La Dee-vina Comedia

So, Goodwin's been reading Demonland again.

Fair enough. You've got a source you're happy with so I'll accept what you say.

Two animal facts I've learned from football commentators are that (1) fish rot from the head and (2) cat's apparently have hard heads.

With all due respect, Pollyanna, wouldn't any such injury payment be covered by the club's insurer and therefore not impact on the club's finances?

My guess is that the general public will accept a crammed schedule this year because of the circumstances but would prefer a more traditional roster in 2021. I'm not even convinved that Thursday night football (in a normal year) is wanted, although that could just be my bias against it. Cricket found that when it extended its season and played matches virtually every night people lost interest. Clearly there is a tipping point when too much of a product diminishes its value. I expect, therefore, against logic, the AFL will try to cram lots of games into the mid-part of next season.

Good post. I have no idea where Langdon, Tomlinson and Bedford went to school and I don't care. Salem's Brighton Grammar credentials are well know given he was in the same team as Josh Kelly and Jayden Hunt.

I assume if we lose this weekend, the thread title will be changed to "Current team potentially worst in 50 years".

Yes, that might change things. Mind you, if I were North I'd seriously consider returning to the comparative warmth of Qld between the two games rather than spend an extra week in Hobart in winter. Nasher might have a different view, of course.

As it should be, right now. Without the dollars, not only does the AFL men's competition suffer, so too will AFLW, junior development and grassroots football. North and Melbourne both being based in Qld and playing in Tassie is conceptually no different to North and Melbourne both being based in Victoria and playing in Tassie. Slightly longer travel time, that's all.

Interesting strategy. Apart from being accused of tanking, the better strategy might be to rest players when playing teams you don't expect to win against, to make sure that you do win the ones you should.

I like the way you've put the whores into Hawthorn

I know it's popular to find reasons to blame and/or hate Essendon at every opportunity, but the bye was not inflicted by Essendon but by a positive Covid-19 test (which may have been a false positive) on an individual. With the virulence of this disese, it could just as easily have been one of our players who tested positive. It is still possible that one of our players may test positive and should that affect the AFL season in any way, I would not want the MFC to be blamed for it. Furthermore, if McKenna had the infection and it spread from him to other Essendon players and then to our players, we would not just be mortified for the impact on the competition, but for the health of our players and their families. Let's keep the blame game to a minimum and instead appreciate what the AFL, all the clubs and all the players have done to keep the season alive as much as they can.

As a matter of interest, and possibly also fairness, given player salaries have been cut this year, have the fines also been reduced? Similarly, each week's suspension has a bigger impact as one game in 17 is a much bigger proportion than 1 in 22. Have there been any changes formally announced which allows the MRO to reduce penalties to accommodate these differences?

I'm pretty sure there was a photo of Spargo in a moonboot with the original group of players who went north.

I apologise for appearing to be city-centric. I was only trying to see if the Victorian regional option is practical. If it were to be, I'd be all for it. Right now, though, I can't see it working, not just because of any air transport issues but because the non-Victorian State Governments will not want to allow teams that are anywhere in Victoria and not just Melbourne to return without a 14 day quarantine period, if at all.

Are the regional airports capable of taking planes that fly longer distances, such as from Brisbane and Perth? I can't imagine the AFL wanting anything other than direct flights between hubs/bases and wherever games are to be played. That might require chartered flights, rather than regularly scheduled services, but I suspect anything that's not non-stop would be a deal breaker. That might require airports to have long runways and appropriate avionics, etc. As to your comment about a GST re-jig, I'm with you all the way. In fact, Demonland has been lacking a good debate on horizontal fiscal equalisation and vertical fiscal imbalance.

Which is marginally better than Wancorona. Sorry, everyone.

Apart from on-field personnel changes there have been two noticeable game style changes in the last two weeks. Firstly, Oliver has stopped handpassing most of the time and is now kicking the ball much more often. Secondly, there has been a clear change in the way the players deliver the ball to the forward line. The long bombs, for the most part, have been replaced with targetted passes. I'm interested in knowing why. I find it too much of a coincidence that both those changes happened at once. Have we changed our coaches? Were the players getting mixed messages from the coaches previously but are now getting clarity? Is hub life giving the players more time to absorb and understand instructions? I recall that Essendon made a successful change mid-season (was it 2019 or 2018?) when they removed the hapless Mark Neeld because they found that the coaching structure didn't work. (I know that Neeld is an easy target, but I think everyone involved at Essendon was at great pains to say it was a structural problem, not a personnel problem.) Have we done something similar?

What's that? Isn't potential forward-looking?

Reading between the lines, I'm expecting to see the traditional 'Round-by-Round' fixture replaced, at least for a while, with a more, dare I say, "flexible and agile" format where some clubs will play more games than others over a 3-4 week period. It will make the ladder a little less relevant during that time with some clubs perhaps having played 10 games while others might only have played 7 or 8. This might make it easier for schdeduling but play merry havoc with footy tipping competitions. If it happens like this, the Melbourne v Essendon game will be just like any other game and played when a suitable date becomes available.

I wouldn't have thought Jackson would have the tank to play on the wing. I'd rather play him alongside Weideman deep forward and play Tom McDonald at CHF. One of Pickett, Bennell or vandenBerg has a rest for a week, probably Pickett, unless the sports science guys have some measurements we don't see which make it more obvious which one needs a rest prior to what we keep hearing will be a packed upcoming program. If it's vandenBerg, maybe Harmes plays on the wing which vandenBerg was sharing with others against the Hawks, and tries to keep McLuggage quiet at the same time.

How would teams based outside Victoria get to country Victorian towns? I assume the moment they fly into Melbourne airport they're in the lockdown area which automatically means bans or 14 day quarantines when they return to wherever their home base might be. Is Avalon airport inside the locked down Greater Melbourne area? If not, perhaps they could fly in there, although if it's not in Greater Melbourne, it's probably in Greater Geelong which could be added to lockdown at any moment. I like your parochial thinking, but I doubt it was ever possible irrespective of any State Government pro-activity. Also, to be fair to the State Government, it's probably got a few other priorities to concentrate on right now than the AFL competition.

Can't believe Bailey Fritsch hasn't received any votes for the year yet. Sure his name wasn't accidentally left out?

Any chance we can add a green emoticon to the "Like" options to signify jealousy?

I agree that Weideman needs to spend 100% of game time in the forward line. However, if Tom McDonald comes into the side he could take on the second ruck role which allows Weideman to remain as a full-time forward should Jackson be omitted. So, Werridee, who's your seventh defender? We always play a mix of 2 talls/ 5 smalls or 3 talls/ 4 smaller defenders to allow for rotations. This is a critical issue. It would be helpful if we knew what the forward program beyond next week was. I wouldn't be at all surprised if players who have had limited preparations start getting rested soon. That may include Bennell, Pickett, vandenBerg and Jackson (although if Jackson is replaced this week, I doubt it's because he needs a rest.) And now to what I suspect will be my most contentious point. I liked what I saw with Jackson and I agree the more game time he gets, the better he will become. But I don't think he was particularly good. Yes, he was a lot better than his first game. Yes, he shows the traits and style we want to see. Yes, I was impressed with his willingness to get to the ball and make contests. But, I don't think he really did that much. Would I select him next week? Yes. I would also select Tom McDonald and decide which of Bennell, Pickett or vandenBerg needs a rest. That player not only could come back the following week but it should be made clear to them that it's about management not form.