Mazer Rackham

Hunt looks to have bulked up and may have lost some flexibility. May come good yet as his body adjusts. Or maybe he's lost the X-factor that made him a viable AFL player? Also oppo coaches may have worked out how to limit him. Force him on to his wrong foot, etc.

1954 all over again. But what happened next ... ?

There are laws against that, you degenerate

Demon win - check Blues loss - check Pies loss - check Dons loss - check Tigers loss - check Things are not too bad in the world of footy.

This is the price to be paid because of our finish last season. Round 22, had Brisbane on toast. They had given up. But we put the cue in the rack, gave them a sniff and they nearly toppled us. Round 23, less said the better. It sent a clear message to the entire comp. You're never out of it against MFC. Then the boot camp fiasco reinforced the message. Mentally questionable. This is going to be a long and bruising season. Every game will be bruising, every win hard fought.

Gabba v similar to MCG

If the AFL ran international cricket ... Demetriou would have called Lehmann and Smith telling them they were about to be nailed Bancroft would have been made to swallow the sandpaper There would be no charge of ball tampering. The whole thing would be put down to governance failures Smith would be sent to France for a year on a management study course Lehmann would score a gig with a management consultancy firm Warner would spend a year in New York learning to be a barista Smith would eventually present the Alan Border medal Everything would be the fault of the media. The players would all be brave, hard done by, Some numpty would sue the ICC

It's only trying to keep pace with the modern game!

Seconded, for same reasons

The DEVIL??? I suppose we are the Demons .... still .... it feels like it's one step removed from being sponsored by Collingwood.

It looks like you already did, and a week early!

That's going to take 16 weeks and by then the season is as good as over. How about something more realistic .... like my time machine which we can use to draft Ollie Wines and Dustin Martin.

At a minimum Smith & Warner should be sent home, serve out bans. Others should have to pay a price too. But the actions of the cricket board and/or ICC will be telling. Do they really want to root this out, or will they (try to) wriggle out of it? The game of cricket may be done and dusted before we live this one down.

Bancroft-gate was a stupid, reckless folly which should be quickly put to bed by cutting out the rot. Primarily, Warner. But Smith also has to be stood down. The EFC drug thing was a club-wide systemic attempt to subvert the entire competition. And the competition managers got involved to cover it up. It's like the difference between a robbery at a 7-Eleven and organised crime. The Aus cricket board now have a say in whether they are complicit and just as rotten.

Ha ha, yes, the only silver lining to come from that debacle was that Eddie cracked a [censored] and reappointed Nathan.

Buckley up in the coaches box looked like he was seeing Aussie rules for the first time. "What the hell is this? Is it a sport? What's going on?"

Watts has scored a goal. Hand back AAMI & Gosch, plough Casey and sow it with salt, deregister the playing list and put them in the draft. Dissolve the MFC and offer our place at the G to Essendon. We have no right to participate in the AFL.

Michael Christian explains the decision: "Oh look, we all got caught up in the romance and excitement of those brave Dons coming back from their awful victimisation. Gee, they're brave. It's like a movie. Actually, it's something biblical. The prodigal son. And how about that Joe Daniher! And Dyson. Ah, Dyson. And Michael, and Jade, and Jake ... and all the boys. They're like my second team, except it says in my contract they're my first team. So then ... when I saw that bloody animal coming in like that from the side, I just saw red. You're just not allowed to try to get the ball off a player who's so much braver than you are! I'd suspend the whole lot of them if I was allowed. That's what the new 12-man commission is going to-- oops, I think I may have said too much. Scrub that."

Look at it this way. What if the AFL loved us (yes, use your imagination), Channel 7 loved us, the media loved us, and Petracca was knocked unconscious. Fairly or unfairly, doesn't matter. And Bruce was reduced to tears by the horrific spectacle. The player who hit him would be made a human sacrifice.

Douglas is expendable but Merrett is "so brave" and plays for an entire club that is "so brave"

Would that mean two Dustins? Yes, that would make that commentator cream himself.

A giant meteor destroys the earth Nuclear war breaks out China crushes us economically Price of pies goes up by 50c MFCSS is a virus that can't be killed. Aren't there better ways to engage without worrying about [censored]?

Welcome to the club. I broke my usual rule of watching with the sound off. Those commentators have completely forgotton what they are there for. The half time break seemed to be more about the commentators. The game itself, maybe absorbing for Crow/Don fans but mostly it was the modern tradition of seagulls fighting over a chip. Not entertaining. I didn't even watch to the end. Umpiring ... good to see they have suddenly become aware of some rules that are written down and are supposed to be adjudicated every match ... like the "protected zone" ... kicking 15 metres ... but even with these "new" rules they manage to rule on them as randomly and inexplicably as they do every other rule.

You underestimate the power of the MFCSS! It is your destiny!!

Playing lists change but whipping boys don't. We can't sit around doing Jack. Watt's a DL poster to do? Wouldn't be right if there wasn't one of our own to lay into.