La Dee-vina Comedia

I would have been impressed but (unless there are two players with the same name) you've got Mitch Maguire going to the Suns at pick 80 (in a previous post) and the Giants at 89.

Doesn't it take more skill to get a free agent, who can choose any team, than to trade for a player?

I'm already desperate for some footy. But I'm not that desperate. Having said that, I think there is a future for the AFLX concept, but just not with AFL present-day players. I can see it being a useful product to offer in non-AFL markets where finding appropriate oval grounds can be problematic. It's sort of like an Auskick for adults.

You make some fair points. I guess we don't really know what they tried to do during the trade period and how much their hands were tied by salary cap pressure. (I presume some of the player off-loading was related to their salary cap.) Of course, if their hands are tied, they managed to do that to themselves.

I think getting Lynch, surely the best player available under free agency this year, is a significant boost to Richmond. They only had one legitimate tall forward, a very good one, but also one who is about 30 years old. They needed to boost this area immediately and have done so. I can see why Wallace gave them an A, but I can also see that if Richmond don't win another Premiership in the next two years they could be headed for a long period of pain. It's a calculated move and if I were managing Richmond's list it is exactly what I would have done.

Other way round. It's the best time to rate trading. There's no accountability and no way anyone can argue with you due to a lack of any quantifiable metrics. You can stick your neck right out with no fear of it being chopped off.

This is an important part of the investment equation which some seem to not understand. While we had good value from Hogan as a player we also extracted value from him as a trade. There's no way we would have got May and Kolodjashnij without having had Hogan to trade. I know it's commoditizing players to describe them this way, but Hogan was a valuable asset both as a player and as trade currency. In other words, his value to the club extends beyond the years he played with us.

Mind you, we were cheating in Round 1 this year by apparently starting with five on the bench. That automatically makes us 4.34% better.

Well done, Jack T. Two other things in that AFL article caught my eye: Dom Barry was delisted on Monday and Jimmy Toumpas has earlier been delisted. Port's ex-Melbourne contingent has thus halved Port may have 5 ruckmen on their list (it might still be reduced to 4). While I appreciate one is only a 19 year old recovering from an ACL, that's still a lot of ruckmen to be carrying

I'm not having a got at you my dear Watson, but saying we lost 47 goals assumes that if Hogan hadn't played in those games where he kicked those 47 goals, his replacement would not have kicked any either. That's highly unlikely. It's not possible to know what that number might have been, but it's certainly not going to be as high as 47.

Is someone trying to equate him with the Eureka Tower? The red stripe on the side of his top = the red bit on the building (supposedly a candle wick, apparently), the rest of the blue on the jumper equates to the majority of the glass and the yellow glass at the top of the building equals his noggin.

What are you talking about? You've got a whole Wikipedia entry!

Wouldn't it just be easier to put the toy puppy teddy down with a toy injection?

I just hope Satyricon, DeeSpencer, 666 and all our other excellent track watchers and photographers take their annual leave now so they can be back and able to report training for us. Training reports (and the online banter which ensues) in late November and December are much more enjoyable than anything "real" sport can deliver over the same time period.

I agree - I can't quite equate the grade given with the words written.

Still have a Jack, too.

Can we put together a list of our current players' real nicknames, meaning the ones that are used by the players' themselves, rather than the ones supporters might like to use? I know Jones is 'Chunk' but what are other players known as? I've heard some people call Harmes 'Nut' and others call him 'Chomp'. But are either, or both, actually what his team-mates use? If posters want to add their own ideas, please make clear it's not the player's true nickname. What I want this thread to tell me is what players' nicknames actually are.

I might just go with Coca Cola.

Surprised he came to Melbourne, then. He's taking a huge risk.

Not only are we now a tough side, but we seem to be more disciplined. I noticed on Brownlow Night that we had no-one ineligible through suspension. I may be wrong, but I think no other team had zero ineligible players.

I like this line in the MFC release just emailed to me: "The addition of Kolodjashnij will enhance Melbourne’s transition play from the backline, while defender May is one the biggest names switching clubs this off-season." I haven't checked, but I suspect Kolodjashnij will have been the biggest name, while May will likely have been the shortest.

The left footer silky kickers seem to lean back a little more when they kick, too. The best right foot kicks, such as Shaun Burgoyne, Nathan Buckley and Darren Jarman are or were all superb kicks, but were more upright as they kicked the ball and (notwithstanding Burgoyne's nickname) not really "silky" in their kicking action.

The big effect of playing two true ruckman is not just that one of them might play forward but that our two genuine KPFs won't be spending time as bit-part ruckmen. That means McDonald and Weideman will be in the forward line together for much longer periods not just because they won't be up the ground rucking but because they won't need to spend as much time off the ground to give them the energy needed to run all around the ground as the second ruckman.

I think that's overstating Kent's historical performance. Yes, he kicked an average of 1 goal a game (63 games for 63 goals) but that works out at approx 10 goals per year over his 6 years with us.

How many people at age 23 think the same way as when they were 17? I just wonder whether Hogan has lost the degree of interest in football that he had when we first recruited him. There's no shame in that. I'm pretty sure when I was 23 I would be embarrassed to still love doing the things I loved doing when I was 17. Moving clubs and States may well be what he needs to re-generate enthusiasm for the game. (And if he becomes a dominant player in the competition in 2019 I'll console myself with the thought that it would not have happened if he'd stayed with us.)