La Dee-vina Comedia

Classic Demonland (and Picket Fence) "glass half empty" post. The "glass half full" response would be that if he gets a game in 2026, he's got himself super-fit and improved his skills. Either way, he's got another year to prove himself.

Not much point continuing with the "Gender: Not telling"

Your point? Has Chris Fagan?

We really do need an irony font so people don't misunderstand some posts on here.

The best jumpers in the competition have always been the simplest ones, especially those with a dominant dark colour contrasting with a second, bright colour. The standard Melbourne, Essendon, Richmond and Carlton jumpers are examples. The worst jumpers are those which are too busy with overly stylised motifs, such as West Coast Eagles. And whoever thought that the colour of sunburnt skin contrasting with yellow was a good choice for the Gold Coast Suns should have their design credentials stripped from them.

I don't know why I formed this view, but I had assumed the role was long-term strategy. For example, understanding where the AFL product will be in the longer term, such as (say) in 7-10 years' time. Our club should be making decisions on player retention and selection taking both a short-term and long-term view. The short-term decisions should be the responsibility of King, Lamb, Taylor and Richardson, and equivalent for AFLW. The longer-term decisions should be the province of the Board, CEO and Ned Guy. To make those longer-term decisions, the club needs to understand as best as possible what the competition will look like. What will be the rules of the game? Will it be a 19 or 20 team competition, or something else? What will be the future of Next Generation Academies and the Father/son, father/daughter rules? What will list sizes be? What will happen to the rookie list and other structural issues associated with list sizes? What will the salary cap be? What will be expected with injury management (eg, concussion rules)? And so on. There's a lot there for someone to be working on while not being distracted by the current day-to-day stuff.

I don't like the way some on here insult players by describing them as "spuds" and the like. But if we really had a player called Henson, it would be the one time where I would find it acceptable to call him a muppet.

Why was it the mid-season draft and not the national draft? Was he overlooked in the previous national draft or was he not in that pool of potential draftees for some reason (eg, injury? under age?)

Is it possible there's nothing wrong with Langdon and that he's running with Langford as a pacemaker, or just to keep him company?

Not sure this post stands up to scrutiny. (See what I did there?) The left foot of a right-foot kick takes all the stress of the body as it's planted on the ground during the kick. I would have thought the injury would be at least equally problematic whichever foot it's happened to.

Is there a particular reason why three games are at Mars Stadium? Is the AFL "promoting" the game in Ballarat as part of some broader agenda (either for the AFL or the City of Ballarat)?

Topical question: Will under 16s be allowed to access Demonland under the new Federal laws banning access to social media which come into force tomorrow?

The first time I read this post I genuinely misinterpreted it to mean something about an expectation that our full back would be retiring midseason next year.

Damning on Carlton. To be that experienced without reward suggests a lot of paddling without going anywhere.

Can't a club pay over the soft cap, though? Isn't there a provision which allows a club to do so as long as they pay a "tax" back to the AFL calculated on the sum that is over the soft cap?

Do you mean "for the kids" or "from the kids"?

The publishers should consult Demonland to find out who's photos should be used. Just look at the contracts thread and avoid anyone who doesn't have a contract beyond the current year. And then avoid anyone for whom there's been speculation as to the possibility of moving. If they'd done that this year, they would have known to avoid using McVee, Petracca and Oliver. It won't be foolproof (May could have left, but didn't), but better than what they do now.

Story is locked behind a paywall, unfortunately.

Always love the photos. But I'm amazed how many people who go to watch training are constantly looking at their phones. Reminds me of this excellent Leunig cartoon.

Keep in mind, though, that match sim training can't replicate a full game as you need 46 available players (fewer if the interchange bench is less than 5 a side). As a consequence, the match sim at training is always going to have more space. It's just a question of where that space is going to be found.

Don't forget Adams. I don't know if he'll make it, but he'll also be competing for one of those spots.

I think it's a great idea. Anyone remember him as a Melbourne player? Apparently he played 4 consecutive games in 1977...and that was it. (Source: the invaluable Demonwiki)

I'll argue that Thursday night footy is not the success claimed because of the collateral damage to Saturday night and to some extent Friday night football. I'm sure others will disagree with me.

Even if there is no change under the current broadcast rights deal, the attitude of DAZN, as the current owner of Foxtel, will be significant for the next deal. It is not helped by the AFL continuing to bow down to the Seven Network (as seen by relatively recent decisions, such as dropping FTA football on Saturday nights, the expansion of Thursday night football, and the introduction of Mildcard round (my favourite deliberate mis-spelling)). The AFL needs a competitive marketplace for the next rights deal and won't achieve that if it doesn't stand up more to Seven.

Sounds like your statement to Police when arrested for having Fritsch's jumpers in your possession.