La Dee-vina Comedia

The AFL was always going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. If the new franchises win premierships too early in their existence there will be complaints that the AFL made it too easy and it's unfair on clubs like Melbourne, St Kilda, Fremantle and the Bulldogs (although not any more) who have been waiting a long time. Conversely, if they don't win premierships, the expansion will be criticised as a failed experiment.

No. To maintain the high value of TV rights and the sponsorship dollars which follow, the AFL needs two games on TV each week in Queensland and NSW. The only way to get that is to have two teams in each of Queensland and NSW. While Qld is a big land mass, it's not practical to base a team in tropical Qld, so the only potentially viable locations for a second club are the Gold Coast, Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast. The AFL would always have known that the Suns and the Giants would need longterm support. However, I doubt they would have expected Gold Coast to have been managed so abysmally.

Tony Cochrane has been on the Board of the Gold Coast Suns since 2014 and Chairman since 2016. Could that be where part of the problem lies? I'm in favour of giving the Suns more support but if I were the AFL I'd be providing more back-of-house support and part of that would mean replacing the Chairman with someone who is less combative. I would also give the Suns one or two priority picks at the end of the first round which they can use for trade only. That would enable them to boost their stocks of experienced players.

Wasn't Hore dropped earlier in the season? Nevertheless, and more importantly, Hore has been a great recruit for us. It's obviously a shame he'll be out for the next few, but he's already done enough to be our best first year player.

*(cough)...Salem. Although, to be technically correct, Josh Wagner and Oscar McDonald have perhaps been the most consistent...just not consistently good.

4. To replace Gawn when he retires.

You believe Gawn won't be fit or do you see him playing in the seconds?

If you thought I was criticising you I apologise. That was not my intention. I was listening to 774 and it's just that I didn't hear their names during the call much at all. As a side comment, it was an uninspiring call of what they kept describing as an uninspiring game (actually, they were much more harsh than that).

To be fair, he wasn't much chop as a defender in those days, either. However, he seems to have found his spot in the backline and I would only move him forward if every other tall forward, Oscar McDonald, Preuss and May were all unavailable.

I wasn't at the ground but listening on radio. I don't recall hearing Hannan's name being called at any stage during the game. Not much of Brayshaw, either.

He'd play if they were red and blue. Slacker.

Just a word about the Emergencies. They are not the "next best four players" after the 22 have been selected. Rather, they are a ruckman, a defender, an onballer and a forward. On that basis I assume Preuss and OMac will fill the first two slots (unless Preuss comes into the side in place of Smith). Dunkley or C Wagner are likely to be the "forward emergency" although C Wagner might be the onballer. I suspect J Wagner will come into the side if Hibberd isn't ready. And I still have no idea why JKH hasn't been selected.

Not sure I want as captain an experienced player who wasn't in suitable condition when he arrived for pre-season training. Hardly setting a good example.

We changed a number of the coaching roles recently. As a matter of interest, how long would people expect any impact from such a change to show itself in the way we play? I would have thought at least three matches and that's if the players understand the changes and can actually execute them. I'm not being critical, just curious.

The number of emergencies was expanded to four his year because clubs argued that they needed to have emergencies to cover each of on-ballers, forward, defence and ruck. Preuss may just be the nominated "fourth emergency" just in case Max gets sick. As to Lewis's position, I would have thought if he were to come in it would be at the expense of Hannan. Having now watched the replay I would be extremely surprised if he took ANB's spot.

What do you mean? Aren't we the team that plays on the most and goes backwards the least?

Surely you've been working on a succession plan.

That's some ball drop.

In 1970, Peter Hudson kicked 146, Peter McKenna 143 and Alex Jesaulenko 115. And in 1971 Hudson followed up with a mere 150 and McKenna with 134.

Seven certainties? I can find four - Melksham, Lever, Jetta and Hibberd. I'll guess that your other three are Garlett, J Smith and Vandenburg. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me. However, I don't think any of them are "certainties", although I would accept Vandenburg in the "very likely" category.

Having just watched the replay, I was pleasantly surprised at how much ANB contributed. At the game I don't notice how much he actually did, not just running and chasing, but also getting the ball to players in better positions etc. He's not fluid or silky, but I was surprised how much he was actually in the game. Hannan, unfortunately, was mostly invisible live and on the replay. Hopefully he gets his mojo back soon.

I'm not sure if Acquire Learning still functions, but wouldn't it be amusing (or not) if there was a link between this story and Acquire, given the role Andrew Demetriou had at Acquire.

Did you forget Salem or do you see him as a midfielder/wingman?

If we can include Nathan Bassett, why not also include Darren Jarman? Drafted by us but never played a game.?

Probably worth mentioning again: everyone in the AFL lies. Goodwin might not be lying this time, but equally, he could be.