Pocock not going anywhere: manager

Rugby World Cup superstar David Pocock is attracting offers but his manager says the flanker remains committed to Australian rugby for at least another season.

Mick is still struggling to deal with Tone being ousted as PM. Being a redneck tr@ll on the internet is all he can do to ease the pain.

Are you the full quid?

Not the side at all. Just bemused why some say sportsmen should "just shut up and play footy". Why should they not give their opinion? Why are they any different to you and I? Why do you think someone taking an interest in the environment or wildlife is being political? Surely they are social issues that concern everybody, regardless of politics. Who wrote the rules that sporting heroes should be seen but not heard? Sounds to me like you have a problem that you are trying to project on someone else.

Holy crap! There is a militant wing of the ANZ! I'm going to have to look into changing banks! ;)

He'll definitely be in Europe after making 60 tests. There'll be a clause in the contract that then allows him to come back & play for the WB when needed while also making a motza in Europe, I've got no issues with that either.

Turn it up Utah, this is a weblog which accommodates people giving opinions. Subjects appear spontaneously and one reacts if a subject interests them. If a subject appears three times, or thirty three, one reacts. This thread is an example, a contributor made a comment – I see you reacted first then others followed, including me. Three weeks ago the banner might have read “Foley is a donkey.” Well, the sponsor and his mates then spend two days vigorously fighting off dissenters to that opinion. Two weeks ago it might have been “Foley is the key” and the same people launch into much the same exchange as they had a week before, give or take a few. Your expectation of only “Once or twice on a subject” doesn’t get a run there. They’ll doubtless rejoin the same battle next week too. Do the believers and unbelievers think “I posted on that two weeks ago, I’ll leave it at that”? The evidence is in Utah, the science is settled – they most assuredly do not! It matters little whether the subject is last night’s game; next year’s signings; “Pacific Island rugby is drowning, no-it’s-not, yes-it-is”; or “Greg Martin called for the ball : No he didn’t, Campese just chucked it. Anyway Martin is a goose.” A month ago there were six concurrent threads for a week at the AFL section on booing the not-to-be-booed. Contributors were jumping on each one simply to express their gratitude that this hitherto ignored issue was being addressed for the seventh week in a row, the cheeky monkeys. If a thread meanders into peripheral issues to the game, or if it is about peripheral issues – whatever it addresses people comment on it and people ignore it. They’re entitled to do as often as they want and that’s a problem to you? With your:

”at least half a dozen times where you’ve hijacked a discussion and directed it down this very specific path”

I fear you attribute way too much persuasive influence on my part. To see a jolly good hijacking you need to pore over the threads about the purity of statistical truths or those featuring wee Mr Cooper, Mr Graham or Waratah bias.

“It’s since been established that you have a pecuniary interest in the coal industry.”

Has it? That assertion has been made in this thread and I have wondered at its genesis.

“The only conclusion that I can reach is that you are using this forum as a means to push an agenda.”

I love it when people make assumptions and then extrapolate wildly to arrive at well known factual facts. If that were the case why on earth would I be wasting my time preaching The Word, the Agenda, at a place populated largely by kiddies collecting player cards and hyperventilating about arguably on paper best in the world-ness of their fave? What good purpose would that serve? I’d be a dope if I wasn’t over in Hunan Province flogging exploration licences to the emerging middle class who’ll pay good money for them. As it happens I am happy to express what I know about the subject when it is raised here and you can take it or leave it. As an aside, I am aware – it’s in the papers - whether we like it or not outrageous outrage is no match for the power of capital owned by patient people – Chinese and Indian interests want what we have and they will succeed in getting it when it suits them. The bloke who owns the most shopping centres in Queensland is Chinese, they bought our biggest cotton farm a year or two ago and they’ve been busy acquiring vast beef cattle blocks throughout the north. You can expect more of the same from the Free Trade Agreement. Nah, my appetite for rugby is well satisfied elsewhere, in my Club rugby and with people who have a deeper knowledge, more comprehensive understanding and keener appreciation of the game however I do poke around here from time to time for amusement, as a distraction. Now, I have wasted enough time here on this, you’re not prepared to entertain that you might have the bull by the horns and I have other things to do.

By the way, Mick, it is clear that you are not a 'bogan' so why do you try to denigrate on the basis of a perceived country practice?

Just to be clear, Mick, your history is inaccurate because it leaves out the fact that, if we had waited for regulatory standards and democracy to 'catch up', the Franklin wilderness, the Rocks and the QVB would be gone for ever. In the latter cases, replaced by high rise. One can see from Perth how rampant 'legal' development destroyed the priceless 19th century heritage leaving a soulless city.

Ha, ha, you are quite pathetic Mick, trying to denigrate me as a 'country solicitor' with his 'shingle out' 'frantically trying...' etc, etc... This 'country solicitor' has done very well thankyou. Having practised in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast I am use to the city centric put downs from ignorant bogans. By the way, conveyancing and estates are good fee earners, but most of my career I have worked in civil litigation. Is that flash enough for you, 'Mick from the Gold Coast'?

Utah, Is it the side or the principle for you? How would you feel If Pocock was the voice for say the Koch Family Foundation? For me it's the principle as I strongly believe sportsman should stay out of politics until they retire.It's bad enough that our kids have the green propaganda rammed down their throats at school they don't need to hear it from their sporting heroes. And yes dsat24, I do have a problem with the WWF (World Wildlife Fund)

Mick, leaving aside the merits of this mine and the coal industry, my fundamental disagreement with you, as in our previous exchange (which i had forgotten!) is your apparent view that if current regulatory processes have been followed then all is well and people like Pocock are to be condemned for their anti democratic civil disobedience. Most times, as with the examples i gave, history eventually shows the 'lawbreakers' to be right, and we owe them a big debt of gratitude for their 'lawlessness'. Time will tell with the Shenhua mine. On the mining industry generally no doubt a debate for another place but the resemblance to the tobacco industry in their lobbying and activities in third world countries is uncanny.

The difference is they didn't land in prison because they did not order bombing is public places killing woman and children. As saintly as Mandela is perceived he did lead the militant wing on the ANZ during the struggle. Gandhi and King resolved matters peacefully.

But that's the problem Mick. It's not you just giving your opinion. Once or twice on a subject like this (which has nothing to do with rugby, and is very specific in its nature) would be you giving your opinion. I think I could count at least half a dozen times where you've hijacked a discussion and directed it down this very specific path. It's since been established that you have a pecuniary interest in the coal industry. And yet you continue to push this angle. The only conclusion that I can reach is that you are using this forum as a means to push an agenda.

Zero Gain - disingenuous much? I suppose that is the lot of a country solicitor out west with his shingle out for conveyancing and deceased estates who is frantically fast tracking his knowledge to capture the new and exciting fees potential in CSG – which is an entirely different scenario to the coal industry under discussion and you know it. I have heard of George Bender and I agree with the view that since his death public debate has been hijacked by some people, professional anti-gas activists, politicians and a Sydney shock jock who are far from pure in their motives. You have marked my work here many times Zero Gain and you do not like me much. Why don’t you just say so, come on, you can do it man. I’m done with you.

“That’s right. An agenda driven rant.”

No, just a bloke who sees misrepresentation on a subject about which he knows a bit and who is expressing an opinion based on that. I could say nothing - the reality is the more uneducated ignorance there is about the matter the easier my job becomes.

“every opportunity you get you overtake these boards with your thinly veiled campaign”

I see just one of me saying my say and several fellas snarling back.

"Your history is inaccurate. ... Likewise the Tasmanian dam. “Democracy’ belatedly caught up with what was right, only after the Hawke Government was elected in 1983."

Eh? "My history":

"The debate about their future ramped up to election issue level, Bob Hawke came to power in 1983 and it has been irrevocably protected for over 30 years.

reads precisely the same as "your history" AussieKiwi. I apprehend you have stopped listening. Even more so when I read:

"And people like you, in both cases, were expressing disgust at the feral greenies and unionists who dared to stand in the way of progress and jobs, and demanding that they be thrown in jail."

Where does this rubbish come from? "People like you"? I was then a young bloke embarking on a professional career (preoccupied by rugby and boxing) with no particular opinion on it all, learning from experts about, among other things, the importance of observing, analysing and forming an objective view on the facts because one might end up in court to substantiate one's professional opinion and it helps to arrive well equipped; similarly for subsequent work as an expert witness. "demanding that they be thrown in jail"? Scrum halves and annoying first fives who were too quick for me when I broke from the front row perhaps, yes. When I get to:

You .. emotional or financial investment ... filthy, polluted ... coal industry. Like the peddlers of tobacco, those with the opportunity to make a profit will continue to peddle their propaganda ...

I see that reasonable, objective people have left the building and I'm left with the observation ... My, my - you do get quite emotional don't you?

As do Mick Mathers, Michael Jones, Brett Robinson, David Wilson, Simon Poidevin and Willie Ofahengaue years – decades – after the spotlight has moved on, Sir Richie too. That’s just the loosies who come to mind. There is nothing remarkable about a modern professional rugby player being involved in voluntary work, it is encouraged to the point of expectation by their club, franchise and the ARU.

That's right. An agenda driven rant. You have a pecuniary interest in the mining industry and every opportunity you get you overtake these boards with your thinly veiled campaign. In addition, I'm not quite sure aussikiwi's response to you last time bears any relevance to my comments above.

. Your history is inaccurate. In the case of the Rocks, it was only after 'unlawful' protests and bans by the BLF and community groups, which actually halted development, that politicians belatedly came to their senses. The ('illegal') Green bans literally saved Sydney's heritage from 'legal' demolition. Likewise the Tasmanian dam. "Democracy' belatedly caught up with what was right, only after the Hawke Government was elected in 1983. Until then the protesters who occupied the site to prevent the supreme act of environmental vandalism were cast as criminals and arrested, just like Pocock was. And people like you, in both cases, were expressing disgust at the feral greenies and unionists who dared to stand in the way of progress and jobs, and demanding that they be thrown in jail. These are just two examples which demonstrate that your faith in regulation and approval is misplaced. In the case of mining, not only are the current environmental criteria inadequate, but the approval process is vulnerable to corruption, as recent ICAC hearings demonstrate. Then there is the question of whether this company will adhere to the environmental standards that are imposed. Shenhua has an appalling record of disregard for environmental requirements in China. And once the damage is done it is virtually irreversible. “The court heard the majority of the offenders live outside the area or interstate.” I said the majority of protesters were local, not the majority of 'offenders'. Some cursory research shows that your rosy picture of happy farmers wandering off to a prosperous retirement is simply not true. Even if it was,, it is irrelevant. This is not just about the immediate landowners, but about all the adjacent properties whose water supply is at risk as a result of the mine, and about long term damage to the ecosystem. There is still a great deal of uncertainty about the long term effects. Even BarnabyJoyce has said that it was “ridiculous that you would have a major mine in the midst of Australia’s best agricultural land.” You obviously have some emotional or financial investment in this filthy, polluted and increasingly obsolete coal industry. Like the peddlers of tobacco, those with the opportunity to make a profit will continue to peddle their propaganda about mining industry. But to get back to the main point, regulatory approval by bureaucrats is not, and never has been, a guarantee that a project is safe, in economic and environmental terms. Hence people like Pocock play an essential role in our democracy by highlighting the issues.