What a lot of people forget is that these guys are just ordinary guys, who usually aren’t too bright. Most of them are brought in from country towns, handed a wad of cash, and made to spend most of their time with other guys brought in from the country who have been handed a wad of cash, and then told to behave like choir boys. Its like lighting a stick of dynamite and complaining when it explodes.

The clubs and the league need to work harder on protecting these guys rather than letting them piss their careers up the wall.

If you want to read about the other news stories regarding national interests and politics then I suggest you start at the front page, not the back page of the paper or buy something other than the tele.

If players play coutry footy they will still be scrutinised. Craig Field was involved in a scandal about a robbery, has been ot of the pro scene for about five years.

We’ve all done a piss in a public place at one point in our lives. Gallen should have realised that as a public person, he didn’t have the same leeway as the rest of us. He should at least tried to be more discrete.

I haven’t pissed in a public place for over 25 years (unless surrounded by lots & lots of trees & bushes), so I like to think I’ve matured, & also come to understand better the signals my body sends to me.

At the end of the day, try to apply some practical common sense.

My understanding is that The Australian bought in Melbourne will contain some local content not found elsewhere. The paper has some editorial control in each major capital city. Each capital city has its own editorial staff.

For example, during the winter months, Melbourne, Adelaide & Perth editions of The Australian will carry more AFL content, while Sydney & Brisbane will carry more NRL content. Not much, but enough to acknowledge the different levels of support.

Master Blaster is correct. The Australian is the national newspaper covering events in every state & territory, including sport.

Most people in Melbourne will read the Age (I presume); in Sydney’s it’s the Daily Telegraph ( a mostly useless paper); in Brisbane it’s the Courier-Mail; in Perth, it’s the Westralian & in Adelaide it’s the Advertiser; & so on.

Most of the state capital dailies are cannon-fodder rubbish, which shouldn’t bear any resemblance to their popularity, nonetheless.

But this doesn’t distract from the fact The Australian is the national paper, & read by people who generally think & care!!!

Bird initially tried to lie and said it was his flatmate that glassed his girlfriend and then changed his story that she tripped and fell hitting his glass with her head. Bird is a steroids junkie and is prone to violent outbursts.
He is just lucky that he has a doormat for a girl friend who was kind enough to change her story so that he could get out of jail.
Or do you honestly think his girlfriend tripped over and her head fell onto his beer glass?

2. God gave Gallen, like all of us, the ability to make choices.

3. Gallen is a public figure, which carries both responsibilities & burdens.

4. If Gallen wanted a piss, he should have thought more of the consequences, & been more discrete.

Gawd, us humans are pathetic. We come up with all sorts of excuses for all sorts of behaviour.

Anyone ever heard of accepting RESPONSIBILITY for your own actions????????????????????

But brain surgeons, or any surgeons who save lives, that’s something to aspire to…..

Maybe you should read what Rocky said again.

And it’s pretty obvious what tax bracket Gallen is in.

You make it sound like soddomite.

I thought it was Melburnian.

At any rate i take it your not a fan of the Australian game, good to see you are even handed.

I took a women to hospital the other night after she fell over pissed and hurt herself and the glares I got from hospital staff let me know a little of what Bird and others have to put up with.

This is what I reckon. The Australian is a bit more snobby than the average paper and hence it is THE flagbearer for the ARU. The ARU hates Rugby League more than they hate the AFL, therefore The Australian is biased against the NRL and that means the AFL is let off the hook.

Sports head honcho is Patrick bloody Smith and he is a Melbournite and an AFL stooge who puts the boot into RL far harder and longer for lesser crimes than those perpetrated by AFL players. Like his ridiculous attack on the man on man SOO fight this year as opposed to his lack of venom when the aussie (small a becuase they didn’t act like Aussies) AFL thugs who beat the crap out of part time GAA footballers and thought it a great joke as did Sheedy. Like the assaults on women this year when AFL players were fouind guilty as opposed to Greg Bird and probably Inglis (wait on that one) who were found innocent.

Take that to another level and realise very few working class people get to go to uni and gain positions of power where they can spruik their biases as much as they like, but there are plenty from the middle class in particular and those at the top end who can spruik what they want and they do this via the media. The AFL has not had to put up with this as has Rugby League. Ther are a couple reasons why there is a media bias against Rugby League everywhere Union is played (except perhaps NG) including Australia.

This is not criticism of the game or players, but it reflects the society we live in and the fact that any publicity is good for the people that run the game.

Get ready for another Telegraph back page season of drunken brawls, pissing in the street, rapes, gangbangs, bashing wives and girlfriends and desperate clubs snapping up the bad boys after they have been kicked out of a rival team.

In a month where Rudd slinks back into Australia after his failed climate change talkfest, and then covertly relocates aslyum seekers from Christmas Is to Melbourne, just to name 2 examples, the biggest stories chased by our nation’s media are in pursuit of boozed up AFL, NRL and ARU footballers.

Obviously all Australians care about is football. They don’t necessarily think these players should be punished, but they do enjoy watching and reading about it.

Our football codes have turned into reality tv shows.

That just ignores the reality of ‘image’ importance.

Apart from a traffic offence has Tiger Woods commited a crime?

His sponsors have jumped or put him in the bottom drawer becuase they dont want their product associated with a tarnished image.

Redb