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I’m in London. I almost certainly have a mild case of the virus. For me it’s not been dramatic, I’m 40 and in solid health. They currently only test here if you’re admitted. The first week was like a light flu. But the past three days it’s like someone standing on my chest (a very light person). I notice the work to breathe. I can fully appreciate the need for ventilators and the seriousness it could cause in others. I’m completely fine and confident I’ll recover without any need for a hospital visit. Regarding AFL! I was firmly of the belief they’d play a few rounds and then be halted by a surge of cases. Then infections would peak over a couple of months. At some stage, games could resume as Australia moved past the mass infection-at-once threat. But it seems Australia is trying for full containment. That appears different to the northern hemisphere, (which might be sensible, I’m not a doctor) I wonder what this will mean for the rest of the season? I had optimism, but not so sure now. Note- I know many people have far more concerning issues than if we’ll see football again in 2020. For those, I wish you the best and hope for the best.

This should have happened 20 years ago once they began compromising the fixture for tv dollars. If at the end of all this Melbourne ends up merging or dying I'll be lost to the AFL. I don't think that would've been the case in the past but the game on its own is not enough to keep me interested anymore. Without the tribalism of supporting the club I have since I was born, that my family support, footy as it is played in the AFL would hold little interest.

There's as much chance of a privately owned AFL club as there is of Geoffrey Edelsten inventing a cure for Corona Virus and bringing Christopher Skase back to life.

The local council elections going ahead in Queensland is just so wrong it defies logical discussion. You just declare the existing councilors elected for an additional term of six months and hold them then. If the politicians cannot do something so simple what hope do we have of managing this issue https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/27/queensland-elections-coronavirus-poses-lethal-risk-to-voters-experts-say

Simon Goodwin.

Did you say hello when they got into your cab?

The ignore function is wonderful at times like these.

Huge difference... Firstly there is a vaccine for the flu, it means people won't be infected in mass numbers and there won't be the amount of carriers. Secondly because of the mass infections there will be a high number critically ill who will need intensive care and we don't have the number of intensive care beds to cater for these numbers. It means a lot of people will die, a hell of a lot more than from the yearly flu outbreak. People who need critical care for other matters such as heart attacks, strokes, cancer, major accidents etc will struggle to get care because the beds are being used and the hospitals are full. Thirdly the % of people dying from this is higher than from the flu, so again the risk is a lot of deaths. ...and finally, I repeat there is no vaccine. This is a big enough reason.

If we lockdown properly and say get over the peak in 2-3 months, Footy without spectators could be back in July. Of course there are more important things than sport, but it can lift the morale of so many and in times like these and those what will follow, it can help the national recovery a little.

Recipe for disaster and the end of the AFL. Australia doesn’t have enough billionaires with the discretionary money and the few who might take it on will be like most business luminaries, around for the good times but go missing in action as soon as things get tough.

Whereabouts are you in London? I live in Ealing (actually just moved a week before they brought in the tougher measures). I've *touch wood* been able to stay healthy and avoid getting sick but I also know that Ealing is one of the higher rated areas which genuinely makes me worry about going out. That said if you're not far from me and need someone to drop off essentials (beer etc) I'd be happy to help. Like you I thought the AFL would get a couple of rounds out of the way before pausing the season, but it sounds like Australia is making a similar mistake to the UK in that they've got a foot in both camp. Containment, but not restricting movement/non-essential work. Mixed messages stuffed up the UK (London in particular which should have locked down 1-2 weeks ago), I really hope it won't happen in Australia.

I think they are missing a trick by including hairdressers and barbers as essential services. Close that loophole and anyone in dire need of a hairdo, trim or dye job that has had to resort to a really bad home made alternative is far more likely to stay indoors and self isolate. It's fine for authorities to appeal to our moral conscience in this time of crisis but it's our soft underbelly of vanity that they really should be targeting to help flatten this curve.

It’s actually very informative Thanks for all the above links guys

That was unbelievably good. Really honest and interesting insights.

1. Any player who had a heavily front-loaded contract in 17/18/19 2. Ross Lyon - Who will be (or is) the highest paid coach in the AFL in 2020. Freo gave him the RRRs; and paid him out in full for 2020. (He also gets icing $$ from channel 9). If they kept him on, he would have worked a lot more, for a lot lot less. 3. Any player injured round 1

Hard to believe that the Corona Virus can actually benefit a professional, but Goodwin is a massive beneficiary of it. Hard to fire a coach if you've got no money to pay him out He had six months to revolutionize our diabolical inside 50 entries, and all we got was round 24 2019.

I watched this Asian reporter when this all began to spread. She was interviewing a doctor from the US. She came out with, due to the last four viruses that had escaped from their infectious disease facility, do you believe this one is another man made virus? Well i almost fell off my chair when she said that to him, i was expecting him no it's from bats, snakes etc, but he had a long pause and gave the China is doing their best to try and stop the virus speech. She kept on asking him, not once did he say no it's not man made. Also when you haer from different news reports, no one has came out with yes it's from bats, iv'e heard bats, snakes and some other animal. This could be man made, and as a result that's why they are worried? Things just don't add up? With Sars they got that under controled with in a few monthes, there is something that's got them scared.

We are lucky so far. Look at Italy where there is a death rate greater than 10% of approx 80,000 cases. Once a hospital system is overwhelmed, the mortality rate increases massively. The only way for us to stop things getting to that point is to go into complete lockdown ASAP! This is nothing like the flu!

Currently, most evidence suggests you are unlikely to catch it twice. There are several cases where this is reported to have occurred, but it's far more likely that patients gave a 'false negative' test result between positive tests. Source: Professor Peter Doherty; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/doubt-over-contracting-coronavirus-covid-19-twice/12075878

A bit of a read, but this is probably the best article I've come across so far. It provides an idiot's guide to the underlying maths of how the virus spreads, and why some countries are doing so much better than others. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-26/coronavirus-covid19-global-spread-data-explained/12089028 In short: there's still hope avoiding the worst, but only if we get absolutely everything right from this point onwards. If you're not extremely concerned, you are being naive - but mindless panic achieves nothing. Also, the USA is beyond screwed.

Realistically, the biggest problem with this virus that makes it worse than the regular flu is that it's more contagious. That means that the number of people infected grows at a far faster rate. Current estimates (last I checked) are that around 5% of people infected will need hospital care, possibly Intensive Care. As of a few days ago we have around 2230 intensive care beds in Australia. That means 50,000 is the magic number. Once we get to there, people are unable to get into the care they need and they die from inability to access adequate medical care. You will also see people being denied ICU access for other things such as Heart attacks because the spaces are all occupied with people unable to breath, thus there will be a lot of secondary fatalities not directly attributed to Corona. The advantage of delaying measures is that it buys more time to prepare, meaning that we can create more spots for those patients and keep more of them alive.

Merging with Carlscum should never ever be considered or spoken about. i would rather the MFC ceased to exist than to join forces with those bastards

Plane ✈️ was absolutely full Could not believe it. Every person inside Suvarnabhumi Airport must have got on my flight. Day 2 Isolation

It is really pleasing to see that people are STILL buying memberships to support the club. Since last Saturday 317 people have effectively made a "donation" to the club, to keep it alive. Total as of today: 37,888

The Vic govt are rushing to convert one of the two ICUs at the RCH (Melb) into an adult ICU. Ward nurses at RMH are being retrained to work within their expanded ICU alongside the specialist ICU nurses. The old Peter Mac in East Melb is apparently going to be reopened for COVID-19. Sh#t is going to get very real in the next month. The introverts were spot on: stay at home, sit on the couch and avoid others.

If the peak is in 2-3 months, then we will be in the same position in 4-6 months as we are today in terms of infections, and we aren't playing any sport now. There won't be any football this year.

When the Tough get going... the Rich't have already left.

Drysdale-Salvo's

Ooooh, a hyphenated surname. That's a good start!

hope you drenched them in sanitiser, especially the druggies one

Whoever ensured our survival.

Worth looking at but the reason Geelong make the money they do there are reserved seats, super boxes and ground advertising from a clean stadium.For us to get anywhere near similar revenues would require us to hire the stadium for an almost nominal sum which is effectively what Geelong gets it for due to government subsidies. You may recall that there was a push for a 30,000 seat stadium in the Olympic precinct for the very reasons you suggest.

Thanks for this 'Jim' I've got my figures totally wrong, must have misheard what I was told. Looks like things could get even worse if we don't slow this thing down...

Who really had a good year in 2019? . Very few boys. However Gus is better than that and it takes a collective of our very good players to turn it around not just a handful. ALL IN.! Gus has plenty to offer yet his 2019 year wasn't as good as 2018 it was still fair and held his own playing mainly on the wing. 574 poss in 2018 and 90 less in 2019 he has plenty to offer at just 24 years of age. I am more than happy that he is playing for our club.

Tongue in cheek wish for resurrection of our beloved VFL. plenty of jobs for everyone as I recall. hope you and your family stay healthy

The information I have is that we have 15,000 intensive care beds in Victoria. The current modelling is that we will have a need for 100,000 within the next 3 to 4 months. I think that might just overwhelm the hospital system. Stay home...stay safe.

our best chance of wining a flag that year i reckon, Perth has been a stumbling block for us. Also Lyon and Ox not 100% didnt help either. But gee we were a nicely balanced team in 1994.

Surely we can organise electronic voting, for council elections.

Just watched the whole thing. Always had respect for Mitch Robinson as a player, while thinking he was probably a complete meat head but gee the guy speaks well. That was a better interview than any media type has ever had with Maxy. Thanks for posting it. That guy next to Mitch? Try placing your bloody mouth next to the microphone next time and keep your damn head still. Jesus that was annoying.

HB will now have the time to really heal. All going well he will be worth a lot more when this madness is over.

Absolutely it should be a sliding scale. Top earners (Dangermouse, Reiwoldt, Buddy, Dusty etc) should be showing leadership in this regard to help out their fellow players that are earning base salaries. Totally understand they're feeling a pinch as well but jeez there are others out there doing it a whole lot tougher.

Thought Angus was very timid in the first half (fumbled and hand passed one goal) but his second half Looked like the 2018 version Was neatly back in town.

Gary Hardeman's are one in a generation.

1. Belief: in themselves and the game plan 2. Luck with injuries That's it

By any objective measure, this more closely aligns with success than any other. If Richmond and St. Kilda maintain their current injury status (zero), they will finish top 4. We’re much better placed than last year, but need to reduce our ‘unavailable’ list further. She is, however, a long season.

No injuries.

Luck.