Nasher

My dad was 22 and hadn't moved to Australia from the motherland yet.

My mother was 11.

Not sure if this is hyperbole or reflective of reality, but it sounds great.

Bail I thought was a certainty on pre-season form. I'm surprised that people are talking about him as if he were a surprise. I don't love him by any stretch, but is clear best 22 at present for mine.

We weren't quick to get rid of Sellar. Inadequate backup is worse than having no backup, because is takes up a spot on the list.

I can.

That was definitely up there with Demonland's weirdest episodes.

How about Evan Gulbis for Tassie? 229 runs in the first (and only) innings and 4/7 bowling in the second innings. This guy has had the weirdest career - started out playing for Victoria as a batsman who could bowl a bit (batting at #3), came to Tassie as a bowler who can bat a bit (batting at #8), has done virtually nothing at Shield level with either the bat or the ball, then produces *that*. Amazing stuff. Apparently his score is the second highest ever first class score from a #2 after Wasim Akram scored 257 against Zimbabwe in 1996.

That's precisely the point - don't you think if it were something as obvious whiffy as that, at least one of the players would have the sense to query it? It would be a statistic fluke PhD worthy if every last player on the list just said "sure, no worries".

The implied counterfactual is that from where they were sitting, there was no reason to be suspicious (because the doc or Dank was telling fibs). Like Bob I find it hard to believe that if it was so obvious at the time, that not one of the 43 players stopped and questioned it. That just seems too wild to believe.

Some people seem to equate "I'd prefer Lynden Dunn stayed but wouldn't lose any sleep if he went" to "I hate Lynden Dunn and can't wait for him to leave". Frustrating.

He did that last time he was a UFA, a year and a bit ago.

I've liked what I've seen from Dunn so far this year, but honestly, if he goes, WGAF.

I'm surprised at how hard this hit me actually. I'm in shock, and feeling very sad for his family. I met Dean briefly back in 2008, his sons were young teenagers then, so are now about the same age I was when I lost my old man. My heart goes out to them and his wife.

How's "we know where we're at" compared to "I didn't see that coming"?

You were clearly implying that you believed the AFL had implicitly more credibility than other media outlets. If that was not your implication then why mention an the approval process at all? There is no doubt also an approval process for articles on the Herald Sun website, but that doesn't stop them from jumping the gun* as well. *I have no opinion on whether the AFL website or Damo Barrett have actually jumped the gun; talking purely in hypotheticals.

It looks to me from the outside that Clark is the furthest off. I'd expect to see Dawes first.

Get a frigging grip. A few injuries to key forwards = all our key forwards out for the whole year = Frawley gone. I worry about the condition of minds that automatically infer the worst possible scenario on a slither of information.

Well done on even bothering to respond. I wouldn't have. Needless to say, one who calls Clarke a "soft whimpish sort" after Clarke was 92 not out and facing the sort of barrage he got from Morkel is showing where their comprehension skills are at.

If that were offered as the end of season ladder I'd definitely take it! MFC in the top 8 and Collingwood and Essendon in the bottom 4.

We did have the ball 94 more times than they did though. It will be a lot easier to improve on our inside 50 delivery knowing that our team is capable of actually having the ball in possession. That's why I would be inclined not to worry too much about inside 50s as I might have been last year - we're winning the ball, we're just not using it well enough yet.

We don't need to elevate him until round one, so no, he has not been elevated. His elevation is a foregone conclusion in my mind though - he's comfortably in our best back 6 so long as Garland is out, and none of the other rookies look near it yet.

The software is not very clever when it comes to timezone management. I think Andy (Demonland) knows how to get around this one...? Moving this to the 'help' forum as well.

No player will ever have a line drawn permanently through their name - or at least shouldn't. Especially not before a match has even been played for points. Matt Jones might have done some damage to his chances of being picked for round one, but beyond that he will get every opportunity to improve and regain his spot.

If Dunn continues on the trajectory he is on, he'll make the full journey from one of the worst ever MFC players to play 100 games, to respected 200 game player. When Neeld went and Roos came, I mentally reset my thoughts and expectations on all our players, and none have had a bigger swing than Dunn in my eyes. He's firmly in our starting 18 for round 1 and is looking like a player of his experience should. I couldn't be more pleased so far.