Graeme Leopards Leap

[impunity]

Correct. Temporary Dads will start posting next weekend

 

I'm looking forward to it.

 

I also wanted to mention that, while I was aware of Ken's passing away, I didn't know about your loss of a second team member (I guess technically first) during the course of this book. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friends. 

[Timothy M.]

Unfortunately, Tim said so many things about it, I'm slightly at a loss regarding what to say.

 

You did quite well and didn't repeat much.  I'm glad you wrote about Paul, I forgot to mention him, and I think you're right about him being important in spite of staying in the background much of the time. He was also involved in helping Neil in book 2.  

[Graeme]

My goal is to never have minor characters, but to have characters with minor parts. Paul is someone who may have had a minor part, but he was still a fully-fleshed character with his own motivations and goals. At least that's what I intended. I know there are other characters in the story where I didn't succeed in doing the same, but given the numbers of players and supporting staff in the club, I hope can be forgiven for not making them all distinct and memorable

[Graeme]

I'm reading the last chapters again, and I wondered about something  Do the VFL and AFL players of the same club sometimes train together? I can recall Peter saying he wanted Dad and the brat to always play adjacent to each other, so if Ty was being a forward, Jim had to stay in the midfield, because they had a connection and somehow knew where the other was or was going to do. My point is, if Ty and Jim get to train together, maybe the Blues' coaches will work that out too. Then it will be more likely that Jim gets elevated to play on th AFL team. Of course, paddy may have already told them based on his viewing of the Leopard games, and perhaps the coaches also noted it back in June.

 

Oh, and by the way you must have been laughing when I asked whether the clubs presented their newly drafted players at a press conference. I was thinking of Ty, but of course Jim is a real scoop. The comment about Pride FM's facebook page overflowing with comments had me grinning, too.

 

The VFL and AFL players will do some training together, but as they'll also do some training apart. To be honest, I don't know the break-up, but the senior list (the ones that can play in the AFL team) consists of 38 players, 22 of which will get to play in an AFL game (plus one, I think, substitute in case of injury). The rest will either not be playing (eg. recuperating from injury/illness) or will be playing in the VFL team. That means there has to be some interaction between the VFL and AFL teams, but I don't know the details.

 

And, yes, I was smiling at your earlier comment about a press conference. Ty didn't get one, but Jim did, even though he was a rookie and not taken in the main draft. I doubt Ty was jealous, though I'm sure he made a few brattish comments to Jim about unfair favouritism...

[Paqman]

Isaac's use of the term "head doctor" when talking to Dave before he was drafted seemed a bit insensitive.

[Timothy M.]

Isaac's use of the term "head doctor" when talking to Dave before he was drafted seemed a bit insensitive.

 

LOL, I thought the same for a split second, before I realized Isaac probably meant the leader of the club's medical team.

[Graeme]

Tim is correct. The head doctor is the person in charge of the medical team. It wasn't meant to imply a psychiatrist.

[Paqman]

I knew what it meant, it just could be taken either way :-)

[Paqman]

What happened to Dave seems to have happened to real football players over here. 4 professional players have said they were sexually assaulted as teenagers by coaches.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38090926

[Graeme]

Unfortunately, any job that means an adult is in a position of power over kids is a job that is attractive to paedophiles That's one of the reasons why there are so few male primary school teachers. They don't want to be accused of being paedophiles. Coaches and youth group leaders such as scoutmasters are other common jobs with this risk, especially as they're typically volunteer jobs that take place out of normal business hours.