That good looking kid at school....

Great opening Scooter. I see we are in agreeance about the importance of the issue at hand (which is scary seeing as it is only the 3rd post of this thing..).

Anyways, I would like to regale you with a story about a boy. A fairly good looking boy. Actually, a really good looking boy. One of those boys at school that would be looking into the window of the classroom to see his own reflection without realising that the whole class was looking at him and pissing themselves. This fact however didn't stop the girls from throwing their pussies at him Eddie Murphy style. The blokes wouldn't admit it, but they were secretly envious.

This boy was a great athlete and had good size about him. In fact he was probably the best built bloke in the school at age 16. And you know when you're 16 there's a lot of blokes who haven't filled out properly yet, which really accentuated his size difference.

Now this bloke happened to be an AFL player in a school mad for rugby league. He was always travelling away to Brisbane for statewide competitions and by all reports went well as he made all the rep sides. Apparently he had earned the reputation of a hard man in AFL circles. I'm talking THE hard man in QUEENSLAND for under 16's.

I could never understand how this bloke could be such a freaking limp wristed weakling when it came to dealing with us rugby league types on the field. I am talking all sports that you play through school, like basketball, soccer, touch football and yes, rugby league. I mean here was a guy that was supposedly hard, had the physique of Ian Roberts in grade 11 and would shy away from contact in all sports and would never, ever under any circumstances, be able to take a decent hit to the body without whinging like he was trying out for the sequel to Deliverance.

Then it hit me.

He was like a living, breathing metaphor for the game of AFL. Flashy, well-toned, looked great, liked the look of himself, had many female fans, was labelled as tough by people in AFL circles only. Yet when push came to shove he was weak as piss, couldn't handle real physical confrontations and just lacked that manliness you need when you are in a balls to the wall contest.

And right there you have the fundamental difference between AFL and Rugby League. AFL is pseudo-hard.