La Dee-vina Comedia

Presumably the designers of the auto-censor assume that every reference to 'bastard' refers to the child of an unwed mother.

Actually, I am. He seems to me to be the only commentator that appreciates how the game is played today. Too many of the rest seem to think the game is played the way they played it, even if that's only 5 years ago. Irrespective of any other value they bring, commentators like Matthew Richardson, Luke Darcy and even Cameron Ling have been out of the game so long that their comments show they don't understand the technical side of how the game is now played. I find Bartel's commentary to be insightful.

Do you mean effort or execution? I thought the former was there but not the latter.

I think the concern about the coach is valid, but it might be rectified with experience. With one exception (St Kilda), all our losses have been against teams with very experienced coaches. I accept that we've also won games against teams with experienced coaches (Freo and North), but I think most of our losses have been due to what the other team brought to the table, and our inability to counter it.

The inference from your post is that we didn't play accountable football yesterday. (If that's not what you meant, I apologise). I think we did try yesterday, we were just out-coached and out-played. The end result may be the same, but I don't think the players had "got ahead of themselves".

Whether the thread is started on the basis of a falsehood or not, we clearly don't yet know what to do in the last few minutes of a game when it is close, whether we're ahead or behind. It's time we worked out what to do in each scenario.

The media curse strikes another player. It seems that every time a player is written up in the media, whether it's for his performance or positive off-field activities, he play a stinker the next game. It's been going on as long as I can remember. Serious question: Does the club use a psychologist? It seems to me we should be.

I thought Joeboy was giving his analysis on a player I'd never heard of. Can anyone tell me what Pederson's job was? I was watching on TV which means you get to see what's happening where the ball is but not much else. I know he started in defence, but doing what? I can only assume he was picked because the Match Committee thought that Gawn might not make it through the game. Whatever the reason, I can't see how we can keep him in the side along with the other talls. It juyst slows us down too much. So, I think he has to go along with Spargo who appears to have hit the wall. Melksham and Hibberd are obvious ins if fit. If Hunt is injured, he'll need to be replaced, too. However, although he had a poor gamer, if he's not injured, he should stay. He's been out of the side for a while and should be given another game. But, if he has to go out either Kent or Hannan come in and Fritsch goes to the backline or Wagner comes in.

6. Harmes 5. Brayshaw 4. Oliver (primarily for his last quarter) 3. Tyson 2. O McDonald 1. Salem Gawn might have got votes if he'd held some crucial marks.

Interesting backstory, too, about his mother and his interest in working with people with disabilities. I had been thinking that Harmes was our most improved in 2018 but perhaps I was taking ANB's form for granted and assumed he was always like this. Either way, the improvement in both has been pleasing to see.

Somehow, I just can't imagine this. I think of him as perennially immature, a Peter Pan character. Always smiling and seemingly having fun. Yet clearly understands the hard work and effort necessary to be a successful footballer.

We win if it's Good Friday; Saints will win if it's Easter Sunday. Been that way for about 2000 years.

On the other hand, Mills played no further part in the game. I'm not sure the net impact of Bugg being rattled and Mills being off the ground helps explain why we lost.

And neither do the bookies' computers. I expect setting the odds these days has very little, if any, human involvement. I assume that the computer's algorithm calculates the odds based on the flow and holding of money on each contingency and varies the odds automatically as required.

And Carlton have...

What does that actually mean? 14 good games? 14 great games? 14 goals and none kicked on him???

That can't possibly be true. Otherwise someone's lying when they say they're not thinking about finals and just worrying about the next game and getting the four points and not talking about the 'f' word and...

It's that great paradox. Club's get criticised for not beating teams above them on the ladder, yet the higher the ladder they climb, the harder it gets. Conversely, by definition, the worst team in the competition only ever beats teams above it. I'm always nervous about any game, but this should be our best chance to beat the Swans in years. Demons by 48.

Nice turn of phrase.

I think it's simplistic to say that the reason WCE and Adelaide get so many frees for is solely due to their home ground advantage. If it were simply that, why is Fremantle so far down the list? I suspect something else is at play, possibly, but not necessarily being helped by home crowd support. Perhaps WCE and Adelaide play a game style that encourages free kicks (do their players "duck into tackles" more than other teams' players, for example) and the crowd noise amplifies the incident. Away clubs need to work out what the true drivers are and not just assume it's purely home ground bias.

Who to believe. Tough choice.

Are there still going to be rookies next year (apart from International/Alternative sport category)? I can't see the point anymore. Can't rookies play at any time now without being "promoted"?

Goodwin on Gawn: "He’s just having a light week. He’ll train fully on Saturday and he will play on Sunday. We’re really confident about that." I was really happy reading this. Until I read the last sentence. "Really confident". Doesn't instil me with confidence at all. If they were certain, he would have said "We're certain about that".

This is the usual image of "rampant" (not a bad likeness, with all that facial growth and little on top)

The differential is not the only interesting figure. How come the Bulldogs have had 11 home games whereas ten other teams, including us have had 9? And I assume this data includes nominal home games, irrespective of where they are played. Would that be right?