La Dee-vina Comedia

For every person who thinks one year out of the game is not enough to recharge there will be another who thinks that anything longer would be too long and too hard to get back in. I admire Pert for taking on this job. Without denigrating Jackson, there was a lot of low hanging fruit when he arrived. He picked all that off and then went on to the more difficult matters and will be rightly remembered as one of the best CEOs the club has ever had. So Pert comes into a job where all the "easy fixes" have already been done and will have to suffer the inevitable comparisons with his immediate predecessor. He would be smart and experienced enough to know that, so I admire him for taking on what has become difficult job to be seen to be successful in.

I'm not sure we should own it. I expect it would be more economical for someone else to own and build it and for us to take out a long-term lease as a key tenant (say, 20 years with a 20 year option). Or we could master lease the whole thing and then sub-lease components, such as the office space and any F&B outlets. I would have thought the less capital we tie up in something like this the better. (That goes for any development, whether it's Yarra Park or elsewhere).

Unless he chooses to play cricket over football.

There's the proof that our plan is the optimal solution.

Let me be the first to ask a dumb question. Does the vertical leap test measure absolute height or height above the player's own height. In other words do the King twins, who average 203 cm have a 30 cm advantage over Chandler before they even take a leap? If so, the Chandler twins (ie, Kade and Kyle) are the second best of everyone, they must have a helluva jump.

Ask me in 5 years time

A sparrow that walks like a swan? Doesn't even sound possible.

You seem to be channelling a former PM who is not worthy of naming who (in)famously said that Workchoices was "dead, buried and cremated".

That's why I suggested mounting a sentimental campaign rather than one based on common sense or logic. It's amazing the foolish things the human race will do in response to sentimentality. (Next you'll be arguing that anyone associated with Collingwood aren't actually part of the human race. Can't argue with that.)

The better strategy would be to mount a sentimental campaign for Collingwood to relocate to Victoria Park. We could then take over Olympic Park

RG is correct that Governments and Opposition parties will use creative language when necessary to give them subsequent wriggle room should they want to do something (or not do something) which they were to politically scared to support (or oppose) prior to an election. I'm not saying, however, that in this instance that any non-specific response should be presumed to disguise a particular position.

I suspect the lack of foresight wasn't the only problem. I presume we would have had insufficient financial resources to do anything there anyway.

Maybe we weren't asking for enough in the first place. Perhaps we should have added a Formula 1 track to Yarra Park and to raise the railway to a Skyrail to the plans and then agreed to a mediated compromise by removing the F1 component and the Skyrail. Isn't that the way politics is meant to work?

I must have caught a different strain of MFCSS. I'm the eternal optimist (otherwsie known as the glass half full sort of guy) who goes to games in a positive frame of mind irrespective of when logic suggests otherwise. And even as an optimist, I still assume we'll find a way to stuff it up next year.

I said he was a victim who inflicted it upon himself. I didn't say anyone had to feel sorry for him.

Bugg is a victim in the same way Gaff is. Self-inflicted, but nevertheless impacted by his own foolish action.

They can both be victims. Brayshaw is a victim of the physical impact while Gaff may be a psychological victim from feeling guilty. The fact that Gaff made the violent contact does not stop him from being a victim albeit one that was self-imposed.

I don't think it worried us when we were interested in Jake Lever. I have no problem at all with clubs talking to players during the season. It's a professional competition and the players and the clubs are both striving to make the best deals they can. Nevertheless, I don't like the NRL system where players announce during the season that they will be playing with a different team the following year, but I suspect it will inevitably happen in the AFL and we'll all just get used to it.

I noticed during the week that the AFL Store was selling large pictures of three Melbourne players (Gawn was one, can't remember the other two) and Hogan in his Melbourne gear which was marked down by 50%. I suspect they will still sell zero. Even if given away at no charge I can't see who would want one.

I agree about the saturation issue. I'm no fan of Thursday night football (unless it's a special occasion, such as the night before Good Friday or ANZAC Eve) as it has the effect of diluting the weekend. I'm also not psychologically ready for it. It's the same with cricket. Why we're playing international cricket in Australia in November makes no sense to me. Clearly the Australian public isn't ready for that, either.

I have an alternate view. Instead of being satisfied if he "can take a few games by the scruff of the neck" my preference is for him to become a consistent, solid option. Someone who gets picked every week, takes contested marks and kicks goals regularly without necessarily dominating individual games.

I've said this before, but the role of a Captain is not just about what happens on the field. I have no idea whether Hutchins is a good captain or not, but making a judgment as to the suitability of being a captain on the basis of what happened on the field, particularly in one game, is a fraught exercise.

Nup. He was just a kid being influenced by his Manager and his Dad. Let it go.

Personally, I think booing should be reserved for umpires and anyone associated with Collingwood.

While I like your nostalgia, you do realise there is nothing stopping you from sitting at half-time with your thermos and fruit cake and discussing the progress of the game with your family, friends or bloke sitting next to you? And I'll defend the game and the spectacle as it is today. Apart from anything else, getting to watch it played on grass instead of mud and while sitting undercover instead of standing in the rain help make the experience better. Players are fitter, stronger and on average, better skilled. It's the non-football activities which are spoiling the experience. For example, I'd much rather watch a Reserves match than a couple of mascots doing handstands.