La Dee-vina Comedia

Congratulations to Sam Frost in coming 6th in Hawthorn's B&F. I suspect if he'd stayed at Melbourne he might only have played a few games this year. (I could see him as the first replacement tried after Tomlinson was injured, to be replaced by Petty after about three games of Frostball.)

JJ might not be the first Premiership player who didn't get on the ground. I expect there are other Premiership players from the old 19th and 20th men days (ie, pre-interchange) who sat on the bench all day and never had a run. I suspect there might also be instances the other way around with players injured in the first minute of a Grand Final and having to be replaced. They, too, wouldn't have played a part in those games. Also, didn't Bluey Adams run onto the ground in a Grand Final having been activated as the 19th (or 20th) man only to collide immediately with Des Healy and play no further part in the game? (Mind you, he was involved in another 5 Premierships, so of course no-one is going to question whether he's a "Premiership player"). I understand the point you are making. However, I'm comfortable with him being a Premiership player. But I also wonder what JJ thinks?

I preface this by saying I don't fully understand the points system regarding drafting. Nevertheless, I have a question I'm sure someone here can answer. If I understand correctly, clubs who match bids to recruit sons of fathers are given a points discount. That is, a Round 1 pick is normally worth something like 3,200 points, but Collingwood will only need to give up 2,400 points to get Nick Daicos if he goes at pick 1. My question is why is there a points discount at all? In this example, Collingwood already has a benefit by being able to exercise a right not available to any other club to choose Daicos and "jump the queue" to get him.

Bruce McAvaney commented on Petracca's Grand Final performance, apparently on SEN this morning: https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/10/14/mcavaney-lauds-petraccas-astonishing-grand-final-performance/

Appears to be a grassroots campaign for change at Hawthorn: https://hawksforchange.org/

We still have Covid, don't we? I still don't understand many of the arguments presented regarding removed freedoms. We accept government rules every day. For example, how would it be if we decided that we don't need to drive on the left hand side of the road? Or if we chose to drive knowing our blood alcohol level is greater than 0.05%? Or decided that paying tax was optional? More frighteningly, imagine London during WW2 if some people decided to exercise their freedoms by not conforming to blackout laws at the time? It's been 370 years since Thomas Hobbes "Leviathan" was published. If people really want to get their idea of freedom and the role of government from the internet, start here.

The car brand is as redundant as the team it sponsors. A match made in heaven.

Sometimes it's culture and sometimes it's business. Put yourself in a Geelong supporter's shoes for a moment. For the last decade, even though Gelong hasn't won a premiership, they've been in serious contention most years. That means Geelong supporters have been able to enjoy the football for most weeks for about 24 weeks of every year for 10 years. True, there hasn't been the ultimate reward in that time, but for most of every footy season, Geelong supporters have been kept happy because more weeks than not they have seen their team win. As a business model, that's a sound practice. It generates memberships and sponsorships.

I reckon there are two slighltly different questions: How many times have you watched the GF replay in full? (My answer: once) How many times have you watched the GF replay from halfway through the 3rd quarter onwards? (My answer: lost count)

There's one called The Histories of Pliny the Elder

And they could lose their livelihoods. Both work in industries which need licences (or perhaps registration). One holds a liquor licence which requires the holder to be a fit and proper person. I believe the other is a financial planner. Ignoring or deliberately evading regulatory rules is the sort of offence which licensing and regulatory law enforcement agencies don't like.

I get a bit sick of people blaming Kennett for the problems Victoria faces today. He was voted out of office 22 years ago - before we last played in a losing Grand Final. There's been plenty of time for subsequent governments to fix whatever they thought Kennett had damaged. However, I can completely understand people blaming Kennett for the problems Hawthorn now faces. Nevertheless, it's completely within the power of the Hawthorn members to overcome that problem should they have a mind to do so.

Which reminds me of the Goon Show and one of the characters, an undertaker, mangling the metaphore by saying, "You've hit the nail right into the lid". See The Moriarty Murder Mystery here

I suspect he's smiling not just because he's in Melbourne gear but because he's had a legitimate excuse to leave home .

Are coffin nails tougher than ordinary nails? I'll have to add this to the list of life questions that I'm putting together from Demonland statements, including: do fish really rot from the head? do cats really have hard heads? are snakes more likely to be mad if they are cut? is the statement "could be anything" always a compliment? I'm sure there are others, too.

It may not make him a better coach, but Mitchell has at least had assistant coaching experience at another club as well as Hawthorn.

I think you'll find Champion Data decided on review it wasn't a handball...

This implies you think Jackson won't be the number 1 ruckman. What role do you see Jackson playing after Gawn retires?

An interesting analysis of Dunstan's and Melbourne's motivations. Amusingly, towards the end, the article states, "By the end of 2022, Dunstan’s at least given himself a chance to earn being mentioned in the same sentence as Jarryd Lyons." This is the seventh time in the article that Dunstan and Lyons are mentioned by name in the same sentence.

My first recollections of Oliver, which would have been via pictures posteds on Demonland, were (1) that he was so fair that he looked like he'd turn into a lobster during pre-season training and (2) he looked like he had eaten his own body weight of said lobsters before he trimmed down.

I'll just leave this here

To be clear, if you have the Services Victoria app, you don't need to log into it. But you do have to make sure you have the latest version. You can tell if you have it because the lastest version includes a new box next to the green "check-in" button. The box has within it a graphical representation of what looks a bit like a piece of paper with three lines and a tick next to it. If you have that, click on it and it will download your digital certificate from the Medicare site. (I am unsure whether you have to have the Medicare Express Plus app downloaded first, or not. It's the Medicare Express Plus app which provides the digital certificate to the Services Victoria app, and the Apple Wallet.)

This thread should be preserved for the benefit of historians. It's a great example of two completely different lines of thought ending in the same conclusion. The first is that Hawthorn should keep Clarkson and removing him is the dumbest move a football club could make since the MFC parted ways with Norm Smith which will lead inexorably to long periods of pain for Hawthorn supporters. The second is that Hawthorn's list management in the last 5 years has been so diabolical that keeping Clarkson on as coach is the dumbest move a football club could make since the MFC parted ways with Norm Smith which will lead inexorably to long periods of pain for Hawthorn supporters.

Bing, this was very helpful and also comforting to know. But can you please explain a bit more about the bolded line? Is this the French (or EU) equivalent of a digital certificate that confirms vaccine status?

I agree. Although, if it were to be done it would stop the possible alternative of a commercial sponsorship arrangement which may have it described as the "[Insert company name here] AFL Premiership Cup". The question is: Does the AFL have the courage (or the budget flexibility) to withstand the huge financial offer which may come its way?