Not that I ever think it would happen, but I reckon there’s merit in the brains trust of our three major winter footy codes sitting down together in the same room, and bouncing around a few ideas, specifically in relation to the punishment of foul play.

Sitting in the comfort of a lounge chair in ‘expert’s corner”, it’s pretty clear all codes have elements that work well, and others that simply don’t.

Once again last week, the folly of the AFL not having a red and/or a yellow card system surfaced, with the Adelaide Crows severely disadvantaged by the bumping incident that left Izak Rankine heavily concussed, and a spectator for the rest of the of the game.

The culprit, Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston, incurred no immediate penalty, and went on to play an important role in his team’s victory. In short, the Crows were left out of pocket, Port cashed in.

It’s of little consolation to Adelaide that Houston has since been banished for five games – what would have been fairer was an on the spot penalty – “10 in the bin Sir, off you go to the naughty chair!” Even a rugby style red card – Port down to 17 men for 20 minutes, Houston gone for the arvo, but able to be replaced after the penalty time elapsed.

Could an AFL team “one short” complete against an opponent with a full complement of players? Who knows, but who owns the problem? Don’t pole axe your opponents and you won’t have to worry.

The temporary red card is one “law” rugby union has right. There’s plenty that are ridiculous, starting with the yellow card for (instinctively) trying to intercept a pass and not succeeding. “Downward movement of the hands” – that’s labelled cynical, and typically punished with a yellow card and often a penalty try. All because one player didn’t have the skill to pass to another at the right time. Let’s reward mediocrity, shall we.

Rugby league don’t. In the 13 game, it’s just a knock-on , scrum, other team’s ball. As it should be.

The tunnel ballers are also finally understanding that the old rugga-ba-leeague edict, “you can’t run without a throat” is no long acceptable in modern day sport. Blatant high shots are at last being policed and penalised, so to the deliberate targeting of the little guys, the halves who regularly do the kicking.

But as was demonstrated in Origin 1 this season, when Blues’ centre Joseph Suaalii was dismissed for a late, high shot on Reece Walsh – another little guy – the code could still do with rugby style Red card – 20 minutes playing with 12, the offender gone for the whole match, but the team able to run on a replacement after that. No point punishing the spectators who’ve paid good money to be there – the integrity of the contest should be retained, and that’s unlikely if it’s 13 v 12 for 75 minutes.

Substitutions and interchanges are another opportunity for shared learning between the codes.

Rugby has now eight subs for 15 players – three front rowers, the heaviest, strongest, and slowest, routinely get subbed in (en-bloc) soon after half time. Not sure how that contributes to player safety, given the opportunity it presents to monster much smaller blokes who’ve been busting a lung for 50 or more minutes.

Any chance we could re-introduce the element of fatigue? Once upon time, it was the trump card of the little, more agile blokes – in all codes. Now they’re just fodder right until the full time siren sounds.

At least the NRL and AFL only have four subs, and interchanges are being carefully monitored. In league, it’s now 10 instead of 12. Years ago in the AFL, it was unlimited interchange – run ‘em, run ‘em off as you liked. Now it’s down to a cool 75 – sure, bigger field, different dynamics, but we’re still levelling the fitness playing field.

Underpinning it all of course, is player safety. Perhaps that’s an argument against fatigue – you’re more likely to hurt yourself – and others when you’re spend?

Who knows – my armchair expertise doesn’t extend that far. I just know that good ideas can come from anywhere. Even the opposition.

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An update on desert demon runner Sal Powell, who as we reported in May, is attempting to become the first Australian, to complete all five “Racing the Planet” ultra marathons in a calendar year.

Powell conquered the African Namib Desert in April, followed in quick succession by Desert No 2 – the Gobi in Mongolia in June. The number one supporter of Nerve Connection Foundation is now preparing for Jordan, the starting gun for that race to be fired on September 21.

Powell has recently been boosted by a sponsorship from the Bindaree Food Group, who’ve agreed to supply all the meat she can eat in a year, a protein bank pretty important when you’re attempting to run 250kms across a desert in seven days.

“I hope our marketing staff have crunched the numbers on this,” Bindaree’s Andrew Simpson laughed. “Based on the calories Sal’s burning, we could be up for six figure sum!”

***

Exciting news, folks! We’re apparently only a week away from the opening of Queens Wharf. Not all of it, just a small portion, but we’re getting close. And only two and a bit years behind schedule.

The “official” line is that Covid had a lot to do with the delays, but there are plenty of other, more robust theories floating around, most in some way connected to the venerable folk from the CMFEU.

One good source has “Effective Production” across the Queensland construction industry at 2.8 days a week, which would be impressive if construction was carried out over 2.8 days. But it’s not. It’s measured over five – six if you include the option of working Saturdays.

There’s no specific figures for Queens Wharf but I’d bet pounds to pennies that it’s doing nothing to bump up the industry average.

Leading construction lights reckon you can set your clock by the timing of the stop work meetings and street protests. As we know, it’s all about the safety of the workers.

But when a Thursday morning rally kicks off with a union official gleefully announcing “what a great way to start the weekend!”, you can understand where the productivity figure of 2.8 comes from.

We’re yet to get an update from the would-be Queens Wharf tenant who was told he must use one of two accredited CMFEU plumbers for his restaurant fit-out. He had the job pinned for around the $35K mark – $40K max. The two quotes he received were identical – $240K a piece. Yeah. Nah – might have to come back to you on that one.

It’s hardly a bold prediction that there will be at least one vacant space when the whole Queens Wharf she-bang opens in a couple of month’s time.

***

The froth was blown off quite of few beers on Wednesday night as one of Brisbane’s best known, home grown professional service firms celebrated its 50th birthday.

Ross Johnston and John Rorke, the “Oscar and Felix” of the local accounting world, hung out their shingle in 1974, building Johnston Rorke into a formidable practice before the firm rebranded in 2008, joining the national Pitcher Partners association.

In amongst all the colourful stories and client successes, a remarkable statistic emerged – of the 41 partners who’ve occupied a seat at the boardroom table since the inception of the firm, not one has been through a divorce.

You could put that down to co-incidence or luck, but with the national divorce rate hovering between 50 per cent and 55 per cent, it suggests there’s something a little different in the firm’s DNA – or the Kool Aid at 345 Queen St.