La Dee-vina Comedia

I'll probably sleep like a baby. That is, wake every two hours, cry and need some assistance getting changed into something dry.

None of us really know what went on. But it's quite possible the club agreeing to the players' request that the camp not proceed has had the unintended benefit of strengthening the relationship between the players and the coach. Imagine the alternative of the coach demanding that the players go on the camp even when they didn't want to? Would the club have been better off then? I know that the tail can't always wag the dog, but leaders also need to understand that sometimes the best strategy is to follow those who you ostensibly lead thereby building the followers' resilience, confidence and belief.

The intention of the "below the knees rule" is sound but I agree it needs to be re-thought. It should be used when players collecting the ball actively take the legs out of an opposition player, not when an opposition player trips over the ball-getter. It's not the only rule that needs clarifying or re-tooling, though. I'd rather fix a number of the rules that already exist rather than creating new ones. As an example, it has become increasingly clear that after a mark or free kick, players are being deliberately restricted by their opponent for longer. The 50 metre penalty introduced to stop this needs to be more strongly enforced. That will help stop congestion because the delay is intended to give the opposition time to flood back.

It's all Jack Watts fault. If he hadn't left all the comments would be calling for him to be dropped thereby leaving Tyson alone.

Tyson seems to be the lowest in the pecking order for midfielders, so if Fritsch is moved to the wing to allow Joel Smith to be added to the team, Tyson's place is under threat. But I don't think Tyson is the only one who's position is at risk. Fritsch could also replace Hannan who hasn't really done enough to guarantee his spot, either. (I'm not suggesting Hannan should be dropped, only that if another tall defender is selected, I think Hannan is at equal risk as Tyson of being omitted.)

Courageous reporting (not). Means any number upwards of zero.

Possibly the most meaningless phrase ever. Tells us absolutely nothing.

Someone needs to tell Whispering Jack that he's been wasting his time updating the draft order after each final in the Draft, Trade and Cheese Board section. Unless of course, WJ has been right all along.

If I've got this right (and someone will correct me if necessary) winning the semi-final has lifted us up a spot and into the top 4. And every time we go up a spot on the ladder Adelaide's pick received from the trade of Jake Lever gets downgraded by a spot. If that's right, it's just a bonus highlight. But a very nice one.

O Mac has definitely improved with experience. But he has been helped by a better functioning defensive unit, too. We now see far fewer instances of three Demon defenders all going for the same mark (or spoil) leaving an opposition small forward loose to capitalise on the inevitable loose ball. And like any defender, he's also helped by the ball not coming in as often or as quickly either because the mids and forwards keep pressuring their opponents and our defenders (particularly Salem, Hibberd and Fritsch) dispose of the ball out of defence with improved efficiency so it doesn't rebound so quickly.

The more they refer to him as "underrated" by definition they are increasingly incorrect.

It seems inevitable that the AFL will bring in new rules in 2019. My concern is that it seems to be driven by a new AFL operations manager wanting to be remembered for having done something. So let me tell him what will happen. First they will be known as the "Stephen Hocking rule changes of 2019". This will inevitably be shortened to the "S. Hocking rule changes of 2019" and ultimately the "Shocking rule changes of 2019".

Anyone know how Neil Crompton got his nickname of "Froggy"?

I thought Jetta's year has been a bit mixed. But his last few weeks have been as good as any in his career. It is nice to see him regularly praised in the media for his unflinching commitment to doing whatever is necessary (and legal) for his team.

Ignoring the names, but is that a lot of players getting 20 votes or more? Is that usual? A quick Wikipedia check says that Greg Williams and Dipper won it jointly with 17 each and Wanganeen and Liberatore won it with 18.

This. Plus the goal resulting from Frost's kick out from the goal square.

Compare the pair. We know plus or minus a player or two who will be in our 2018 Preliminary Final Team. Here's the team from 30 years ago including a number of stars but also some players I don't even remember (Bret Bailey?). I think the 2018 team would have the 1988 team covered (which is a huge compliment to John Northey for getting them into the GF).

Personally, I think we should just keep the lid on for a little longer. This is a discussion for October.

Have we reverted to the 1990s when the least important players were on the bench and hardly played? Today's game is so different that starting on the bench doesn't make anyone blink. One of our Captains started on the bench on Friday night. If there are no injuries, I suspect no change to the winning formula but if we do that we risk being undersized in the backline. Joel Smith might come in for that reason but there's no obvious person for him to replace. My fear is that we'll be forced to move T Mac to defence and rely on Weideman and occasionally Gawn to be the tall forwards.

I nearly considered putting Melksham in my votes for his performance because he substantially diminished Sicily's influence. I thought he played a super, selfless game. The two goals in the last were icing on the cake (unless you're a channel Seven commentator in which case, it's "cream on the cake".)

I'm not. He spent a lot of the night on Gunston who was probably Hawthorn's best. If I was giving votes just for the first half he and Salem may both have been toward the top. Jetta, on the other hand, destroyed Breust. 6. Viney 5. Oliver 4. Gawn 3. Jetta 2. Harmes 1. Petracca

So, what was it like at Gosch's Paddock in 1918? And was Saty there?

For the media, this week is all about the four teams playing this weekend so stories about Richmond and West Coast are irrelevant. For the Victorian media, GWS doesn't matter, so the only stories to cover are about Melbourne, Hawthorn and Collingwood. To be honest, I'm amazed that there aren't more Collingwood stories but unlike the coverage of most stories in the media, which tend toward the criminal, negative or full blown outrage (Mark Knight's cartoon, for example), sport often sells for the good news rather than the bad. I guess the potential Melbourne fairytale is the story the media wants everyone to buy into (literally).

Surely the word "chaos" whether used as "chaos ball" or "chaos game" wins the prize for the AFL's cliche of the year. Having said that, this is not a bad article (apart from the ridiculous hyperbole of claiming Richmond's success came about "through sheer willpower" and the accidental error of claiming we peppered the Geelong goal in the second quarter).

I'm trying to work out whether your top is a copy of Harmes' sleeve or whether he's tried to copy your top onto his arm.