Northern Summer

Our winning record since 2002 probably isn't much greater than 8 wins per 29 games...

Premier Marshmallow eased the rules for travelling Victorians today meaning we can actually head over to Adelaide without isolating or getting tested, and attending the ground.

Half time and Brown apparently barely had a kick... if this continues all game, who do we bring in next week?

Reason Brown wasn't selected i'm guessing!

Thanks to Premier Marshmellow we can all book flights to Hobart next weekend

You might need to book them for a Port game in Geelong. A quick chopper Bronwyn Bishop style and a nice hotel!

Not sure where you heard this, or whether you’re joking? ?

Think you'll find the slow vaccine roll-out is due to a shortage issue world-wide. That's not really the federal government's fault. On the issue of the Victorian state government's handling of covid, and their interesting (some would say ridiculous) restrictions/rules, I wouldn't even want to guess what your view is. I'm guessing you 'stand with Dan' lol

I'm tipping Saturday night as per my original post. The broadcasters would rather have a top 8 side vs a possible top 8 side play in prime time rather than two bottom 6 clubs, despite Collingwood being involved. Given Port Adelaide v Melbourne will most likely be the following Friday night (as it is clearly match of the round), the AFL wouldn't be so crude to give Melbourne a 5-day break before games, especially when it can be avoided by playing the previous week on the Saturday night.

The question is when these tickets will actually go on sale or become available! Surely they won't allow MCC guest passes.

Brad Hardie isn't renowned for being reliable :-)

The AFL is leaving it a bit late to release the fixtures for these rounds. My tips are: Melbourne v GWS - Saturday 3 July (night) Port Adelaide v Melbourne - Friday 9 July (night) Melbourne v Hawthorn - Sunday 18 July (3.20pm) Melbourne v Gold Coast - Saturday 24 July (4.40pm) I really have no idea though. Thoughts?

With all due respect, I don’t see it as playing with the rules, but rather, working out what we are allowed to do. If the NSW government thought there was a risk, they would not have revoked their public health notice. They did because they do not consider there is a risk. The fear mongering by the Victorian government is beyond belief. I wish we had Gladys here! In regards to being able to fly, droves of people left Melbourne last year during the long lockdown to head to Howard Springs in Darwin as the NT was the only place Victorians were allowed into (albeit having to quarantine on arrival). Some did it to then head to Qld for the Grand Final. It was actually well publicised. The Victorian government or police never came out and said they fined everyone that did this or warned people against it for exceeding their 5km to either get to the airport, or fly in the air. The moral of the story - you can fly!

On a technicality basis I guess you are right if you live more than 25km from the airport. I’m not sure that’s the intention of the rule which is to prevent people going to country Victoria, so the odds of having issues would be remote, but I see your point. The government is getting enough negative press from these OTT rules that I can’t see them wanting to be knit picking with things like this. If the airport is within 25km there are no issues whatsoever.

The NSW covid notice has been revoked: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Documents/interstate-concerns-notice.pdf

While I get back to the ‘drawing board’ you might want to read the constitution champ! Why are all the airlines still allowed to fly? Are they flying with empty planes for the sake of it?

Won’t stop you going up. Theoretically, as long as you’re not travelling more than 25km to get to Melbourne airport. Once you arrive in Sydney, NSW law obviously applies. They have a notice up on their government website as posted, which says you have to stay at a place of residence apart from a reasonable excuse, so mirroring the five reasons for leaving home that Victoria has at the moment. Come Friday, you can leave home for any reason, you just theoretically can’t travel more than 25km in Victoria! So on that basis there should be no issue with going, and they will probably withdraw their notice (which they currently update daily). If they really didn’t want Victorians going up at all they’d close the borders. Gladys is the only premier that’s taken a bit of common sense with this all.

Wonder how many folk from Melbourne will fly up for the game?

Not really. We really need to go 7-3, if very lucky 6-4 on percentage, to ensure it.

Re-sign on one year deals. Will go around next year. Possibly 2023 and even 2024, who knows, if he's playing a specific role...

With lockdown likely to end on Thursday night there's no reason why Melbourne supporters can't go up for the game. Current NSW policy is you have to follow Victorian rules if you go to NSW. On that basis, surely if the lockdown is over, same rules then apply in NSW from there on...

1 case today following 57,000 tests... if the same thing follows tomorrow through to Sunday, lockdown may well end early and given the game is still a week away, some sort of crowd should be possible. Of course moving it to the following week makes a lot more sense.

Still can't work out why they don't move the Melbourne v Collingwood game to the following round when both teams have the bye. There's some reasonable chance they will be able to play at the MCG in front of crowds by then. At worst, they do what they would otherwise do.

Not sure about that. If you can still book flights and the border is open, I'm sure you can go to the airport, wear a mask there, wear a mask on the flight, and then find yourself in Sydney. It's what rules NSW applies once you're there that's the issue

The borders are still open. Doubt they'll be closed by Friday. If you haven't been in a tier one zone in Melbourne, why can't you then fly up and attend?