Good evening,
As we are now only a few short weeks away from kicking off the 2010 season, it is time for me commit my thoughts, dreams, aspirations and fears of the mighty Essendon Football Club's performance this coming season.

First off, it seems that this is one of our most injury-free pre-seasons in living memory. Of course, you need to exclude Jason Laycock, Scott Gumbleton and Jay Neagle from that assessment as they are perennially overweight or limping...

Let me start with the positives. I do like our defence. Tayte Pears, Cale Hooker, Dustin Fletcher, Henry Slattery, Courtenay Dempsey, and perhaps NLM all going around make for a tall-ish, quick-ish, skilled back half. If the odd player goes down with injury we can slot some others in like Michael Hurley and Darcy Daniher.

I am less sold on the mid field. No question that our new captain, Jobe 'Son-of-Timmy' Watson is now an elite 'in and under' mid fielder but he is not overly quick. Throw in Andrew Welsh, Heath Hocking, Brent Prismall and Mark McVeigh and while we have the ball, all is well, but on the rebound, that group is a tad slow. I know that Ricky Dyson and Jason Winderlich will be thereabouts but I still fear the defensive run with / shutdown element of our mid field. Alwyn Davey could be tried in the midfield to provide that defensive pressure with superior speed & run.

If you thought I was a bit negative about our mids, wait till we go forward! It is irresponsible to build a forward line around Scott Gumbleton and Jay Neagle. Not because they don't have talent, as they have it in spades but they haven't proven that they have the hard bodies to play 22 weeks plus finals. Mark Williams will be a 40 goal addition, Angus Monfries needs to continue his improvement, but Matthew Lloyd, Scott Lucas and Andrew Lovett will be sorely missed. Let's hope Hurley can continue on from his stunning debut last year. But it will be tough for the six guys down there to regularly kick a winning score I reckon.

I like the ruck division. Ryder is clearly a class act, Hille would die on the field for his mates and Tom Bellchambers has bulked up a bit and looks like a real candidate in the medium term. I have a lot of time for Brent Stanton as a runner who makes sensible position and gives 100%.

Wildcards in 2010? David Myers, Jake Melksham, Kyle Reimers and David Zaharakis will be worth watching. On the flip side, I think 2010 will be a make or break year for Leroy Jetta, Michael Quinn and Bachar Houli.

So, where do I think 'The Wonderful Wizards from Windy Hill' will finish? Certainly above Richmond and Melbourne, probably on top of North Melbourne but similar to the Swans, Fremantle, West Coast, Port Adelaide and Carlton so anywhere from 13th to 8th. Best guess: 10th. Let's hope Matthew Knights and the boys can prove me wrong. Go Bombers!

As for the flag? A Geelong and Hawthorn Grand Final for mine with the Hawks re-discovering their desire and will win the Big One.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

Robin and I attended our first MTC event for the year last night, 'The Drowsy Chaperone'.
.......
First aired on Broadway in 2006, this show is great fun and delivers super entertainment. An all-star cast turned out for this Australian season, including Geoffrey Rush, Rhonda Burchmore and Robyn Nevin to name three. But the entire cast was excellent with their vocals, dance and comedic timing entertaining a most appreciative extended-season crowd. The two-hour performance without an intermission just flew by.

We followed the show with a superb supper at the Curve Bar at The Arts Centre. Snapper for him, pork for her, all while doing some serious people watching. A great night out!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

We took a pleasant Sunday drive to the You Yangs National Park at the weekend for a picnic lunch and to exercise the Turbo.

Interesting Rock Formation - Canon 5D, 50mm (© 2010)

On the western side of the hills, some recent plantings of gums gave off a very distinctive reddish hue in the direct afternoon light. It looks fake, but it is absolutely straight from the camera with just with a little RAW processing in Aperture 2.

Gums near the You Yangs - Canon 5D, 50mm (© 2010)

The You Yangs Park was a bit barren I thought, the victim of some bush fires and the general drought conditions. Otherwise, the facilities, signage, roads etc were all fine. As were the views over the plains towards the bay and beyond. A very pleasant spot to visit indeed.

1997 Porsche 911 Turbo 'en route' - Canon 5D, 50mm (© 2010)

On the way home, we fell foul of the 21st century version of Dick Turpin and his highway robbery scam. Only now it is conducted by the Queenscliff / Sorrento Ferry Company, in the form of a $69 bill for a small car and a couple of passengers for a 40 minute boat ride. Yikes!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

I am getting very serious about making a golf comeback this year.

My membership at one of the finest golf facilities in Australia is being wasted by my playing far too infrequently, not to mention, badly. I really do need to re-focus and dedicate myself to the game. To assist in kick-starting my 'resurgence' I have a couple of lesson credits to use up with the pro at my club. Playing and practising will help my general fitness as well. So that is all goodness and sounds like a win/win.

So step one is to do the mature and responsible thing - go out and buy a new driver! Well, not exactly brand new, but a used Ping Rapture 10.5 jobbie off eBay.

Due to a full schedule this week I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it looks great sitting it the bag... Will post an update after my next round.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good afternoon,

After a pleasant NYE spent at home, the new year was kicked off in style with a drive morning.

911 Turbo at Flinders (iPhone) ©2009

I dusted the Turbo off, slipped Paul Rodgers 'Singing Muddy Water's Blues' into the CD player and in slightly inclement weather did a 'lap' of the Mornington Peninsula. A joyous 90 minute sprint from Mt Eliza, to Cape Shanck and back home via Merricks that also included a 15 minute pit stop for a home-made sausage roll and photo op at Flinders. Roll on 2010!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good morning and Happy New Year,

Where did all the previous posts go to from this blog?

They have been archived (by year) and are easily accessible via the links in the sidebar on the lower left hand side of this page.

Bye for now, BomberBoy