views in verse on 'the team'

Jarryd Hayne the best player in world rugby league today. A pacesetter with both the Australian and NSW teams but needed to consistently carry his NRL side till yesterday...Parramatta ... down 12-0 at half time needing to win to remain in semi finals race:

Parramatta 22 Manly 12




Parramatta, once the pride of Australian Rugby League with the most committed supporters in the game, has a heritage that includes some of the greatest players the game has seen : Thornett, O'Reilly, Lynch, Sterling, Kenny, Cronin, Price, Grothe, Ella, Hindmarsh. But of recent times, they have struggled to say the least.

But not their superstar fullback Jarryd Hayne. And, when he plays really well, they usually win. The rest of the side though to say the kindest thing one can ...do their best to try and keep up with him.

Yesterday, facing elimination from the finals race 'the team' appeared down and out at half time. Even their most ardent supporters would've said - "they haven't turned up today". Manly, are of course, one of the leading sides this year and have always 'done their darndest' whenever facing 'Parra'. Given that they were the greatest of rivals throughout the 70's and 80's. The competitiveness is always there still.

Whatever happened yesterday, we now know that every player who came out for the second half played with the level of commitment that was required. The same commitment that Hayne (who some say  to be perhaps the most complete player to ever play the game) showed in recently re-signing with the club that had given him his start. A rare thing today given the level of professionalism needed in this game.

The crowd also rewarded the team in turning up in record numbers for the last home game and they roared, and roared, as Parra mounted their comeback; with memories of the old Cumberland Oval warmly rekindled where once all the great players before Hayne worked their magic in decades gone by.

'Oft-seen faces'

Sitting on this craggy ridge...

Gazing at my fallen bridge...

The weather's hit me hard this year...

Not sure where to go from here?

Take this rambling road, our sole traverse

Has a mind of its own and a devils curse

Some days I have what it takes I'm sure

but others...

Well ...I'm not so sure

When it's not the floods

it's the constant sun

40 plus brings you right undone

Just reaching the cattle's often tough

Priming them ...I can't do well enough

Can I take this another year?

What will the banker say I fear?

These are times that stop you dead

And cop-outs nag 

So deep in your head:

Is there a fortune to be had?

Would my life be rich and glad...?

In shiny cars in far off places?

Save this farm and these 'oft-seen faces'?

(but you know...)

Surrender is for mugs & fools...

What use downing trusted tools

Where barriers may block our way

Belief arrives with the coming day

And although life can torment you

these 'oft-seen faces' see you through

They will always sustain you

The ones you love will see you through

Grahame J Flynn - Sent from my iPhone

CBA - it's a matter of trust!!!

CBA - it's a matter of trust

Views in verse on trust

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the clumsy handling of it's recent client crisis really needs to take a good look at itself. Honesty is always a good start.

The CBA has carried the (almost) unquestioned trust of the Australian people since I can recall from my childhood days. Days when we were introduced to them at school as ...'our bankers'.

We have seen them grow into one of the largest banks in the world on the back of our common nation building. Mr Narev (being a new Australian) may be excused  for not appreciating the full depth of this trust and the responsibilities it carries. He cannot however be forgiven for spinning more lies in the face of his overdue responsibilities.

The tardy response to this recent appalling wealth building by the bank and its focus on crisis management  falls well short of what CBA owes its 'family' of members. The excuse that there were a few 'rogue individuals' involved is utter rubbish.

To be allowing our peoples' lifetime endeavours to be committed to risky revenue options without disclosure or allowance for clients' individual needs is 'professional negligence'. When this is driven by sales schemes that encourage 'rogue-ish' behaviour of its sales teams 'year in year out', it is clearly appalling management not just a few crafty individuals to blame.

Anyone in commerce knows that objectives drive set goals and that these goals then drive behaviour. The individual salespeople do not create the sales schemes ...management do. This is a matter of planned deception. These stakes are always too high for retiring couples ...they were not given the whole truth

Anything the bank does or says now cannot excuse lies and misrepresentation to its customers when this had already occurred and been reported on (ABC - Four Corners). The late responses by Narev were indicative of crisis management and thereby the containment desired. That Narev should now go for the false spin laid out on these years of deception is unforgiveable.

Simple truth was called for. Refunds, where due, were of course mandatory ...purile lies to accompany it were utterly uncalled for and in the face of all of this historical deception this is simply too much!

What have the Board done since? ...let's get some transparency here. Where is the real accountability? Not good enough fellahs!


As a segway into reconciliation of wrong doings: The Abbott Government as though to apportion some understanding of the 'few suggested rogues' theory has coined a term 'conflicted' earnings instead of simple 'commissions' for the purposes of banking reform.

In so doing unerringly touching on the truth ...the sales people involved over many years would indeed have been 'conflicted' in whether to do the right thing or the wrong thing working within a scheme that so easily richly rewarded inappropriate behaviour.

*Escape to Paraguay

The last of the leaves
are now falling
A cold winter coming our way
The days too are
getting much shorter
A chill wind blows hard down the lane
Another bad day at the office
My best efforts going astray
Can I just suspend all reason?
...escape to Paraguay?

The train travel goes as expected
Jam packed and running late
Once home I'm pained by the sight of
the landlord
Leaning across of 'his' gate
I suffer a self-serving sermon
Of finance in deep disarray
Where can I go to find refuge...?
...escape to Paraguay?

My wife is busy with dinner
Kids screaming ...the TV loud
We kiss ...she says to me smiling
"How can you come home to this crowd?"
"I just saw the grim reaper at you"
"...I paid them early today"
What makes people go and
behave this way?
Can we ...escape to Paraguay?

The bank's taken leave
Of their senses
They give ...then they just take away
Call to 'explain' far too often
Who cares what they 'don't' have to say?
Sometimes it wells up inside you
Twisting your head every way
Today my thoughts turned to folly...
The Forests of Paraguay


* the the 1890's hundreds of hearty Australians in the face of disenchantment with their lives in Australia set out to start their lives again in the forests of Paraguay. 

forwarded from my I phone - Grahame J Flynn

Hansel & Gretel - Aussie Style - a hot new movie on the horizon!

Views in verse on fairy tales. 

I today spotted online a report released by Fairfax (Willitts) - 'Australia ranks 13th in world innovation'. I read it with some interest as I was thinking "well hey ...that ain't too bad". Reading on through the summary multi-columnar report I also noted that Australia is ranked therein as 5th in 'productivity'. I didn't read any further... 

I could only presume that this information was picked up by Bloomberg mistakenly from a fledgling 'movie to be' perhaps starring Kevin Rudd as Hansel and Julia Gillard as Gretel in a Union movement backed remake of the classic fairy tale. Tony Abbott would look great in drag as the wicked witch ...don't you reckon?

Hansel & Gretel

Hansel and Gretel
were soul-mate lovers
with an eye on getting to the top
They sunk their future into social media
And worked very hard full stop

Fast movers in society...
At all the events
they were there
Hansel looked after the people side
Gretel did the books
(...and her hair)

It was fine
Till Helga came along
An events girl with real 'smartz'
Seen all around town with Hansel
Winning all the bigwigs' hearts

Gretel heard rumours
Of this success...
concluding smoke must be fire!
When Hansel
denied any knowledge of this
Gretel called him a big liar

The company boomed
The industry swooned
Helga became the new face
As Hansel pushed the business along
Gretel dropped right off the pace

She lost control
of her back-office too
on hearing that Helga was pregnant
She left the business
Without checking the facts
Something Hansel further rejected

The next week they hosted
the media awards
All these things came to a head
As out of the crowd
Gretel roared loud
and politely shot them both dead

The moral is clear:
we needn't fear
of going into media...
But before finding fame
with three German names
You need to take care:

That there's
more of challenge
to all involved
than the maintenance
of one's own hair

from my i-pad - Grahame J Flynn