La Dee-vina Comedia

Actually, the ground-breaking part of the Motorola research showed that people who bought a product they were initially unhappy with but were satisfied with the provider's after-sales service were more likely to go back and buy from that provider again than would a person who had a satisfactory experience in the first place which didn't need after-sales service. The moral is to provide a product people are ultimately satisfied with. And just to back up my earlier argument, I'm sure the club's first 20- to 30,000 members each year, most of whom will be renewals, are easier to get than the last 15,000, most of whom will be new members.

Are you sure about that? I thought the oft-quoted Motorola research of the 1980s (or 1970s?) said the opposite. That is, the easiest sell is the repeat sell. That research is the fundamental reason why car manufacturers have developed sophisticated long-term warranty and service plans for new cars. Their view is that a satisfied customer is the easiest person to sell a new (replacement) product to.

Fantastic work. We shall remember them. Two things stand out for me. First, that Ivor Warne-Smith didn't do things by halves. Not only two Brownlow Medals, but also served in both the First and Second World Wars. That's over-achieving. Secondly, how namby-pamby is the auto-censor! All those people whose names are presumably the diminutive of Richard can't have the name by which they are known shown here. Ridiculous (but, I hasten to add, not the fault of the Demonland administrators).

Agreed. At least, I thought it was more worthy than Petracca's. Preuss's goal fundamentally derived from the player's skill; Petracca's involved a high degree of luck associated with the tackling motion of the opponent. I can't countenance any argument that Petracca made use of the tackle motion and kicked the ball deliberately at the right time to get the goal.

I think you mean their CEO, Brendon Gale. Their President is Peggy O'Neal.

Jones received 9 out of 10 of the Coaches' Votes. 'Nuff said.

Given Gil and Hocking seem obsessed with non-football entertainment, it's only fair to point out that I found it highly entertaining in the Essendon game when the umpires panicked the second time Essendon didn't have a wingman at a centre bounce. Turned out that Essendon only had 17 players on the ground at the time. The poor umpires were completely befuddled. And the game was delayed for about a minute for no good reason.

Such as when Hurley hit him in the head (accidentally) when spoiling a marking attempt, followed by grabbing him over the shoulder and finally pushing him in the back. All in the same contest, but in separate, clearly visible movements. Play on called as the ball went over the boundary line. (That game had the worst umpiring of any game I have seen in the last 5 years. And it wasn't just Melbourne supporters who thought so. The media also spoke about it during and after the game.)

I don't know how much it costs to print and mail, but as our membership grows, so too do the costs of providing hard copies. (Of course, as member numbers grow, so too does revenue.) Nevertheless, I can't see how it could cost less than $70,000 to print and mail 'Heartbeat' to 40,000+ members. I'd be happy for that money to be used elsewhere. I agree, however, that if the club chooses to replace the hard copy with an online version, members need and deserve a better form of notification of its availability.

We clearly see his performance differently. I have seen three of the four games (missed Geelong) and on the basis of that sample, I couldn't disagree with you more.

It's also possible that GC might be winning games because they've finally got players who want to play for the club rather than quit at the first opportunity. I'm not being critical of those who chose to leave, but it must be a much happier place at the moment.

Omens abound. Given Saturday will be the first day of Passover, when four glasses, half full (or completely full), are drunk during the service on the Friday night (repeated on the Saturday for those who are willing), the above comment seems appropriate. Also, as the game is being played on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I think it's a line ball between the Demons, who should have an affiliation with the events which Good Friday commemorates and the Saints who for 2000 or so years have clearly associated with Easter Sunday. Happy Easter and/or Passover, if that's your thing.

Has the AFL ever admitted to making a mistake? It's a genuine question. The closest I can come to it is recalling Gil saying they were too slow to respond to the racist issues Adam Goodes faced. In this instance, though, I could see them admitting it was a mistake, but only if McLachlan and Hocking have both already left the building, something which I think is a real prospect if the AFL starts to go backwards in popularity.

Should be Diamente Jim.

On the 3AW pre-game discussion yesterday, the panel interviewed the St Kilda coach who said that in his opinion the 6-6-6 rule has reduced scoring because teams no longer have the "overlap" player in the back half. As he explained it, by having a plus 1, teams were able to use that to create attack from defence because once they had the ball, they had the extra player which made it difficult for their opponents to prevent a quick transition from defence to attack. I have no idea if he's right or not, but it does show that tinkering with rules can have perverse consequences which might not be obvious at first blush. It's why any rule changes that are intended to change the way the game is played should be fully tested before implementation.

It's actually a really poor article. It claims that that "Disneyfication" of the AFL is "alienating fans" with no evidence to back up that argument. It's a shame, because the author may well be right. But without the data to back it up, it just becomes an opinion from a fan who prefers football the "old way". If the AFL were presented with this article all it would need to do is show that various metrics are positive (largest numbers of members ever, crowd attendance figures, participant numbers skyrocketing, (although that's primarily due to women's footy), etc). If the author's premise is correct (and, for what it's worth I fear that it is), the AFL may find that it's short term "fan activation" ideas may ultimately fail. But we're going to need the argument to be better articulated than it has been here.

If it wasn't for Carlton being on the bottom of the ladder, I would have started to wonder whether along with 6-6-6 and other rule changes, the AFL had brought in some other rule or interpretation that the ladder was to be read in reverse. Who, in all honesty, would have predicted before the beginning of the season that all of Brisbane, St Kilda, Gold Coast and Fremantle would be in the top 8 at the end of round 4?

There are 168 hours in a week* of which game time is about 2.5. You'd think that the remaining 165.5 hours would be sufficient time for any player to rest. But, clubs "rest" players all the time, so clearly the effects of a single game are significant. However, I can't see how any player should need a "rest" after only four games. If he's injured, don't play him; if he's just out of form, decide whether he needs more game time to recover touch or whether he needs to drop back to Casey for a while. For what it's worth, in my view he's playing OK. Not AA form that he's capable of, but not worthy of demoting, either. *Note: 168 hours is a normal week. Six day breaks, etc, stuff up the maths.

What surprised me most about the 0-15 Buddy score is that we had only played against him 15 times. He's been in the system since 2005, so a theoretical possibility of about 26 matches in the unlikely event that we played Hawthorn and subsequently Sydney twice each year. 15 games is just a fraction more than once per year. Mind you, I'm happy it wasn't more than 15 games in that time (unless the higher number had been due to us playing against him in finals).

I tossed up between Melksham and Hunt and decided on Hunt to reward his pressure over Melksham's creativity. Could easily have gone the other way but I was probably more aware of our lack of forward pressure in the first three rounds and weighted that aspect more heavily.

We've kicked triple figure scores the last two weeks. What exactly are you looking for? The "take it one week at a time" rule needs to be ignored this week. We have a very short turnaround for the Richmond game, so we need to select a team for St Kilda with that in mind. It wouldn't surprise me, therefore, if Lewis isn't played because there might be a view he couldn't back up and play again that quickly. It also means that I suspect ANB misses against St Kilda but will definitely play in the Richmond game. I didn't think Spargo or Stretch did anything to inspire me last night but Goodwin has more often than not given fringe players more than one week to show their worth. Nevertheless, as injured players become available, various fringe players are in line for a demotion irrespective of how many games they've played. All of Stretch, Spargo and the Wagners are in this boat. Hore would have been, too, but played well enough that he'll be retained longer than J Wagner.

6. Gawn 5. Oliver 4. Jones 3. Hore 2. Hunt 1. Viney (While Viney didn't get a heap of the ball, his in-and-under work and relentless pressure helped immensely those who did.) Honourable mentions to Salem, Harmes and Melksham.

Pink Lady, I would have thought, based on the pictures I've seen.

Took one post for the apoplexy to start!

We might. He's an emergency and there's a doubt about T Mac playing. Could ANB be the one who comes in as a late change? One thing's for sure, if that happens, be ready for some apoplexy on Demonland. For what it's worth, given the other emergencies are Spargo, Hore and Petty, I would have thought ANB would be the logical replacement for T Mac because it replaces like-for-like in running capability. I can't see how any of the other emergencies make sense as a replacement for T Mac. Not sure ANB makes a lot of sense, either, but at least having a player with the a tank to run hard all game would be maintained.