Mazer Rackham

Toorak has really gone downmarket.

Draper's a poor man's Gawn but he's got something and it's a shame it's for the Dons.

Scintillating football. I guess what you'd expect from 13th v 14th. No, wait! One of these teams is alleged to be in the 8! Anyone know which one?

True. Cricket lost a bit of its soul when it legalised the chucker's action. The umps don't know what they're supposed to be doing. And I don't blame the umps. What kind of direction are they getting? The kind you get when you wave a magnet at a compass.

Peter McKenna regarded it as a sure sign that the player was about to kick a behind.

AFL would be very worried about GWS. They may have passed over the top of the hill as flag contenders, and still have no supporters. How's that going to work for them when they're battling for 11th and 12th? Suns look like they have more spirit and "go" and could be building something. Unfortunately "attending games of football" and "Gold Coast of SE Qld" are things that don't go together.

Blues are like MFC 2018. High scores, plenty of firepower, not much defence, will have some slashing wins and some surprising losses, will make finals riding on emotion and get found out at the pointy end of the season.

Oh, you fool! Talk about missed opportunity. She didn't mean "watch the footy." She meant watch Storm v Cronulla! Go Storm!!

Premiers really tested today.

Let's have a finish to this game that leaves both sets of fans frustrated and unsatisfied.

Dogs & Port still suffering from "WTF" syndrome. Are we good or aren't we? Coach keeps saying it was a blip on the radar, so why are we losing games?

What would you give for one of McKay or Curnow? We'd be unbeatable.

The "rule" was invented out of thin air introduced to address situations like Greene banging into an ump, Riewoldt viciously unloading on umps, and of course the missing 6000 umps ... gone missing because of the examples set by Riewoldt, Greene, and their ilk. And there were already rules to handle those situations: free kicks, reports. It's the AFL's own fault that they sat wringing their hands for long about these situations. One free kick in a tight game, one report of a Riewoldt ... the coaches would eradicate such dissent immediately. So typically AFL to bring in a "rule" for a situation already covered by the existing rules, only to be unable to enforce it because they hadn't thought ahead of time how to handle the different ways players might respond. So they've gone scorched earth, except for the incidents when they've let players from various teams whine and groan without penalty. They AFL have lost control of the officiating of the game. No wonder the umps have such a hard time of it when the ship they're on has lost its rudder.

Nothing in the rules about asking for clarification. So no free kick or 50 can be awarded!

No, the word dissent does not appear in the rules. And there already was a rule about abusing umpires, disputing decisions,etc. A free kick is the penalty. Not a 50 metre penalty. In the 50 metre penalty section there is no mention of abuse, disputes, etc. Nor is there mention of players making faces, waving their arms, showing disappointment, or anything else that might bring down the guillotine. So the AFL have basically made up and are enforcing (if random application of it can be called enforcing) a "rule" which isn't in the rule book. It's so sloppy and amateurish. The AFL are the only major comp in the world that are so casual about their own rules, to the point where even they don't really know what the rule is. And in another "how AFL is that" situation, the 2022 rules are not on the AFL web site. The 2021 rules are, under a video explaining the 2017 rules. The 2022 rules I found on a Qld Aussie Rules site. To end on an up note, each year's rules show pictures of the previous year's premiers. Max is immortalised in the 2022 AFL rules. GO DEMONS!!

Horrible scrappy game. Can't get over how many players are one-sided.

For Chrissakes. Have these umps forgotten which team is which?

It would be hilarious to see North come back from here and win this.

So we've got 3 "rules of the week"? I hope the umps are getting a bonus.

Henry VIII was man ahead of his times but not that far ahead. It was Henry II actually. Then some [censored] went out and stabbed he priest and Henry's troubles were only starting.

Yes, completely new fence surrounding a concrete ring that marks the boundary of the surface.

They have not.

Your roaming correspondent passed by today and noted lots of activity. It seems they have laid down a base of finely crushed rock (the light grey in the pics) and are now non-stop covering it with what looks like a very sandy loam. trucks dumping here there and everywhere and a bobcat smoothing it out. Pegs are laid out showing the final height of the soil. Looks to be about 15 - 20cm. The ground is noticeably wider than before.