La Dee-vina Comedia

Stop the presses! It took a Melbourne supporter to find Jimmy Hoffa. And there was a clue in his disappearance all along: "Hoffa disappeared on July 30, 1975, from the parking lot of Red Fox restaurant."

It's so bizarre that it's 26 August and we're talking about a three week injury rather than whether someone will be ready in time for the pre-season. It's a strange feeling that I'm willing to get used to. I can't see why we'd tinker too much with the team. If there had been no injuries, Viney would have come in, possibly for one of Kent or Spargo. Given the injuries, it seems logical that Hannan is the other one to come in, if he's fit. Although, J Smith might be an option instead of Hannan with Fritsch moving up to the wing. And I think Kennedy-Harris will likely remain. I thought he was an important player today and after a long time finally looks like he's caught up to the pace of the game.

I'm not sure I can agree with this statement. Generally I think Goodwin has given players at least two weeks to prove themselves. There have been exceptions (White last year and Petty this year come to mind, but both looked well off the pace in their single game).

Heart in mouth when he played on yesterday and kicked with his left when he didn't have to which resulted in a goal. I suspect that means he is brimming with confidence (which I didn't share at the time).

I think Oliver might provide some good support. I thought he whole team responded well to what I assume was a targeted coaching message during the week. Gone were the "long bombs" into the forward line and instead there was much more precision, low kicking. It was probably overdone a few times when players perhaps should have had shots for goal instead of looking for someone else, but overall, the change in tactics seemed obvious to me and well executed most of the time.

So, which club now has the longest streak of not playing in finals? I'd just like to know who I can look down on.

A few weeks back I recall commenting that Goodwin must say something at half time because for a period there we were poor in the first half and then significantly better in Q3. Perhaps he was too monotone pre-game and animated at half time. More likely, though, is that he could see the problems in the first half and could explain to the players how to fix them for the second half. Of course, that still required the players to execute correctly which it seems they couldn't do last week against Sydney.

I'm working on the basis that 2017 didn't actually exist.

While that's an amusing comment, this year is really about getting ready for a genuine assault on the Premiership in 2019 to 2022. The stats show we're building in so many areas. Next year I expect it to all come together and make us a serious contender. I'd like us to make Finals this year so as to give the players some September experience, all to help with the 2019 to 2022 window of opportunity.

If he's able to play with this affliction, I'm surprised he even noticed the pain from the broken collarbone.

We should keep this thread going until the positive thread has more posts than this one. It will remind us of the dark days and what we've had to survive to enjoy going to the footy again.

It's time we replaced this thread with a positive one: "Records: Oldies but Goodies Being Superseded". I know that actually seems like a headline from when iTunes first came on the market but I love hearing about how this modern team is making its own positive statement. For example, yesterday's first quarter score was our highest Q1 since ??? (I can't remember. Was it 1972?); When was the last time, if ever, we beat opponents by more than 90 points three times in a single season? etc

Mark Knight is surely Australia's greatest cartoonist. The poignancy of this work is amazing - look closely and you can see Lyle's wife and kids.

The article is, like his coaching, a bit incomplete. It says that Neeld "admitted that in hindsight he should have trusted his own judgment more when implementing the Demons' plan to rebuild once again" but doesn't explain if it wasn't his, whose judgment he did rely on. I suspect there's a fair bit of dissembling going on. I hope he can find a proper future. He's never going to be a senior coach again and he probably should never have been one, but I don't for one moment think that he wasn't trying to do his best when he was with us.

I just read this post as "take down the tranny that is the AFL!" Very disturbing imagery.

I don't mean this flippantly, but traditionally strongly supported by Irish catholic families in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Hence, lots of children leading to a large population to draw from. Similar for Collingwood, too.

Never like things being "pencilled in". I much prefer something like ink that can't be erased and changed.

Oh, OK. I didn't realise. (I've just looked at the MFC announcement yesterday of the team which says Hannan has a jarred knee.)

Hannan? He's not on the list. I thought he was omitted. Or do you mean Hunt?

Nicely said.

Nearly had a heart attack! Please write "maximum" when that's what you mean. I thought for a moment that "max" meant Gawn and for some reason he was lining up in the VFL. I know it's a completely illogical thought, but reading social media can have that effect.

I'd go one step further...if their feelings are hurt that much that it affects their performance, then they are probably not CEO material in the first place. I'm not for one moment saying that any of them feel that way. Hopefully, each has seen the opportunity to be considered to have been an honour in itself.

We don't know about that. My suspicion has always been that giving up the pokies was the price to be paid for getting State and/or Federal government support (cash and perhaps expedited planning approval) for our new admin and training base, wherever that might be. And if we can make money out of the new site as well, all the better.

We made a mistake a few weeks ago when we stated we were getting out of pokies. What we should have done was consolidate that announcement with this one by stating that we were intending to move the pokies from Oakleigh to a new social club to be built over the Jolimont railyards next to our new training oval. After an expected outcry from East Melbourne residents and Ellen Sandell we would then "back down" by withdrawing the pokies component. The East Melbourne residents and Ellen Sandell would have had a victory and may then have accepted the rest of the proposal. I'm only half-joking.

I rather like the idea posted earlier of replanting trees which have to be removed on the site of the Punt Road Oval which is the real eyesore in the precinct.