La Dee-vina Comedia

I didn't read this article to mean that clubs can't offer long contracts. Only that the Board would be required to sign off on any such deal rather than leaving it solely to the football department.

And even if they were not looking good, as you say, I'm pleased that we at least seem to be trying various options rather than continuing with the "same old" plans.

Congratulations to the happy couple.

I thought you were discussing food there for a moment, with "buttered nachos"

I'm fully in favour of no practice matches or any interactions with other teams until the first game of the season. I believe it would make the season openers much more exciting. What matters is bringing the crowds to games and eyeballs to TV. While I appreciate it means teams might be a bit rusty in their first game or two, I believe that going into the season with every team starting equally (ie, haven't been "beaten" in a meaningless practice game) gives every fan a reason for optimism.

Let's be honest. It's not much of a "surprise" if it's already being spoken about before it has actually happened.

Is it possible the former player doesn't know he has this son?

I suspect that in another 50 years or so (hopefully sooner) society will wonder why boxing was still allowed in the first quarter of the 21st century.

I keep wondering why these prospective father-son recruits aren't at school!

Maybe Tomlinson was unlucky because the club meant to delist Adams and wrote it as Adam instead. Once the paperwork was lodged with the AFL it was then too late to rectify the error. (Or maybe not. Tomlinson seems like a fine fellow. Someone told me he was studying for a Masters degree at Uni. If that's correct, does anyone know in which discipline?)

Ah, the AFL is all for inconsistency. Pickett's suspension doesn't get counted when he plays in the Indigenous All Star game...but I'm willing to place a bet that any player who participates in that game can be suspended if they breach the relevant rules.

I don't particularly like this discussion about nationality versus ethnicity. However, I think one thing we can all agree on is that if you're a Melbourne supporter, you're always a Melbourne supporter.

If you're a St Kilda supporter you must be wondering where the club is at. Whether you agree with King's rather laboured approach to this particular analysis or not, St Kilda seems to have been going backwards year after year since Ross Lyon's appointment.

"panic selection"...really? You mean the professional recruiters and list managers who watch all these players for years leading up to any trade period and draft? Clearly Lamb and Taylor decided that for whatever reason the players chosen were better suited to our needs than the ones that were not.

Your user name prompts me to ask anyone living in the Malvern area if they remember when Grill'd in Glenferrie Road used to be Ollie's Trolley?

Interesting timing. I wonder whether the arrival of Wendy's, which just opened its first Australian store on the Gold Coast about two weeks ago, has anything to do with it.

Always like an article that states the bleeding obvious as if it's an original thought..."The Demons are keen to land a first-class replacement for Pert..." Really? That's such an insight! Who would have thought.

The bottom photo could be of Josh Schache fans, of course.

Wrong thread. I assume this should be in the Lookalikes thread comparing these two with Mick Martyn and David Neitz (the post-retirement version)

I love these reports. Please keep them coming. What I struggle with is the idea that players won't make mistakes while training. If that were the case, it would suggest our defensive pressure isn't good enough! So, while I appreciate every training report, I also recognise that if all we ever heard was that the onballers and forwards were dominating, I'd be worried about our defence.

It's also disappointing that the new draftees don't have their photos on the MFC website against their jumper numbers.

Just goes to show that I get all my footy news from Demonland, not the MFC's own website. But thanks for providing the link.

Wouldn't mind having this thread pinned to make it easy to find out who is who, particularly among the new players and those with new numbers.

Unprofessional? Maybe. Or perhaps he's got a sense of humour and is just trolling Fremantle and its supporters.

Is this what you used?