La Dee-vina Comedia

I'm pleased we were able to get him to 300 games. It's an interesting aspect of the club over the last 50 years that even when not in contention to play finals, we were unable to be appropriately respectful to so many players. His loyalty deserved to be rewarded and that we as a club were able to be loyal in return says as much about how we're now travelling as does the position we find ourselves in with just one game to go.

I'll be shocked if Lever gets any votes. He should, but umpires seem incapable of giving votes to anyone who doesn't start in the middle of the ground.

I'm just trying to think this through. Do you mean "middle finger" as in the traditional name for the third finger, or "middle finger" as the one half way between the two Goody is using which would be the...err.

As far as I can tell, the club gives 10 awards for players each year starting with the Bluey Truscott Medal for the B&F. Of the remainder, seven are named after players who had all finished playing for us by 1964 (Sid Anderson, Ron Barrassi Sr, Ivor Warne-Smith, [censored] Taylor, Harold Ball, Ron Barassi Jr and Ian Ridley). The remaining two are the James McDonald Esprit-de-Corps Award for Best Team Player and Troy Broadbridge Award for best VFL Player. I don't wish to remove any of the above, but there's a lot of living in the past with these. I think we should freshen up the awards with an award (or two*) named after a more recent player. And I think that player should be Nathan Jones. But what should such an award be for? Any ideas? My first thought is for the team's Most Consistent Player, which would have to be a subjective assessment by the coaches or Match Committee. It could be awarded to anyone, including the same player who might also win the Bluey, but, equally, it could be to a role player who does his job, week in, week out. Any other ideas? (*And there should be an award named after Robert Flower, too.) Edit: The censored word is the common abbreviation for Richard. Given the sensitivity of the auto-censor I'm quite surprised the next surname on the list made it through unscathed.

I'll give this post an 81/2.

Craig Kelly (the pollie, not the ex-footballer) probably has a cure for that.

Meanwhile, spotted on a scooter heading west on the Nullarbor is someone who looks a lot like this...

Given this award could be won by a player who doesn't win a Premiership Medal, it would have been better to call it the Gary Ablett Sr medal. Probably the best finals player never to have won a Premiership I've seen.

Can I just be sterotypical for a moment and point out many of the Melbourne ones are professional jobs while the sole Bulldogs one is a painted rock.

Actually, I think it's more a James Hird vibe. Like Hird, Bowey seems to know what he's going to do with the ball before he gets it. It means that he already know who's around him before he's got the ball, what he plans to do once he has it, and he also has the skill to execute. Very few players I have seen are like this. By contrast, Petracca is more like Pendelbury and Dustin Martin in that he appears to have more time than most to decide what to do once he has the ball and then executes beautifully. Two different styles, both highly effective.

Growing up in the late-60s, I remember that both Barassi and Whitten were called "Mr Football". I often wondered why they both were given the same nickname as it seemed odd to me then. Nevertheless, two genuine superstars of that or any era, so I can live with it. I'm just glad that with the demise of the formal honorific, we're not hearing today's equivalents being called "footy-bro".

Um. I suspect I might if I had that body.

The commentators (can't remember which ones) suggested the first two goals he kicked in this game were the best he'd ever kicked. I'd argue neither are the best goals he's ever kicked against Geelong, let alone of all time. Only a few weeks ago he'd kicked a goal after the siren to allow us to win the Minor Premiership. I think that's the best of the lot because it was done under the most pressure. Happy to argue with anyone which one is his best. It's an argument with no losers and anyone involved will have a smile on their face reminiscing.

I'm not sure I know any in person, but there are a few celebrity supporters including the aforementioned Julia Gillard and Chris Hemsworth. There's also Wil Anderson, Shane Jacobson and I think Mark Seymour from Hunters and Collectors. And the late Ernie Sigley. And now I'm done. Gillard has admitted she only became a Bulldog's supporter becuase she felt compelled to do so when she went to work at Slater and Gordon when Peter Gordon was still there. (That's not to suggest she's not genuine in her support. Unlike Paul Keating who claimed once to be a Collingwood supporter.) Edit: And Tony Leonard, ex-Coodabeen and now 3AW football caller

Did Taylor repeat kindergarten ten times? He looks at least a decade older than Beveridge. As to the signing, it's great that we have such stability in the back of house that Taylor has decided not to exercise his free agency rights. Talking of stability, there's a brief reference in today's Age to the seamless transfer of Chairmanship from Bartlett to Roffey pointing out how that sort of changeover mid-season could have been very disruptive yet is barely a blip on the radar.

Has anyone got any international pictures? If so, I'd love to see them. And if there's a good backstory to go with the picture, all the better.

I have no idea who this lady is but she was speaking earlier today at a WA Budget Breakfast function in Geraldton. I wasn't there. Is that a Melbourne scarf she's wearing? The colours are right, the timing is right...but are the letters on the scarf right?

I suspect WA will pay. McGowan just doesn't know it yet. And I don't mean WA will necessarily pay in cash. And it might not necessarily be the Government that pays. West Coast, which I keep hearing is the wealthiest club in the AFL, might find that it's Eagles wings are clipped in some way.

And now Cain Liddle has left Carlton, according to AFL's own Twitter account. Things going swimmingly at Princes Park.

I agree. I think Victoria's vaccination rate started more slowly than it should have because of complacency (combined with hesitancy) when we were back in those donut days. Remember them?

Hold the front page! Melbourne is now considered to be a well run club!

I'm pleased to see that Hunt is not an emergency. If he had been, it would be Match Committee telling him he's fit but just not good enough to make the final 23. This way, it can be presented as giving him two more weeks to be fully fit for the GF. I expect Jordan to be sub unless there is some concern about McDonald, in which case I could understand it being Melksham. I really can't see either of the others getting the job.

That's not really supported by the data which shows WA currently has 55.45% with a single injection and 36.26 fully vaccinated. This compares with Qld at 54.84/36.45, SA at 57.44/38.92 and NT 58.78/42.43. Nevertheless, and thankfully, all other States and the ACT are above 60% first dose.

Every time there's a potential trade, people seem to forget it doesn't have to be a straight swap between two clubs. Third and fourth parties often get involved. Using Cerra purely as an example, we could trade some handy but (for us) depth players to another club in return for an early draft pick that then finds its way to Freo.