La Dee-vina Comedia

Sort of thinking it's time to close this thread. I'm not saying it doesn't address important issues but it doesn't seem to belong in a Melbourne Demons thread (even though it started with discussion about a former Melbourne player) or, for that matter, to be going anywhere at all.

This post has some interesting views. However, it would be better if you were to name who you would select to fix what you believe are the missing genuine key defender, missing genuine key forward and missing crumbing forward. For example, are you suggesting Oscar McDonald should be picked instead of, say, Joel Smith; or Sam Weideman/Mitch Brown as key forwards; and who would you select as the crumber and who should he replace? For what it's worth, I worry that Joel Smith is a liability with ball in hand but his pace means he's more likely to get to a contest than Oscar, so I'd like to give Smith another go. Picking Jackson provides Gawn with better back up than any other option which also means Gawn could spend a bit more time up forward. And as to a crumbing forward, I suspect that's what Bennell's primary role will be in his first game back.

Actually, it requires a majority of Australian adults in a majority of States to change the constitution. But I agree that politicians make it political when it suits their own agenda to do so.

Fact checking required. Is it true that the average Dees supporter is sane?

Just out of curiosity I have had a look at the number of changes between Round 1 2019 and Round 14 2019 (we had a bye in Round 13 which was held from 13-16 June last year). We had 7 changes of personnel in that time. For completeness, the changes were: In: May, Lockhart, Baker, J Wagner, Petty, T Smith and Hannan Out: Spargo, Hibberd, Melksham, Sparrow, C Wagner, Jetta, O McDonald

Why? To me it just seems we've had a multi-week bye. I haven't enjoyed it (I don't even like a one week bye), but it's still the same season playing under the same rules.

Typically, Titus O'Reilly nails it with this line: As for this game, I’m just relieved it’s June and Melbourne are still in touch with the eight. Source: https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/a-highly-unhelpful-guide-to-round-two

I'll take the glass half full approach: His halcon days may be ahead of him He is possibly going to give it 110% He may find that he can do more than he thought possible He could need a break if another calf injury occurs, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of his paying career with us. Lets just get through the Carlton game. Good Luck HB Having just re-read my post, apologies to Damo as it may look like I was being critical of your view. That's not the case. I will equally be holding my breathe to see how he goes.

Just as an aside, the ABC is more than just a news service. Whether its budget is sufficient or not, I have no idea, but I sometimes wonder about the costs of running multiple digital radio channels and whether anyone is actually listening to them. In other words, maybe (and maybe not) budget savings are possible without negtaively impacting its news service.

Wines is not the only one: https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/06/11/essendon-defender-unavailable-for-selection-after-breaching-covid-19/ Although the specifics of Zerk-Thatcher's breach aren't provided, it's hard to know how the two breaches compare. Nevertheless, the one game suspension suggests Wines might not play in the showdown. Incidentally, good to see the AFL taking breaches seriously. We don't want the competition coming to a standstill a second time because one player ruins it for everyone else.

Actually, Chazz has many options available. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, letters to the editors of newspapers, even Demonland, are all forms of media open to Chazz and anyone else to express their opinions. One big difference is that in some of these forms, there is no true editorial control, whereas whatever is printed in a "real" newspaper or broadcast on a licensed TV channel's program actually has to meet some standards (although we could argue about whether those standards are appropriate or adequately enforced).

This is not about you, SWYL, but in my experience, it's amazing how many people believe they are in the extreme centre when so many others think they belong on the fringes, either left or right.

That's his job. You don't have to agree with him, but it would be pointless if all he did was read the autocue like a robotic newsreader. As to Lumumba's comments, I'm quite surprised, given all the protests on racial issues in Australia and around the world during the last fortnight, that the claims he made haven't received more coverage. It suggests to me either that Collingwood has worked very hard to minimise the media damage or that the media have decided previously that Lumumba is an unreliable source. Could be both, of course.

Saw a few minutes of Footy Classified last night where Ross Lyon's enthusiasm for Bennell was infectious. I don't recall ever seeing Lyon that empathetic before. Maybe it's just because he's now in the media, rather than speaking as a coach. Nevertheless, it was quite uplifting.

I would have though so, too. But perhaps not: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/tv-bosses-urge-afl-not-to-continue-with-16minute-quarters-beyond-2020-season/news-story/adb002ae96ea0fa3e3a41902003e2d69

Quite right. I should have said "Have we learnt nothing?" or "Haven't we learned anything?". I now fear being banned for having improperly used a double negative.

Absolutely agree with your last sentence.

Personally, I think Demonland should ban posters making a comment such as this one. Haven't we learnt nothing?

I'm not convinced yet that this is necessarily true. What really matters is the total time from siren-to-siren of each quarter. Over the last decade, additional "time-on" has been added due to a more consistent use of "time-on" along with other rule changes (such as ruckmen nomination). This extended the siren-to-siren time so that quarters regularly went 35+ minutes. It is quite possible that the 16 minute quarters plus time on might get us back to a more real 30 minutes siren-to-siren per quarter. If that's the case, it would be a good move.

Fake news, Ethan. The field will not be any more cluttered as there will still only be 3 umpires on the field at any one time.

I'm always nervous when people refer to the benefit to the team of any first time player's kicking skills. Reminds me too much of Adam Maric and his inability to get enough of the ball for us to benefit from that part of his armoury. I hope all our debutants have a great first game and distinguished careers to follow. I like the bold approach.

How much does not having a VFL/Reserves competition affect selection? At some stage, it would appear that any of the players who haven't played a game since last year because of injury will have to be played without the common opportunity for some match practice via a VFL game. Under normal circumstances, from the club's language it would seem that Bennell would be an automatic VFL selection this week, although perhaps on limited minutes. However, because that competition doesn't exist, does that mean the club would, or should, take a risk and play him straight away?

This should have been the norm ever since they had three umpires on the ground and an emergency umpire. It should improve the overall standard of umpiring because it creates more opportunities for umpires to be on the field actively umpiring top level games thereby improving those individual's ability to umpire to a higher standard. It should also make umpiring a more attractive option than it is now. After all, who wants to be the umpiring equivalent of cricket's 12th man?

I might be shouted down, but what about auctioning tickets to the highest bidders? I don't usually support inequity like this, but the clubs need money more than usual and perhaps following a more mercenary route might be acceptable under current circumstances. I hasten to add I would not support such a strategy in more normal times.

No disrespect intended, but none of the above (or Koladjashnij) would necessarily be picked anyway. VandenBerg would be the closest of that group to getting a regular game, but he's been out so long, I don't know where he stands anymore.