La Dee-vina Comedia

You must be fun to talk footy with.

I have no idea whether he's ready or not, but the last couple of games in a meaningless season are a good place to give debut games. It gets rid of nerves so that when they next play (which should be when it really matters) they are better prepared, and rewards them for persistence (ie, for training hard all year). It would be even better if the promotion is merit-based on performance at Casey, but rounds 22 and 23 are for us as much a part of the 2020 preseason as are JLT games in February and March.

Hunt played in the forward line for the last quarter against Collingwood and I thought made an enormous difference. With him there, I saw movement which I hadn't seen in the first three quarters (Fritsch excepted). If it were up to me, and assuming Hunt is not injured, I'd be bringing in Chandler for Corey Wagner who's had a number of chances but failed to impress.

Agree, apart from NRL, Australian Soccer, FIFA, Cricket Australia, Tennis, US Gymnastics and road cycling.

A perfect example of confirmation bias.

I don't want to start a new thread, and he wasn't a Demon, but vale also to Graham "Polly" Farmer. A great player for Geelong, and a little after Bluey's time. Two greats (and not using that word lightly) gone in one week.

I find it extraordinary that McLachlan is encouraging a specific player to play with a specific club. That's a completely improper statement for the person who is meant to be in charge of the competition. If he truly believes that a player shouldn't leave, why does he oversee a system which allows trading, free agency and a system of employment by contract? I've been concerned for some time that McLachlan is not an appropriate CEO. This statement, while perhaps not quite confirming my opinion, certainly strengthens it.

Definitely not. The MFC website isn't a news outlet (neither is the AFL website). It is a marketing opportunity and therefore only presents a story that satisfies the interests of the MFC. It is therefore not going to be critical of the MFC. Ergo, it can't be trusted.

I believe the correct adjective is "frostacular", meaning something that is awe-inspiring but not necessarily always for the right reasons.

Fritsch - missed the target Just as apt, I would have thought.

Someone probably needed to heal that ooze. By not doing so, it all drained away.

I'm not quite sure how this is any different from how the game would have been played if Gawn wasn't "tagging" Grundy. Having said that, if there is some difference, Gawn getting that experience in a year when it doesn't matter makes some sense. Gawn might not be the best ruckman in the competition forever, and when the time comes that he comes up against a better ruckman, it would be useful for him to understand how to nullify said opponent.

Serious question. David King claims Salem was Sidebottom's man. How would he know that? I could see that most of the time Frost was on Elliott, but after that I couldn't tell who was playing on whom. Was it clear to others that Salem was meant to be playing on Sidebottom? My suspicion is that what King saw was when Goodwin decided to semi-reinstate last year's ploy of running an extra into the midfield at a centre bounce. When we did that (it was usually Baker or JKH), because of the 6-6-6 requirement, one of Salem or Jones was nominally in the wing position but about 1 metre from the back edge of the square. That had them 30 metres away from the Collingwood wingman, who was sometimes Sidebottom. When the ball was bounced, Baker/JKH ran forward and Salem/Jones ran into the 50m arc to pick up a man.

I think the mistake was allowing Geelong to be formed as the second Australian football club in 1859. Started the rot.

Salem says hi.

Maybe, but I think there's a future with Baker. I see no future with Corey Wagner, so I'd rather Stretch in for him. I'm not convinced about Stretch, either. But I'd like to give him the last two games to see if there's something there worth persevering with. So: Out: May (inj), C Wagner (omit) In: Hore, Stretch

I'm trying to visualise Demonland either have melted or turned to ash if we'd performed like Essendon or North over the weekend. Or GWS. My view has always been that we'll know more about 2018 and 2019 by this time next year. One of them will be an abberation. I'm hoping it's 2019.

I know I'm too late to be considered for inclusion, but here I go: 6. Fritsch (while bad kicking is bad football, the rest of his game elevated him to a standard better than anyone else in red and blue) 5. Petracca 4. Salem 3. Kennedy-Harris 2. Lewis (apart from one howler, showed meticulous precision with his disposals. I just wish the ball was in his hands more often) 1. Harmes The only other players who I could consider for votes were May, Oliver and Hibberd.

Excellent list. But you left off Satyricon.

Because it's written for the MFC website I can't really trust anything that's written here. It's not like the club will put something critical of itself on its own website. In other words, I am none the wiser as to whether McCartney is leaving on his own accord or not. I'm also not sure that it matters. If he wanted to leave, good luck to him. And if the club doesn't want him around, good luck to him.

Desperate times need desperate threads.

I can't see the problem. So we get pick 3 instead of pick 2 (or 4 instead of 3). The history of drafting suggests there's no difference between the likelihood of pick 2 being better than pick 3 (or vice versa). The bigger picture of getting the Suns competitive is a far more compelling issue. That being said, my suggestion for the AFL is to give the Suns two picks immediately after the first Round which they can only trade. That way they should get one or two decent more mature players. They have enough kids already.

Not every chronically injured player stays that way for the whole of their career. Wasn't Max Gawn late to start because of knee reconstructions? James Hird played his best football after the best part of two years out with foot problems and David Shwartz played excellent football after returning from three (is that the right number?) ACLs. I agree that club's can't keep too many "injury-prone" players on their list, but it's a classic risk versus reward conundrum with every player. VandenBurg's upside was clearly enough for the club to agree to take that risk.

Weeks, months or years?

Keep in mind the data is* showing totals for the year, rather than averages per game, so a player who has played more games (eg Fritsch) will have bigger numbers (good and bad). Nevertheless, I agree that Fritsch provides better value forward than back. *For the pedants out there...yes, I know that 'data' is the plural of 'datum' so technically I should have written 'are' instead of 'is'. But (says he incorrectly starting a sentence with a conjunction) that just reads so badly.