La Dee-vina Comedia

You won't have to worry about Margetts "treating us badly" any more. he's announced his retirement. As an aside, I'm fascinated that people can identify which umpires they believe treat Melbourne worse than others. Apart from Nicholls standing out because of his lack of hair, I don't know one from another. And even if I did, I can't see who pays, or doesn't pay, the free kicks. Is there data somewhere that people refer to which shows this?

"It [vaccination] clearly works, so just go and get it." From a man whose son caught Covid-19 at the MCG but didn't pass it on to his vaccinated parents. See here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-11/melbourne-covid-delta-outbreak-vaccination-message/100366434?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf248432453&utm_campaign=abc_melbourne&utm_source=t.co&sf248432453=1

Nintendo knowledge is only necessary if you're too young to remember his father playing. Those of us old enough to remember Brett Bowey, know it's pronounced Bough-ey. (Unless we're too old and have started to forget things...) Having said that, I find pronouncing the name as "Bough-ey" to be unnatural. Maybe I grew up listening to too much David Bowie.

Has Hunt been officially ruled out? Or, at least, has the club publicly stated he's unlikely to play? It seems to be a foregone conclusion here, but I've not seen any news from the club that confirms this.

I think it's more positive than negative. With the greatest respect to those who have Covid (I imagine it's no picnic for them, both from a health perspective but also because they need to remain isolated for 14 days at least), the bigger picture is that there are fewer people spreading this horrible disease. That leads to a reduction in risk of further transmission, a pre-cursor to being released from restrictions such as lockdown.

If we ended up playing Geelong in the GF, I'm confident we won't be playing at Kardinia Park/GMHBA Stadium in 2022. The AFL will want any game between us played at the MCG. Especially if full size crowds (remember them?) are allowed.

That's weird. Your post quotes a Jaded comment but attributes it to me. Puts me in illustrious company but I can't take credit for what I didn't actually say.

Actually, I think Tom Mitchell and Tom Libretore are just as good at that part of the game. But Oliver has them covered for other apects.

We don't know what Simpson wanted Naitanui to do. Perhaps his role was to minimise Gawn's influence and given neither coach gave Gawn votes, perhaps that's why Naitanui was rewarded. Nevertheless, how he got votes ahead of Tim Kelly i have no idea.

Remember the good old days when we recruited elite kicks...but players who rarely got the ball in the first place? Good times.

I don't believe vandenBerg is in our best 22. However, any player that gets an odd game here or there is likely to struggle for any number of reasons including, not being in rhythm with team-mates, lack of so-called match fitness, and possibly nerves. Last night, vandenBerg looked like a player not quite understanding the pace of the game. Understandable when you haven't played regular senior football. If he were to stay in the side, I would expect him to improve.

6. Neal-Bullen 5. Harmes 4. Oliver 3. Petracca 2. Jackson 1. May

Did you swallow a thesaurus for breakfast?

Thanks, but I'm none the wiser!

Aren't they also missing Barrass and Ryan?

Why? I don't need to as I don't fear AZ at all. I have my second vaccination later this month.

If you fear AZ, then it's time you gave up Q as well. I'm also willing to give up O, too, but the boss might disagree.

Here am I thinking AFL is the country's national sport. Apparently not: https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/07/23/trashing-astrazeneca-national-sport-not-national-saviour/?utm_campaign=SundayRead&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter [PS: I was accused somewhere earlier in this thread of spreading conservative propaganda by linking to a story in the Australian Financial Review. Hopefully linking to a story in Crikey redresses that alleged (and denied) bias.]

After it's over.

I feel like I'm reading one of the last chapters in Sophie's World. (Anyone who has read this book should understand. It's nominally a novel, but it's really a journey through the history of philosophy from the ancient Greeks through to modern philosophy...where it gets really weird and confusing.)

Who appoints the ATAGI members? Pretty sure it's politicians. In other words, under your classifications scheme, ATAGI and Health Officials should be together. The problem with ATAGI is that they have been looking at risk analysis purely from a health perspective and have not considered human behaviour at all. As a consequence, they have installed completely unnecessary fear in the comunity by inadvertently demonising AstraZeneca. And they've not been helped by the Qld Chief Health Officer. As an aside, I wonder wheher she's been appointed Qld's next Governor as a way of removing her from her current position? (That's pure speculation on my part, by the way.)

I assume that's Daniel Harford, Jimmy Bartel and...who is White?

Thanks. If I'm reading it correctly, the data on blood clots showing a rate of 1 case per every 100,000 to 200,000 of doses is total of all cases, including fatal and non-fatal. Is that right? And as you point out, getting in your car to escape to the country to avoid lockdown is far riskier than getting AZ and staying put.

I'm a bit worried about your risk assessment thought processes. You willingly stand outside the Casey ground to watch training (for which we are grateful) even though you know there are snakes in the vicinity. The number of deaths in Australia from blood clots caused by AZ is 7 out of 7 million doses given, obviously the classic "one in a million". The number of fatalities in NSW from Covid is 76 out of 8.2 million people. That's more than 9 in a million. Are you sure it's worth taking that risk of remaining unvaccinated when an alternative is available? (I appreciate every person's circumstances and individual health profile can vary.) Oh, and in Australia there is an average of two fatal snake bites per annum. Just something for you to think about.

I think this is essentially the same plot as a Thomas the Tank Engine story but written in a more cryptic way.