Mazer Rackham

You'll need an XXXL jumper to fit all that on

Will no-one rid us of these turbulent Magpies?

4th possibility: he will mark on the goal line with 10 seconds to go and the Demons 3 points down, and will refuse to take the kick until the AFL acknowledge him as Living Person Josh Schache, Freeman on the Land.

Ooh, a game! I hope he kicks ... a hundred goals! (Thinks: checkmate!)

Clarko will definitely lay a trap for us. If everything goes well, and he's carrying his lucky rabbit's foot, and finds a four leaf clover on the way to ground, it might come off, and if conversely our coaches are slow on the uptake on how to counter it, you never know. A 9.11 to 7.13 boilover. A long shot but he will definitely try something. Most likely it will involve some bash and crash, but I also think it will involve trying to confuse our backline and get them out of their routines.

He has reached the stage in his development where, when he gets the ball, he does good or at least sound things with it, even under pressure. Knows where to be and where to send the pill. He's part of the glue that holds the team together. Something that I thought was impossible not so very long ago. Good on you Nibbler. GO DEMONS!!!

Big 5 club

Yesterday a miracle occurred: Crapps was pinged for a throw!

It's because he raised the middle finger on the way out and took some sly digs at the mighty MFC.

That there is "interpretation" of the rules at all is a joke and a travesty that the AFL have permitted to fester on for years. Everyone's bought into this bogus concept: the fans, the media, the clubs and even the AFL itself.

OK, I think I've spotted the flaw in your reasoning.

I don't understand when the ball goes out of bounds and there's a throw-in, it takes ages for the throw-in to occur. It seems like the field ump is taking a roll call of all present and making sure they understand their obligation not to bring the game into disrepute before permitting the throw-in. Then the boundary ump goes through his warm up exercises and rehearsals before winding up like a clock spring and hurling the thing in as hard as he can. Why the wait? The boundary ump should check to see that a field ump is on hand, then throw it in. It doesn't need to be a theatrical production, nor does it need to be consistent. A bit higher, a bit shorter .... these professional footballers are presumed to have the skills to adapt. Who gives a flip if the players are or aren't mentally refreshed and fully psyched up for the throw-in? Just thrown the bloody thing in!

The game is a hard watch these days and not because we're not winning everything by 100+ points. Bloke gets ball, senses a tackle coming, throws himself sideways to the ground to force a stoppage. Stacks on the mill and guess what? Umps call for a ball up. Like ducking the head, throwing yourself to the ground should be considered prior opportunity and HTB if tackled correctly. Or ... bloke gets tackled, gets taken to ground. Or maybe he's already on the ground trying to win the ball. BLAM! Tackler slams his full weight on bloke with ball, flattening him into the turf, where a player-shaped mud depression is formed. Not in the back? No, play on. There are players in the league who will sue in future, not from concussion, but because they are paper-thin from all the in the backs. Joke rule not enforced except in marking contests and then usually incorrectly. Or ... the slightest indication of "insufficient intent" and it's a free kick. What about the slightest indication of "throwing the ball"? Not scorched earth on enforcing that? No? It's a bigger affront to the spirit of the game. Some players have perfected the technique of diving on the ball and scooping it out two handed in one smooth balletic motion. Why would a league with integrity permit rampant throwing but then choose to crack down like Stalin on "insufficient intent" which by far is the lesser crime against humanity. Generally, the game is back to the "seagulls fighting over a chip" aesthetic which is ugly and borderline unwatchable in games not featuring the Mighty Demons. Then we see a player in defence, wins the ball, whisks it out to a teammate, who passes to another player on the wing, who ........ stops. Because there is no player from either side, in the forward half of the ground. Wait. Wait. Wait while every other player on the ground streams from one end to other. Right! Now there is someone to kick to. Take your pick from 35 of them, because they're all now in front of him. Ugly and boring. Too much interchange. The interchange rule fundamentally changed the game for the worse. More than any other rules change in 40 years.

We dusted off our game plan from the Brisbane game. Fumbly, inaccurate by hand and foot, and second to the ball. As added spice, our usually reliable defenders were clumsy and spoiled each other.

Goodnight North. Bris won't give up the lead from here. You can run on belief for so long, but what happens when little doubts start to nag away and the belief slowly evaporates?

What an ugly uninspiring match. Like the one before it. Flooding and barely restricted interchange has changed the way the game is played. For the worse.

Free cup of chips and a leftover Easter egg for anyone who showed up and said they barrack for the Suns. (On the downside, they also got free entry to the game.)

Scene: Channel 7 headquarters. A man wearing a double-breasted suit is sitting behind a massive mahogany desk, swirling brandy in a balloon glass and fidgeting with an unlit cigar. He reads from a single sheet of paper. The door opens. James Brayshaw enters, crawling, and lies prostate before the desk. JB: "Hail Kerry. I'm sorry I'm late, sir. I --" Channel 7 Senior Management for Audience Engagement: "the statistics show there was a drop of 0.2% in Audience Overall Amusement between 8:06PM and 8:09PM last Friday. That led to a fall in Audience Re-Engagement After Ad Breaks amongst 16 to 24 year olds during quarter time. What the hell? We're trying to make money here, a***hole." JB: "yes, sir. Sorry, sir." C7SMfAE: "go out there this week and say groovy things, win over the youth market. Be fully sick. Or you're fired." JB: "Yes, sir. Whatever you ---" C7SMfAE: "are you still here? Get out of my sight." JB (crawling backwards): "Thank you sir. Hail Kerry."

Rhetorical answer: the same number of times that a Sun had the ball after a mark or free and his teammates stood around watching rather than running to give him an option.

They have no heart. Played the last quarter like they were 6 goals down. Lazy timid spectators. And what a shockingly umpired game. How many soft frees given and real frees not given.

The only safe bet in life is to be a Demons supporter. GO DEMONS!!!

Look on the bright side. Our supporters knew all the names of the boys in the draft before any other club!

AHHHHHHHHHH. It still gives a warm glow when we are talked about like that.

This is the unspoken reason why GCS and GWS (and Tassie) must succeed. To keep the likes of Carl, Ess, etc, away from success.

Yes I do. Although that wasn't a "laws of the game" issue so much as a tribunal panel that allowed the proceedings to get out of control and permitted themselves to be browbeaten and bamboozled for literally hours by a [censored] QC, and forgot that they were running a sporting tribunal and not a frigging criminal law case where someone's freedom is at stake. Point remains though.