La Dee-vina Comedia

Don't forget about the trip back! I suspect travelling to Sydney or perhaps even all of NSW will be a one way trip for quite some time yet.

Probably not such a strange decision at the time it was made. Firstly, Waverley was expected to become the geographic centre of greater Melbourne. That didn't happen, but not by much as the centre gradually moved eastward to about Ashburton until about 5 years ago and then started to move west again because of the rapid growth in the Werribee and Melton vicinities. Secondly, the then VFL expected a railway line to go to Waverley (VFL Park), via Monash Uni. The apocryphal story, which may well be true, is that the Premier at the time, Henry Bolte, had to choose whether to send the railway line to Monash and the proposed VFL Park or through Sandown Racecourse to Dandenong. It is claimed that he chose Sandown because he was more of a fan of racing. (It's hard to believe today but back in the 50s and early 60s, racing used to get decent crowds to every Saturday meeting.) Edit: I should add that the failure to provide a railway line probably did more to kill VFL Park than anything else. And the "killing" of VFL Park enabled the MCG to grow to become the wonderful stadium it now is. (If only we could go...)

I'm pretty sure Gawn Jr will arrive whether the season is delayed or not.

What about three times? There's a reasonable prospect that we might meet again in September.

Presumably because of the 2 plus any as yet unreported cases (for example, people who are asympomatic but still in the community).

That's an interesting view, but don't you think there is also an argument that finishing second after having been on top of the ladder for most of the season will add mental pressure because of the disappointing finish to the home and away season?

And apparently all but 2 of the 26 have been in self-isolation from before they became infected and therefore have not been spreading the disease further.

This is an excellent article. It might be behind a paywall (and it's quite long), but the fundamental point that it makes is in its first two sentences: "The deepening lockdown of 14 million Australians 1½ years into the pandemic exposes that the biggest public policy failure is overly cautious medical advice stopping millions of people receiving the effective and extremely low-risk AstraZeneca vaccine. Weak-kneed democratically elected lawmakers have outsourced difficult decisions and hidden behind narrow-minded public health officials." It also includes this line: "ATAGI’s failure was compounded by the political demonisation of AstraZeneca, which seemingly fuelled vaccine hesitancy among people of all ages." In summary, if AZ hadn't been "demonised", we probably wouldn't be in lockdown and we'd all be able to go to the footy this weekend (although if that were the case, the game might have been in Darwin.)

"Sydney and the Sons" - sounds like the name of a R&B band.

Not sure about this. It seems that every week I see players overdoing the selfless bit and instead of taking a shot at goal themselves when in a good position to do so they attempt a pass off to another player who might be in a better position but we lose the ball in the process. Similarly, we often see one of the midfielders get first possession and instead of kicking forward when able to do so, handpass to another player who is not necessarily in a better position.

I don't think a bye for all teams makes sense. Things could still get worse, meaning it may become even harder to schedule games. The AFL should play whatever games they can this week, even if it is not a complete round. For example, surely there's no reason why Victorian teams due to play each other, whether this week or in rounds 20-23 could not play this weekend.

The last two dot points seem so obvious one wonders why they weren't already in place.

I generally only watch games we're in, so am not familiar with the players in most other teams (other than the fact that every second Bulldogs player is called 'Bailey'). Has Mitch Hannan been doing well with the Bullies?

I've got to get a life. I'm now getting agitated by reading the previous three posts and grumbling to myself that only one out of the three has used the apostrophe correctly. What's worse, I've likely been guilty of similar mis-use in the past, making my grumbling unworthy.

Interesting data. My main concern is Pickett. Given he has had the most shots at goal (a surprise to me), if we could get him at the T-Mac level of accuracy he would have generated an extra 6 goals; at the Fritsch level, an extra 11 goals.

The problem with any plan to provide an advantage to those who are vaccinated is the unfairness to those ineligible as yet to be vaccinated. For example, those under 40 and not in a cohort of those otherwise allowed (eg, health care workers, etc).

Surely Seven can spare one of its four (or is it five?) FTA channels for AFL coverage? (Apologies to regional viewers - I have no idea how many channels Seven makes available outside the big cities.)

If nothing else good comes out of 2 years of Covid-affected football scheduling, perhaps the AFL will find a way from 2022 onwards to ensure all teams play each other in the first 17 rounds and leave the double-ups to be played in the last 5 rounds.

Sons of cricketers?

Sensible advice (although I can't vouch for the odds). Nevertheless, let me just leave this here:

Could it be technical issues associated with the broadcast? We keep forgetting that each game needs all sorts of tech to be available, such as cameras and an outside broadcast van, for example. But do they also need satellite space to be booked? (or is there other technology such as cable or microwave used to send the sound and pictures right around the country, and beyond?) Anyway, just a thought.

"You're standing on my foot"

No VFL game might change the thinking about the medical sub. If the VFL were to be playing, I could see Sparrow being given game time there and one of the other emergencies being given the nod. But with no VFL, Sparrow moves back into the frame.

You know how when we lose games someone will inevitably say "We lost it at selection"? There should be a Demonland rule that you can't post that unless you're prepared to say it on this thread (or its weekly equiavlent) first. Same goes for taking credit after the match for supporting no change.

Expect that even if we wuz robbed or played out of our skins yet still lost, that Joeboy will find that at least 19 of the 22 playing had little to commend.