La Dee-vina Comedia

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.

I think it will also upset supporters. How often is the word "tradition" bandied about, including on this forum? A 22 game home and away series is an inherent part of that tradition. My gut feel is that more people would be aggrieved with a 17-game "fair" fixture than purists might expect. The 10% increase idea might be true, but it's also possible that attendances might drop because of the perceived damage to the traditional fixture. In short, I think tradition will outweigh integrity of the draw in the minds of the majority. Agree with everything you've said. As I've posted before, I can't recall one Premiership being won by a club where the inequity of the fixture was considered to be a significant contributing feature to that result.

Don't forget to add from the other side of the ledger: sponsorship dollars from the NT Government membership money (if any) from NT locals "brand" exposure value (if any) from being physically present in Darwin and the Alice I suspect only the first dot point has any meaningful value.

I'm very surprised Essendon is playing North Melbourne on Good Friday. Only because it can't be a long term solution given that Good Friday and ANZAC Day can be so close that they could encompass one round of football. For that reason, I thought none of Collingwood, Richmond, Melbourne or Essendon would ever be chosen to play on Good Friday. If the AFL really wants to make Good Friday football a success I would have thought they would have tried to create an ongoing "blockbuster" involving North and another team who would play that day every year. Logic suggests that "other team" should be Carlton being the only potential powerhouse team that doesn't have a locked in commitment for Easter or ANZAC Day/Eve.

I will miss being able to turn up to the MCC members late and still get a good seat, though.

13 free-to-air matches. Anyone know off the top of their heads what it has been in previous years? Mind you, I'm only interested in a sub-set of free-to-air matches being those when we are not playing at the MCG. As an aside, it amuses me that the way someone has put together the graphics that it looks like in Round 13 we're playing the AFL. Not sure if it's home or away, but these days I think we'd win.

Which reminds me of Michael Voss's famous sledge when he tried to put his brother Brett off when having a shot for goal: "My Dad slept with your Mum last night". (Although I don't think he used the words "slept with").

While I can see the resemblance between Nick Reiwoldt and the animal (an alpaca?) I can also see where Sam McClure got the inspiration for his hairstyle. (Sam, if you're reading this, it's time you grew up and got a proper adult's haircut).

I can imagine he was very good at collecting drinks for everyone but when he went to pass it to you, did it miss you by some distance?

I would suggest that the synergy of linking Hames with Harmes should be a marketing opportunity made in heaven. Would it be appropriate to ask contestants at the quarter time break to do something with their r's?

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.

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?

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.

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.

I judge trading and drafting by one number - the final ladder position each year. By that measure, Josh Mahoney - if that is who is responsible - has been outstanding. All the other numbers, such as draft numbers and academy points (is that a thing?) are just metrics which provide general guidance.