La Dee-vina Comedia

Otherwise known as the modern Aussie translation of Deuteronomy 18:15... "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him."

With respect to Sheedy's - or anyone else's - proposals, we should try to minimise the different distances umpires have to determine or measure out. Whether it is a penalty (50m, or anything else), the distance a kick has to travel to be called a mark, etc, the fewer different measurements there are, the easier it will be for the umpires to govern the game. It's already tough to umpire. Keeping distances consistent as much as possible is one way to help the umpires. I accept they can't all be the same, but let's try to avoid having separate distance of 50m, 25m, 15m, 10m, 5m, etc as much as possible

I'm sure there's someone smarter and funnier than me who can turn this into a gag about Mason Cox and his 2nd amendment rights.

Think of the thread title being about dietary advice for Petracca. Makes as much sense.

One of my ongoing concerns with the tinkering of the rules is that I'm not sure what the purpose is. I keep hearing about "congestion", but is that actually the problem or the cause of the problem? Without a clear explanation of what the end-game is, I don't know whether rule changes will fix the "problem". Without becoming political, one of the great strengths of Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan was that it didn't define or try to explain when America was great. The slogan just appeals to differentypeople with differnt views as to when America was great. Some might believe it was in the 60s or the 70s or the 80s or any other era. AFL is similar. Different people have different views as to when the game was at its greatest. If we don't know what we're aiming for, how do we know what will work?

I've always believed buying a membership is not just for attending games. But, for many that's what it's all about and I agree if it becomes too hard to attend, people will transfer their habit to a screen. I'm dead against football on Monday to Thursday nights, other than special occasions. I would, however, favour Sunday night football as a regular thing.

Is that good for the game? It means we wouldn't have the best players playing every week (or, subject to injury, as often as possible).

I wasn't a great fan of the frenzy this year, let alone having one next year. However, I can see an argument as to why the AFL might want to have another one in 2021. At the moment, the only hard evidence they've got is that in 2020, it was a success. Before disposing of it, perhaps they need to find out whether it remains as popular in a more normal season. We can all make a prediction about what we think will happen. I predict it will be unpopular but TV ratings will be good, but not as good as 2020. But unless there is empirical evidence, what we think is not particularly helpful. After the 2021 season the AFL will have evidence about the frenzy model in two years under (hopefully) completely different circumstances. It would then be appropriate to make future decisions based on that evidence.

This is an internet forum. So, yes, there always has to be a conspiracy theory.

I suspect 18 is the new 20. In other words, the true length of the quarter including time on will be about 30 minutes made up of 18 minutes of playing time and 12 minutes of time on. (That's way too much "time on", by the way.)

I think this might be a more appropriate beast for the great Max Walker.

The inference from your post is that Taylor has had to do his job with one hand tied behind his back. Isn't the alternative possible? Wouldn't Taylor be consulted on list management decisions and if he believes he can do better with the rookie draft and a "good deep haul of picks" than the trading strategy we've used, wouldn't his opinion carry some weight? Do we know he's not consulted, or, if he is, that he's ignored as you seem to imply?

But by definition, any criticism of a person must be personal.

Your own words, I know, but that doesn't seem like "pretending" to me. But I accept that perhaps it might be "over-stating". I truly hope that they make good on the promise in the description. We should all be aware by now that mental health of professional sports people and the community at large has been misunderstood and under-resourced for years. A facility like this used for that purpose can only do good.

I'm neither here nor there with this decision. However, with the draft this year being a bigger gamble at the bottom end than usual, re-signing him might have been seen as the less risky option. In other words, if 2020 had been a normal year with junior footy played all around the country, I could see how he might not have been offered another contract.

You mean the USA republican party or the Australian monarchy/republic debate? Both debates have their problems!

You're confusing me JG. Yes, you did say it is "near unprecedented" for players to be delisted under the age of 25. The following Melbourne players drafted between 2010 and 2014 were all delisted before they reached the age of 25. (This list excludes anyone traded in that was delisted before they turned 25.) Lucas Cook, Troy Davis, Rory Taggert, Josh Tynan, Jimmy Toumpas, Daniel Nicholson, Dean Terlich, Michael Evans, JKH, Mitch Clisby, Billy Stretch. Am I misunderstanding the point you're making?

I'm glad they're trialling some rules first. On first blush I suspect the obligation to have a prescribed number of players in the forward line at every kick in and throw in will have the reverse effect to what is intended as it will slow the game down while we wait for players to get into those positions. While that's going on, the team that needs to defend will use the time to block more space.

I think you're being a bit harsh with the "pretending" comment. But I absolutely agree that we need to find an angle. The link to youth via Reach might be one way. The other is to find a suitable, but not corny, link to the foundation of either (or both) of the game itself or the city of Melbourne. Our name has more value than any other in the AFL. We should make better use of it.

Lovely description. And I appreciate your explanation about his role.

Step up Alex Neal-Bullen. Your time is now. Let me add, I like ANB as a player but wonder why he hasn't been used in other positions other than small forward. He seems to play on-ball at Casey. I know his skills aren't great, but given running is his best "skill", I would have thought giving him a role where he can make best use of that talent might get the best out of him. For example, could he be a wingman? Or a tagger?

It's easy to laugh, but it's happened to us before and I suspect will happen again. But probably not in the 2021 calendar. It's hard to imagine that any of Mitch Hannan, Brayden Preuss, Oscar McDonald or the Wagner boys were going to be in our 2021 calendar anyway.

Describing "Victoria Park" as "fantastic" and looking great just doesn't compute after years of being conditioned to it being otherwise.

It might be unusual, but we're living in unusual times. For example, the salary cap and player contracts are being cut next year. When has that ever happened before (apart from this year)? It may be a one year extension to allow both the club and the player to get a better appreciation of options when more is known about the future football economy next year.

Sorry. It's completely disputable by the facts. He played. Did he play well enough? That's a different argument where opinions can vary. Ultimately, though, not well enough to extend his career with the club beyond 81 games.