Not Properly Looking

Now that I’ve bought a place I always find it interesting to hear people whinge about the price of houses these days. It is so hard for a young person or young couple to afford to buy a house they say. A newly married man rang up talkback radio last week saying how he can’t find anything lower than $400,000.

But does he want to buy a house or an address?

This person probably needs to drop his standards a little, not too much. If he’s after the posh address then he needs to get off his high horse and take a dose of reality. The reality is that there are plenty of 2 bedroom units around Blacktown, Parramatta and everywhere in between for around $250,000. Some of these are brand new. There’s also a fair few 3/4-bedroom houses on decent blocks of land for about $375,000. Or go in between and get a 2/3/4 townhouse or villa from $250,000. Especially around Wentworthville.

People who want an address will no doubt struggle to find something decent for less than $500,000. So I recommend that this man grab hold of his $400,000 house as it’s probably as low as he will find.

USA News With Added Funny

For those of us who have may have a slight interest in what’s happening on the other side of the world but find reports from CNN too dull and boring then rest easy, there is an alternative. One that will make you laugh at the same time as informing you of the hard-hitting issues in the USA.

Cable Television has produced two satirical current affairs shows that are bound to inform, educate and split your sides in hysterics. Originally there was The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (pic top right). This was followed closely by its successful spin off The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert (pronounced: Coal – bear Rep – pore) (pic bottom right).

The news is real and correct. The people interviewed are real. The reporters may be fake though, you be the judge. Both hosts offer something different to the viewers. They are very different which is why they run successfully back-to-back in America and on the Comedy Channel here in Australia.

If you are like me and have no idea about what’s going on in the USA then I highly recommend you give these chaps a go and tune into the Comedy Channel (on Foxtel Digital) most weeknights for your dosage.

Judd Factor A Joke

It appears increasingly evident that we have a bunch of untouchables in the AFL. These untouchables never get free kicks payed against them yet get so many payed towards them. Most are deserved but frequently enough you wonder whether the adjudication would have changed had it been any other player. More serious incidents are dealt with leniency by the Match Review Committee and the Judiciary, if it even makes it that far.

West Coast’s Chris Judd is one such untouchable. He was involved in an incident last weekend in West Coast’s loss to Hawthorn in Tasmania. He was reported for eye gouging Campbell Brown after being tackled. Video shows him clearly clawing at the face of Brown near his eyes. Whether he was gouging is hard to tell. One thing is for sure, Campbell Brown is no softie so for him to react the way he did he had to be at the very least contacted in the eye region.

Jeff Farmer from Fremantle got suspended for eye gouging earlier this season for 6 weeks, and I clearly remember Barry Hall a few years ago getting 5 weeks for merely clawing at the face of Port Adelaide’s Matthew Primus.

Judd was given a one-week suspension if he were to take the early guilty plea. He decided to contest the charge and ended up being let off by the tribunal. For Judd to face the tribunal contesting a possible one-week suspension for eye gouging is simply ridiculous. Even taking into account his relatively clean record, a very serious charge of eye gouging deserves at least four weeks as a starting point. I wouldn’t have cared if he got it down to one or two in contesting the charge but from what I saw he deserved to be rubbed out for some amount of time.

It’s one set of rules for some, another set for everyone else.

Supporting Laundry

You could say that we’re not really supporting players just the clothing that they wear.

Tony Lockett

Famous for winning a match off his own boot for St Kilda. This is despite being down by about 50 pts at three quarter time. It was one of the greatest comebacks in St Kilda’s history. Big Plugger also didn’t hold back when dealing with the hard-core supporters at the Members End, giving them a verbal spray after putting St Kilda in front nearing the end of the game.

Infamous for one of the ugliest incidents ever seen on the SCG. Swans player, Peter Caven, was leading towards the ball about to take a mark. That was until Lockett’s elbow connected with Caven’s face and he was out for the count with multiple fractures to his face not a mention a massive bought of concussion. Lockett for his trouble received an 8-week suspension.

Tony Lockett came to Sydney in 1995 and led the revival of the AFL in Sydney by kicking tonnes (100 goals in a season) in multiple seasons. He was a star winning the Coleman Medal in 1996 and 1998. An All Australian in 1995 and 1996. He kicked the match winning point in the 1996 Preliminary Final against Essendon to gain entry into the Grand Final. He then went on to kick 6 goals in the losing Grand Final against North Melbourne.

Wayne Schwass

I remember him having a cheap shot at Swan Troy Luff in the 1996 Grand Final. I took and immediate dislike to him and of North Melbourne.

Schwass came to Sydney via a trade at the end of 1997. He went on to play some of his finest games. His damaging left foot penetrated into the forward line.

Peter “Spida” Everitt

I always found him gregarious, arrogant and a big show off with the way he did his hair and the significant ink work that he has had done. Also he managed to rip apart games due to his height and radar like accuracy in front of goal.

He ‘finally’ joined Sydney via a trade at the end of last year with Hawthorn. The move is starting to pay dividends as Spida’s dominance has led to two good victories in consecutive weeks against finals fanciers Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs.


I didn’t like all three players. That was before they whacked on the red and white. All of a sudden they look like better people. They were never really bad people in the first place, but their sins were definitely forgiven. Especially when they became match winners for the right team.

Gun Alley

10am on April 24, 1922, in the Old Melbourne Gaol the fate of Colin Campbell Ross (below) was sealed. He was hanged for the murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke. Alma had found on 31st December 1922 naked in Gun Alley in the middle of Melbourne. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.


Author and historian Kevin Morgan became intrigued in the story viewing artwork inspired by the story of Alma’s murder. Morgan felt compelled to search deeper into the story. This book is the product of 10 years of thorough research of transcripts, interviews and other historical documents.

Once Colin Ross was arrested he was already considered guilty by the media and the general public wanted the blood of whoever committed such a heinous crime. The police were under pressure from the outraged public to produce a conviction and Ross seemed to fit the bill. Except that they could find sufficient evidence to put him away. Through some apparent coercion, aided by a large reward (the largest ever at that time) some became willing to provide evidence to help achieve that conviction.

Kevin Morgan has put in a lot of hard so that the reader doesn’t have to. It is still very detailed and full of information but the layout and brevity of the chapters allow for easy reading.

It is very intriguing and the pay off at the end is worth it when Morgan traces Alma’s final moments using evidence from witnesses who had seen her that afternoon and puts forward a very compelling theory as to who was the real murderer.