La Dee-vina Comedia

Isn't there a risk that the best coaches might choose to avoid any club that includes that in a contract? If that were to be the case, we might end up with an inferior coach.

More corroboration of Heretier's version of events https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/06/26/former-magpie-backs-up-lumumbas-racism-allegations/

Obviously. I must be missing something in what you say.

From Wikipedia: In Canada and Greenland, the term "Eskimo" is predominantly seen as offensive or "non-preferred", and has been widely replaced by the term "Inuit" or terms specific to a particular group or community.

Not sure what you actually mean by this line. But it's not easy for anyone who is the subject of these sort of attacks to "just get over it and move on". And nor should they have to. If you go back in history (and not that far), that was a common attitude to rape in many societies.

I understand what you're saying but just because it's only 1% (or whatever the figure might be) doesn't make it any less hurtful for those who are the victims of such abuse whether it's targetting race, religion, gender, disability, sexuality or anything else.

Some clever work here. Tipping the author isn't from Victoria:

Look at the emoji posted by someone under the name of Jaydeen238

Not sure I agree. Injury changes are a two-way street. Hannan and vandenBerg coming into the side are because they've recovered from injury and someone has to make way.

If I hadn't read through to your last paragraph I was going to contact the Police and report a case of identity theft.

I wonder how much Match Committee thought the drop off against Carlton was brought about by having too many "new" players playing at once. Bringing Pickett in would make that worse unless a "new" player goes out. Of the newbies, it's hard to make a case that Bennell should stay in ahead of Jackson (for structure reasons) and Rivers (performance and position)

And Hibberd

Do Demons even have skins?

"Pretty basic stuff" but only if you have one or more forwards who can actually take a mark, of course.

It's not just the players' fitness but also the defensive gameplans which can be pursued because of that fitness. I've come to the view that it might be time to abolish interchange and replace with up to four substitutes. It would require a new level of strategic thinking at both Match Committee and on game day. I expect the coaches and probably the players would be against it. But neither group is part of the paying audience which is really the only one who's opinion should matter.

It won't be Preuss. He's still on the injury list. And I don't think he's a forward option, anyway.

Who are you playing as a tall forward?

Can someone change the title of this topic? I thought the poor kid had passed away!

Swings and roundabouts. St Kilda has had the worst free-to-air TV exposure during the same period. Travis Auld from the AFL explained on SEN this morning that the early start allows Freo to return to Perth before midnight the same day which is important for future scheduling as the 14 day quarantine period would have gone an extra day if they arrived after midnight.

There are two big differences this year in the way we understand how our players are tracking. Firstly, we get virtually no training reports from Demonlanders. While our crew are not impartial and don't always agree with each other, they are more "honest" in their assessments than any club reports on training. Secondly, there is no seconds competition on which to measure a player's performance. Accordingly, any player might be pushing for selection and we wouldn't know it.

Just seen this. "The Feed" refers to the SBS Current Affairs program. Bad news for Collingwood, I would have thought, although the club will survive it.

Please don't make him any angrier

I should rephrase what I meant. The enforcement of the rules was different then. Players were able to get away with actions which today they would not, partly because of technology (more and better cameras today) and partly because of an attitude difference where thuggery was (comparatively) tolerated. All I'm saying is that if the rules in his playing day were enforced the way they were today, he would adapt and still likely be the best player of his generation.

I assume you appreciate that AFL players are already required to operate under a much more stringent set of rules than the rest of us. That includes greater restrictions on social contact as well as twice weekly testing. That's why different decisions can be made about how long an individual might have to isolate.

You really think Matthews wouldn't have modified the way he played if he had been required to do so? Apart from the flaws you refer to, I think he's the best player I've ever seen (excluding those for whom I only saw the tail ends of their careers, such as Whitten, Polly Farmer, Barassi, Skilton etc). I think with that talent, he would have changed the way he approached the game to ensure he could continue to play. Mal Brown I'm not so sure. I suspect his VFL career was very brief, in part, because he couldn't change.