Demonland

6 of 9 goals from frees.

Blues have had a lot of frees in front of goal.

He won't go anywhere but if he did it would be back to Perth.

Basically in junk time as far as I'm concerned.

All the high fiving and touching of the face and head is making me very uncomfortable. Contact sport aside.

I thought it was a Nuffy suggestion during the week but surely the tech exists to superimpose crowd and noise for the TV audience. No crowds feels so sterile. Seems a no brainer to put advertising tarps on empty seats like the Richmond one behind the goals.

My Carlton mates are praying there won't be a Round 2.

Can't believe the captain's shook hands ... Oh wait it's a contact sport.

This is so bizarre.

Eagles team is very strong. Full compliment.

Who are you tipping?

CHARTER FLIGHTS, MASKS ON PLAYERS FOR COVID-19 AVOIDANCE Fremantle players have been spotted wearing masks at Perth Airport, one of the many measures AFL clubs are taking to avoid coronavirus while travelling this weekend. Six clubs are flying interstate - Fremantle, Geelong, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Port Adelaide - and all have taken or will take charter flights to avoid exposure. They’ll also be housed on dedicated floors at their hotels.

Some late rule tweaks. Runners will be allowed on the ground after goals, as per the 2019 season, in order to share messages from coaches to players. However they’ll now also be allowed twice a quarter for a maximum of 90 seconds, during live play. They’re also not allowed to be on the ground during the final three minutes of any quarter, except after goals - so it’s just those two-a-quarter runner uses that aren’t permitted. The league has also confirmed a 17-game season for every club, with each match containing four quarters of 16 minutes plus time on. Quarter and three-quarter-time will last eight minutes, while half-time will last 20 minutes.

I'm friends with a couple in New York who are reporting the same thing. Have had mix of fever, sore throat, body aches and headahces for over a week. They otherwise feel relatively fine (except for the guy who has a fever. his wife who just has some headaches and body aches is otherwise fine). Other Aussies and Americans they have been in contact with in the past week prior to the more "stringent" measures in place now report similar ailments. None of the them can be tested and they've tried very hard. They just don't fall into the category that can be tested. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Most likely they will be fine and recover but the numbers reported are probably not even in the same ballpark as what the infection rate actually is. We should be testing, testing, testing. To bring this back on topic and relating to the tale of my friends in NYC you can be relatively fine and still pass this thing on. We all should be being a lot more careful than what I am witnessing (myself included) in everyday life. I consider myself relatively fit, not elite professional sportsmen fit but fit nonetheless and I would warned against playing a contact sport. Not sure why it's ok for the AFL. I have to agree with Optics crowd. It send completely the wrong message to what we should be preaching to everyone in this society to stop or slow the spread. I love that we can watch footy. We've been dreaming about 2020 since about Round 9 last year (probably since 20 mins in the 4th quarter of Round 1). I just think they are making a big mistake in what this is telling the public. Stay safe Demonlanders.

Coaches taking a Pay Cut. Senior coaches have offered to take a pay cut to help their clubs through the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. Damian Barrett reports on afl.com.au Keep it quiet: Selfless coaches agree to huge pay cut

I am writing this knowing that the AFL has deemed that the opening round of competition will proceed but fully believing that it should not. The world is going through cataclysmic change as a result of the overwhelming spread of the Covid-19 virus and I agree that a distraction like sport would be good for the public. However, while the physical threat to the population is bad enough, there are other issues to be addressed including the mental health of the community and the effects on the economy, business and leisure which are profound. Then there is the effect on the sport itself. While many activities are being postponed and cancelled to permit the isolation of participants and thereby minimise the possibility of contracting or passing on illness to the vulnerable in the community, the AFL has forged onwards with a business as usual approach, albeit without the crowds that often give the game what we describe as “atmosphere”. But can we really claim that the show must go on when the health and well being of our elite sporting persons - the players - is at stake? Compare us with the American National Basketball Association which cancelled its season last week when the first player tested positive. Yesterday, it was revealed that one of the game’s superstars Kevin Durant is among four Brooklyn Nets players to have tested positive for the coronavirus. Will we only follow suit when inevitably one of ours is found to be infected? And what then will be the effect on our national game? The AFL has deemed that the show must go on and so it seems it will. Over in Perth where it’s always a difficult place for visiting sides to win, I expect Melbourne to make a good fist of things. I’m expecting the team to be much fitter than this time last year. We should see a great midfield battle with the team at close to full strength there, a stronger defence than the one the club could muster last year, but perhaps still not enough up forward to beat the Eagles on their home turf. And despite the fact that the affirmation of that home crowd in favour of West Coast will be missing, they remain one of the competition’s frontrunners and, by the end of the day, they’ll be the best in show. West Coast by 13 points TEAMS WEST COAST EAGLES B Jetta McGovern Duggan HB Gaff Yeo Brander C Sheppard Barrass Hurn HF Redden Darling Sheed F Ryan Kennedy Cripps FOLL Naitanui Kelly Shuey I/C Ah Chee Hickey Nelson Petruccelle EMG Hutchings Schofield Waterman Williams MELBOURNE B N Jetta S May J Lever HB O McDonald J Harmes M Hibberd C E Langdon C Oliver A Tomlinson HF A Neal-Bullen B Fritsch J Viney F C Spargo T McDonald A Brayshaw FOLL M Gawn C Petracca J Melksham I/C T Bedford M Brown J Lockhart K Pickett EMG M Hore L Jackson T Sparrow S Weideman Melbourne Football Club: Injury List: Round 1 Kyle Dunkley (heel) — available Sam Weideman (ankle) — available Nathan Jones (Achilles) — test Braydon Preuss (knee) — test Joel Smith (quad) — test Mitch Hannan (groin) — 6 weeks Harry Petty (groin) — 6 weeks Aaron vandenBerg (foot) — 3 months Kade Chandler (finger) — TBC Harley Bennell (calf) — indefinite Kade Kolodjashnij (head) — indefinite Aaron Nietschke (knee) — season

No Jones or Salem according to this tweet.