Mel Bourne

I guess it’s a balancing act. Though there are a disappointing amount of times AFL umpiring should face stern criticism from the media, I can understand the desire not to let the narrative get out of hand. Both because of the need to make Australian Rules umpiring a desirable vocation despite the low pay and general thanklessness, and also because if the overriding sentiment becomes “Umpires are useless”, it can trickle down in insidious ways to the suburban/country leagues. Obviously we can thank Toby Greene’s incident for the increased level of protection we have this season (ie the remonstration rule), but unfortunately it is warranted. Respect is always a two-way street though, and it will be a harder thing to mandate if more displays like we saw today occur.

I think an official complaint has more merit/power after a win.

Gawn/Jackson to be replaced by Spargo on Trac’s shoulders. Moving on….

Yep, inflation’s a [censored]. Regardless, I’m off to write a bunch “dEaR LOoK” cards with my left hand.

I agree that regrettably, the ice BBB is skating on is getting thinner and thinner. However I do think the delivery to him has just as much room for improvement. There are many times when I get frustrated that he’s so often caught out of position. But I’m not convinced he’s the one solely to blame for that.

Trac will return in excellent form after the bye. I can feel it in my waters. Dude’s been getting over a flu and those things can knock you around for a while without sufficient rest. He’s got enormous mental strength and when the physical catches up, he (along with Langdon who also will benefit hugely from the bye) will take us back to the top.

Really unlikely given the nature of the injury and the treatment required. Recovery is 3-5 months, then factor in having done no running in that time.

The statute of limitations should render any comment made in the ten minutes proceeding a loss to the filth as inadmissible in the court of Demonland.

Petracca, Smith, Langdon. Nowhere to be seen. Petracca in particular has been a shadow of his former self the past three weeks, or even more. But our forward line is a joke at the moment. A joke.

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. No connection. No composure. No forward line. No Grand Final. Forget it.

Mitch Brown is a very average footballer

Blaming Hunt and Tomlinson for our two recent losses is akin to blaming you for the decline in quality of the written word. Or to put it another way, THEY’RE not solely responsible for that.

Blaming Hunt and Tomlinson on our two recent losses is akin to blaming you for the decline in quality of the written word. Or to put it another way, it’s not THEY’RE fault

If there’s one team that wouldn’t understand the importance of trying to instil a healthy culture, it’s that turkey safe-house.

A lot of Swans supporters on the AFL Reddit page are saying Buddy deserved a week, and are annoyed the club is wasting it’s money. I really can’t see him getting off. Would be a blatant discrediting of the MRO.

We just look weirdly gassed tonight.

Show up, Christian.

Re-using THAT nickname is ridiculous, considering it belongs to the greatest full forward of all time. TMac is fine.

Why are people calling Tom MacDonald “Plugga” lately? It’s kinda silly bestowing another forward with that nickname (and spelling aside, it’s the same nickname) when that forward is, while a very good player, nowhere near as good as the actual, famous “Plugger”.

Nobody suggested otherwise.

This is not how life works. A surgeon who is terrible at their job and kills a patient can't use "Well YOU try and perform an appendectomy without killing the patient!" as a defence. It's my job to do MY job well, and it's her job to do HER job well.

I cheer heartily for the increasing-involvement of non-male people across all levels of the AFL, but listening to Kelli Underwood today, I had the terrible realisation that she will only become more unbearable as her confidence grows. God I wish we could adopt the Premier League approach of having only one announcer in the commentary box. They just call the play, relay useful information, and if there’s a lull in proceedings they just…don’t say anything. It’s great. The current AFL commentary-model is just wall-to-wall blah, with what feels like twelve different people trying to out-do each other with boring stats, pointless observations, unsolicited opinions and tedious puns.

This is hard to watch. We've looked really off these last two quarters. Do not want to see this again this season.

As an aside, was allowing De Goey back into the team in accordance with the “Do Better” report?

I’d say you initially thought you’d keep it to just one or two tins, but then got caught up in a round system with your mates. By half-time there was really no turning back plus - look out - Jono’s just pulled out a cheeky hip flask of Jamesons, fellas…