Engine Room fan in the outer David Thurling shares this thoughts this week on the difficulty all clubs face when trying to fit all their star players into the salary cap. “It would seem almost an insult to see skipper James Hird being ‘elevated’ to the Bomber’s veteran’s list for season 2004. Hird, who will be 31 at the commencement of hostilities next year seems to have stumbled upon some mystical fountain of youth after years of battling against injury. His form over the last half of the this year has been nothing short of Brownlow winning. Had it not been for a calf injury in the early part of the season, well who knows. If anything, he defies the term veteran and looks fitter and hungrier than most 23 year olds.” Click here to read Thurling's full column.