La Dee-vina Comedia

Landsberger writes, "Richmond superstar Dustin Martin was diagnosed with the 31st concussion for the season on Saturday night. Martin was the fourth player knocked out on the weekend." Bit hyperbolic. I don't think Martin was "knocked out". Nevertheless, the meat of the story is interesting and leads to a possible conclusion that AFL clubs have either been not properly recognising concussions for years, or worse, recognising them but covering them up. The question of a bye before the GF is interesting. Players have been missing GFs for years because of injury. Does this specific injury type warrant such a change which could help many other injured players? I was initially against the bye fearing a loss of momentum in community interest before the GF. But the more I think about it, the more I could be persuaded that it's a good idea as it increases the chances of having the best players available.

It's all about the Premier's ability to assess risk. With the election on Saturday, the Tassie Premier has to decide which risk is greatest. Will he get more votes from stopping North from coming to Hobart or for letting the game proceed? When he's worked that out, we'll get our answer.

McDonald getting coaches' votes in 4 of the first 6 games is not only possibly the biggest surprise of the year but also very pleasing. His performances have completely changed the way we play. I feel for Ben Brown and Sam Weideman "languishing" in the seconds while they wait for an opportunity.

In fact, we have beaten three teams currently in the eight ranked 4th, 6th, and 7th, plus teams sitting 14th, 15th and 16th. The Bulldogs have only beaten one side currently in the eight (Brisbane, in 8th place) plus teams currently ranked 10th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 18th. We'll know more about the Bulldogs next week after they've played Richmond. (We'll also know more about our team after we've played North. It's the sort of game we'd lose barely 6 months ago.)

I was at the ground and then subsequently watched the replay. What I noticed at the ground but what isn't noticeable on TV was the hard work Brayshaw did running back to help the defenders. Each time the ball was on the other wing, Brayshaw was on his man. The moment it looked like Richmond was going to go forward, Brayshaw had to make a judgement call as to when to leave his man and run hard back into defence. I assume doing so helps free Lever up to play the intercept role. Brayshaw did it excellently all night. It's this sort of team-focused play that makes it really hard when watching a game on TV to know who is playing well and who isn't. It's also a lot of exhausting work, unrewarded by statistics and Supercoach points.

6. Salem 5. Petracca 4. Oliver 3. Gawn 2. Lever 1. Hibberd

I assume a 5 year contract would cost us less per year than would two shorter contracts. And that's without the possibility that his form continues to improve increasing his nominal value.

I'm genuinely surprised that Jones is as high as 32.78%. Essentially a one in three strike rate. I thought it would be much worse than that.

Mozart was ahead of his time when he wrote his famous opera "Cosi Fan Tutte", meaning "We're All Kosi Fans". (There's no 'k' in Italian, hence the spelling difference.)

Definately.

Or Kosy

I may be wrong, but I think Max Gawn lives on the peninsula.

Grammatically incorrect. You should be using the present participle, ie, versing.

Definately.

Shouldn't grumble about the Sunday 3.20 pm slot. That's always a free-to-air TV timeslot, so we get plenty of exposure. Not as good as a Friday or Saturday night but is arguably the third best option each weekend (when there's no Thursday night game).

Not if Collingwood can be convinced to leave. Others have said in this thread that Collingwood is looking at a new home in Studley Park. I have no idea if this is true, but Collingwood and its supporters have no emotional attachment to Olympic Park (or Yarra Park). If better facilities are made available than what they have now, Collingwood will go. That frees up the site for us. And while that might seem like we would be settling for "second best" (after all, if Collingwood leaves for somegthing better then by definition, they would be "second best"), that's not to say they can't be upgraded to make them equal with the best.

Or Whorethorn, Essendrug or Filth. I find all these names disturbingly juvenile and unbecoming a supporter base I like to think of as more sophisticated than the average.

Because it's fun?

Does anyone know where the nickname "Checker" came from?

Glen Iris is the population "centre" of Melbourne or, at least, it was in 2017. In case the article is paywalled, it says, "Melbourne's population centre has moved, too, but it's only shifted 1½ kilometres west within the City of Glen Iris from a block of units in Park Road to a hardware store on Weir Street." (Coincidentally, that hardware store is Tait's which used to advertise regularly on 3AW's football program.) The centre wouldn't have moved much since then. It would be a bit difficult for the players and staff to complain about travel times. However, land would likely be too expensive to allocate for a AFL standard training venue.

So, if Collingwood is moving, does that mean the Olympic Park precinct might become available for us to snap up? (It would need some intensive deep cleaning, of course, before we used it.)

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/917015/-checker-to-be-honoured-on-anzac-day-eve This is an excellent development. Better than the Ezra Poyas Medal that I had in mind.

Disagree. I believe that Essendon of 2000 would beat any other team I've seen with the only contender being Hawthorn in 1988. It was just our luck that the only two Grand Finals we've been in since 1964 happened to be against those two teams. (And that's not the reason why I think they were the two best teams, by the way.)

I don't generally equate poppies with ANZAC Day. To me, they are better associated with Remembrance Day. That being said, I think the jumper is terrific in that it respects the traditions of both ANZAC Day and the MFC.

Best of all time? I'm not convinced they're the best of the 21st century. In fact, I know it's subjective, but I would rank them behind Essendon of 2000, Brisbane 2001-2004, Geelong 2007-2011 and Hawthorn 2013-15. I would, however, rank them ahead of every other team. (St Kilda 2009-10 would be ahead of them, too, if they had managed to win a premiership).