobbyist register.

The son and his job issue has been played out for months and is still the subject of investigations by the Crime and Misconduct Commission and Parliament’s Ethics Committee. Consequently, the inns and outs of it have been well-documented so I won’t go over them again.

But this week Bates was forced to correct her lobbyists register for the fourth time since April to include details of 11 discussions she’d had with a lobbyist Luke Myers, who is the brother of the Premier’s Chief of Staff, and a whole string of meetings she’d had with Santo Santoro, former Liberal Party Senator and probably the most notorious lobbyist in the State.

It obviously begs the question how such significant contact and numerous meetings with lobbyists could be left out of the report in the beginning. And it’s certainly not a good look for the Minister to keep having to come back and report to Parliament, that yet again, the original report was incorrect and incomplete.

Once or twice maybe you’d say fair enough. But four times really makes you wonder about what’s trying to be hidden. And her reasons for this latest correction? “Teething problems” and errors made by her staff. Or in layman’s terms, ‘the dog ate my homework’.

And then the inevitable happened yesterday. The Premier took to the airwaves defending his former and current Minister and crying poor over the media coverage. “These things happen”. “Nepotism is just how the world works”. “Lobbyist contact is fine as long as its (eventually) declared”. “Labor was worse”, was basically the jist of it.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with having contact with lobbyists, and yes, it’s not unethical to talk with lobbyists just because they are family members of other Cabinet members and their senior management.

The thing is though, the ‘other side did it too’ claim misses the point by a country mile. There was certainly no shortage of scandals from Labor over their 12 year reign, particularly in relation to lobbyists, but Newman and the LNP promised us they’d be different and that they’d hold themselves up against a higher standard of ethics and integrity.

In fact, they promised us that ad nauseum during the election campaign with one of their main election commitments being:

"We will establish a real Ministerial Code of Conduct and set the highest standards of performance and behaviour of our Ministers and staff, including restoring the Westminster convention of Ministerial Responsibility."

So that’s where the public and the media’s disappointment and disgust are coming from. It’s not so much the acts themselves which really aren’t too dissimilar to what went on before under Labor. No, it’s about the fact the Newman Government was voted in because they promised they’d be different and they’d be better in terms of accountability and integrity.

That’s why there is so much dissatisfaction with these ongoing scandals and continual sagas. Our expectations were raised, but now they’re being dashed on an almost daily basis. And trying to hark back to say “the other mob did it” as an excuse just doesn’t cut it in those circumstances.

But good luck to Minister Bates in her efforts to survive this latest scandal. Although lady luck has already smiled on her by ensuring Flegg’s ‘administrative error’ was discovered and revealed before hers.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, ‘to lose one Cabinet Minister in a week could be regarded as misfortune, but to lose two Cabinet Ministers in a week looks like carelessness’.

EDM.

Radiohead - 9 November 2012 - Brisbane

First, a disclaimer. It is impossible for me to be objective when it comes to Radiohead. I've always been a massive fan and await every new album like an Apple fanboy awaits the latest iPhone. I have spent an inordinate amount of time listening and watching (via TV/internet) these boys from Oxford so if you've come here expecting a critical and purely impartial take on their gig on Friday night, you're out of luck.

So yes, I have spent an inordinate amount of time enjoying the delights of Radiohead over the years. To the point of them almost being the soundtrack of my life. I've sat on the train with my eyes closed and my toes a-tapping. I've lied down on my bed with my head rocking and my hands a-flicking. There's just something about them in that they always seem to come up with the perfect melody or lyrical prose to sum up my particular mood(s).

However, I've never seen Radiohead live and in the person before. Friday night was to be the first time in the flesh then, and not even the prospect of having to trek out to darkest, furthest Boondall could dampen my spirits. I couldn't help thinking how good it would be to see them in a smaller, more intimate venue, but hey, beggars can't be choosers and the 'trek' was made with excitement and anticipation levels at an all-time high.

So my colleagues and I made our entry into the arena about 20 minutes before Radiohead were due to come on. As I moved down the stairs to the standing admission areas in front of the stage, I couldn't help but think back to the Brisbane Bullets and what used to fill these seats. We were in for something a hell of a lot different I knew that for sure.

And so it began. They opened with Lotus Flower and then Bloom from their most recent album, King of Limbs, before a classic from OK Computer in Airbag. Thom Yorke and his solo piano then brought us the unreleased The Daily Mail with a cheeky cockney accent before a suprising cheer went around the arena for Hail To The Thief's Myxomatosis.

Over the top of all this were huge screens floating above the band showing different images of each member in playing mode and providing quite a visual spectacle. From a close-up of Yorke as he played the piano in a look of pure concentration, to Colin Greenwood's fingers flying over and under the strings of his massive bass guitar. Bright red. Then green. Then blue.

By the time the tamborine intro from Reckoner came around, I couldn't help but feel like I was inside one of those kaleidoscope toys I had as a kid with the changing colours and images as you twisted the bottom piece. The song itself was just as beautiful and my mind pondered "is this what taking acid is like?" I was stone cold sober but things were getting a little bit religious.

Another classic Climbing Up The Walls got another big cheer and its chaotic brillance was all there to be seen. Mellow acoustic guitar and some electro that almost got the lighters out from the crowd, before it exploded into 'hard-and-fast' that meant you had no way of stopping yourself from moving. I noticed a small space had been created around me. Guess I was moving a little more than I realised.

Over the next few songs we had a newie in Staircase as well as some old school triumphs such as There There and National Anthem before the electronics returned via Feral and Bodysnatchers. And that was it. Or so it seemed. Or how it was meant to seem. Because no-one went anywhere. An encore surely.

And yes, they didn't disappoint. A few minutes later they returned to the stage to massive applause with the slow,early wallow of Give Up The Ghost from Kings of Limbs. Just Thom and an acoustic guitar started things off before Josh Greenwood joined in on the cello (is there no instrument this man can't play?). This continued with a loop of the first lyric which made it sound like Thom was actually duetting with himself. It was majestic. You could have heard a pin drop as the audience stood/sat in silence, mesmerised and awestruck.

The emotion continued with Pyramid Song before the strong beats of Morning Mr Magpie let loose and brought things back around to percussion and movement. This was one hell of an encore, especially as one was thinking each song would probably be the last and it would all be over. 

Alas, things had not reached any sort of peak just yet. Not by a long stretch. For the early bass sounds from Paranoid Android soon followed and a massive response from the audience occurred. While the band itself seemed a little disinterested at this point (playing it for the 1000th time might do that), the crowd certainly were not and a massive singalong, the first for the night, took place.

What came next was probably my personal highlight for night. If I had to pick one. I stood waiting for what was next as the band rearranged themselves and soon the intricate guitar intro to Street Spirit (Fade Out) was heard. For long time fans this was exquisite. The lone track from their second album The Bends (1995), and one of my most favourite tracks of all time. I sang along in unison to "Faaaadddeee Ouuuutttt Aggggaaaaiiiinnn" and the emotion nearly bubbled out before I shook my head at the end with a silly, mad grin across my face. Wow. Just wow.

And that was the encore. Or should I say Encore 1. The lads moved off stage once again but we all stayed and the slow hand-clapping commenced. The mandatory few minutes ensued and the band came back out while the floating screens arranged themselves in unison to act as a ceiling above them. It was a beautiful affect as it gave the impression they were inside a small, more intimate venue rather than a 12,000 person arena.

The hardcore bongo drum beat from 15 Step then filled the air as the lyrics began with "How come I always end up where I started". Again, my head was rocking and my toes were tapping as Thom looked like a new-age Ian Curtis jerking and pulsating across the stage.

All this before they moved effortlessly into Everything In Its Right Place. Another classic from Kid A (2000) and it was magnificent. It started off with its slow looped-over lyrics before turning into a jam of epic proportions. Each band member then left at different intervals until there was only one instrument (keyboards) being played. Build it up, and then bring it back down. Awesome.

The audience then stood/sat in awe themselves, trying to take it all then. Personally, I was exhausted from the emotion and from the experience. Really, an experience like no other. No-one wanted to leave though and the crowd stayed where they were. A loud cheer then came from up front and everyone looked closely for a sign. And there it was. The band were returning for Encore No. 3. Three bloody encores. Not in my wildest dreams did I expect this.

The heavy bass from Idioteque then blasted out from the massive speakers and it continued to rise into a mish-mash jam of electronics, percussion, rap-like lyrics and looped-over calling. In a way, it was almost too much despite its brilliance. A wall of sound that crashed into and through every one of our senses.

By this stage of the night the crowd were feeling a little delicate after what they'd been through and this last song came to an end with everyone in shock and awe at what they'd just witnessed. My colleagues and I filed out of the arena feeling just the same way and hardly a word was spoken on the long trip home.

It probably took the next day for it to all sink in for me. I woke up with that same insane grin and spent the morning thinking back to the night before and shaking my head all over again. Involuntary movements would occur as I found myself tapping my fingers or rolling my body in time to one of last night's songs while making a coffee or walking to the car.

It was that sort of experience. No easily-digested affair or a mere fleeting beige-like moment in time. It was intense. It was sublime. It was epic.

Sydney and Melbourne, look out!

EDM.