max - you have to ask if your mate who did 70 hrs of sim to achieve his initial command if he was transferring from the RHS of a 737 or perhaps from a 747 et al. It is more than understandable if he was not type rated at the time (holding a command endorsement on the 737 as a FO as TineeTim indicates) that he would require 70 odd hrs.
What is the length of training required for a seat swap and command upgrade? Again TineeTim has indicated QF use 28hrs in the sim. I am not arguing for or against longer sim training - just that if you are currently flying the type as a FO you may require less training than someone who is not current and doing their initial upgrade - again apples v apples.
Keg - not trying to deflect the issue at all - I don't know what the J* training package is, I will attempt to find out.