La Dee-vina Comedia

I just assume his title and official role have not been made public out of courtesy to those assistants whose jobs, or parts thereof, he'll be taking. It would be rude, disresepctful and unprofessional to say his job is to do "X and Y" when those roles have been done by someone else who is still at the club and hasn't yet been told that he won't be there after this season.

I just want to recruit him for nostalgic reasons. The world's first recognised rock music supergroup was Cream with Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton. I'm prepared to compromise and have Baker, Bruce and Petty. (The club can be the Heartbreakers.) Of course, I can understand that we should probably pick our recruits on their footballing roles, shouldn't we?

That bit's correct. The problem, though, is that he has to get the ball before he kicks it and that's the bit that was his problem.

That's 18 players, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you don't mean all 18 at once. Even after free agency and trading, that would still likely leave us with about 12-14 picks at the draft. I'm not sure there's a lot of elite talent for the 6-8 picks we'd have in the 100s.

I didn't get to watch the game but listened to about two-thirds on SEN. According to the callers (Peter Donegan, Terry Wallace and Tristan Fernanda), Gawn was not just clearly the best player, but also played one of the most dominant games of the year. Demonland agrees. So can anyone who saw the game explain why The Age in its votes, where they give five players votes out of ten, gave Higgins BOG with 8 and Max equal second BOG with 7? It just seems inexplicable to me based on the radio coverage, both that he wasn't BOG and also only got 7 out of 10.

If we lose, I expect the AFL to claim we were tanking even though that's an illogical conclusion; and if we win, I expect the AFL to say we were tanking up until this week. Good luck to the team. Yes, it's been a disppointing season, but I still can't resist following the day's events and hope, if not for a win, at least for a decent contest. A number of players, not just Lewis, might be playing their last game for the club today. I hope they can finish with smiles on their faces.

You don't think this will self-correct? Clubs will realise that athletes who can't hit a target aren't that valuable and will go back to skilful but less athletic types. Of course, this relies on the AFL leaving the game alone for long enough to let it evolve naturally, something I'm not confident will happen.

What about those that run second last? What are they? Moderately fine guys with an interrupted pre-season?

I expect being a senior coach can sometimes be a lonely job. Having someone around who has actually been there (and not in a caretaker role) gives Goodwin someone he can talk to who can empathise with those darker moments.

Your mates need to talk to each other and get their stories straight. It's very unfair of them to mislead us so.

The issue that needs addressing is the difficulty for umpires to make decisions with so much subjective interpretation. While I understand where you're coming from, I doubt umpires at ground level will be able to be certain about the first point and the second idea will be very much open to interpretation. Your last recommendation I agree with. If it does waht we think it will do, there should be fewer players consistently around the ball which should make it easier for the umpires to adjudicate.

Here are the three things I would replace: the deliberate out of bounds rule even though its purpose is sound. It's too subjective. Go back to out on the full only. the ruck nomination rule. It slows down the game substantially as the umpires wait, not just for the nomination to be made, but for the lumbering ruckmen to make it to the point where the ruck contest is to take place Stephen Hocking

Call me crazy, but I expect a result. Interesting that Keilty is an emergency. Should Max not play, which has to be a possibility, I'd expect Keilty to come in for what I assume will be his last game. If that's the case, good luck to him.

Good point. I hadn't thought of that (metaphorically puts head between legs and leaves the room).

So Tom Saprrow is only out for one more week and not the rest of the season. That's a bit of good news.

Having thought about this a bit more, doesn't every club receive funding from the AFL?

The last line in the article confirms it. It also shows that AFL media is just as sensationalistic as the mainstream media it feeds. The article implies that the Suns and Melbourne are meeting with the Commission because of their positions on the ladder. That's not the case. I hope we'll be explaining that 2019 was an abberation and that we expect to be back in finals contention next year. We need the AFL Commission to believe that if we're to be given good timeslots, lots of free to air TV games and a draw which will attract spectators to the MCG.

What I'd really like to see is players who dominate at Casey play in the seniors in the same positions in which they dominate the seconds. In other words, I'd like to see what ANB and JKH might do as proper on-ballers rather than being played in different positions. I'm not sure who else, but I've never understood why they aren't given that opportunity or, conversely, why they don't play at Casey in the role they are expected to play in the seniors.

Just wait for the trade period. That will get Demonland positively fizzing.

Actually, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but many CEOs survive one bad year. Look at Alan Joyce, for example. Qantas made a huge loss and Joyce cancelled flying due to an ongoing employee dispute. The Board kept him on and the next year and thereafter Qantas was flying (pun intended). Many don't get to survive a second scare, though, and if we don't improve significantly in 2020, Goodwin will likely be another tossed on to the scrapheap. I don't know if he can turn it around, but I am definitely satisfied that he should be given the opportunity to try.

Au contraire. We've had 22 match simulations, not counting the pre-season kick and giggle games.

I think we've vacated and it's now just full of squatters

He took 10 uncontested marks against Collingwood. That suggests a willingness to work hard and run to space. On its own that wouldn't be enough but it's certainly a good start.

As long as we stay away from Gloomy Sunday, otherwise known as the Suicide Song. There's actually a very good movie linked to Gloomy Sunday, Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod. It's no more gloomy than watching football in 2019.

Almost...but he can't know what's inside Goodwin's mind right now with respect to any changes to the gameplan intended for 2020. Of course, Goodwin's future plans might not work and Rawlings may have ideas that are better, but right now Goodwin deserves the opportunity to right the ship. That doesn't give him a free pass for 2021, but he should be supported by the club, the players and supporters in 2020 as he works to get us up the ladder and into contention once again.