La Dee-vina Comedia

Where there's smoke, there's often just smoke.

If I understand the system, it's the players who decide whether to nominate for 6 or 18 month contracts. Thinking it through, it suggests to me that those who choose the 6 months option have more confidence in their abilities and expect to be able to sign a longer contract once they've been at the club for a short time. That new contract would presumably provide them with better terms (ie, money) for the subsequent 12 months than if they had been signed on an 18 month contract from the outset.

If this is the criteria, I reckon Walking Civil War should make it on to most people's lists. Her levels of devotion more than compensate for any deficiencies in other areas.

If we can't win with this team, sack the coach! We'll be playing with five on the bench. Might seem unfair, but I like it!

Whether its a 6- or 18-month contract for these players, can both parties agree to extend the contract at any time?

I'd prefer to interpret this as meaning our kpf's will hit their straps in 2024 and 2025.

Oops. SEN needs a new atlas.

I think sons of former players are under enough pressure without having the added burden of the same jumper number.

Club's industry report suggests Petty may be in doubt for this weekend. On the other hand Turner should be available. Even if Petty is available, I think I'd prefer Turner anyway. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1566112/injury-report

St Kilda scored the last three goals in junk time when we'd parked Gawn, Salem, Petracca and Viney on the bench. With Petty already subbed out, our tallest forward was Fritsch (or McAdam - I don't know how tall he is). It's not just that four of our best were off, but also the message that would have sent to the remainder that we had switched off.

I thought he only played one game. Was it more than that?

McAdam could not run in the last quarter. He looked completely spent. I'm not sure he's fit enough, but I also know we need to get games into him. Nevertheless, I would replace him with Tholstrup for the Freo game. We should be getting games into him, too.

6. Gawn 5. Salem 4. McDonald 3. Viney 2. Tomlinson 1. Neal-Bullen It feels mighty unfair not to include Petracca, Langdon and van Rooyen in the votes, but so be it.

Final ins: van Rooyen, Hunter, Langdon, Tomlinson Outs: Lever (inj), Howes, Billings, Brown (all omitted)

Maybe he is there and you just can't see him...he's such a chameleon

Picking players as emergencies may be used as encouragement. But we have traditionally chosen an appropriate mix to cover any forced late outs. As such, we shouldn't expect the three emergencies to be the next three players in line. It's more likely to be something like the best tall forward/ruckman, the best defender and the best onballer/wingman.

Flower is clearly the best I have seen. But I didn't see either Barassi play in his prime or Norm Smith play at all.

Glass half full approach: We only play as Narrm for two games a year. If that's the reason for losses, there are 21 other home and away games for which we should be fine.

Well, that was unexpected. I was sure it was going to be Petracca.

It's an interesting article. It's disappointing that there are apparently only 3 indigenous coaches in the AFL system at the moment. According to the article, the other two are Xavier Clarke at North and Jason Williams at Port. Has there ever been an indigenous senior coach? (Barry Cable? Polly Farmer?)

And yet Peter Ryan in The Age decided that Petracca was the fifth-best player on the ground and gave him 7 votes (with Reid, Waterman, Kelly and Barrass each getting 8 votes).

Sorry, but that's not true. This year we've added/tried Neal-Bullen, Salem and Pickett (for more centre bounces than in previous years). We've also tried Langdon nominally forward at centre bounces with Neal-Bullen on the wing. As to my opinion on changes for next week, given the assumption that Lever will only miss one match, I can't really see how moving Petty to the backline for a one week stop-gap role will help him regain form. In my view, he should either continue forward and relief ruck (unless its not good for his foot) or play at Casey. Tomlinson should come in for Lever. Langdon should replace Billings, unless Windsor needs a rest. Van Rooyen for Brown is the only other change I would make. (If Petty goes out, I'd play Tholstrup for a bit more mobility forward of the ball and to give the kid more experience.)

6. Neal-Bullen 5. Salem (the only "clean" Melbourne player all night) 4. Oliver 3. Petracca 2. Gawn 1. Viney The top three deserve their votes; the last three were just the best of the remainder.

I assume the number of flights is actually double...that is "there and back". Is that correct? Which raises a separate question: Do any clubs play a triangular (three flights) trip, such as Perth to Melbourne to Sydney then back to Perth, for example?

Which one is the myth? That we moved him on or that we offered him a three year deal? (Or neither of these options?)