La Dee-vina Comedia

Off topic, but for those old enough to have seen both Ron Barassi and Robert Flower, who might be considered the better of the two and, in all likelihood, therefore, our best player ever?

I'll just leave this here. Personally, I don't think there should be any further comment given the seriousness of the matter.

Haven't seen the game and didn't realise that Salem played HBF. I've also read on here somewhere that Brayshaw played better once he was placed on-ball, so I imagine it might be preferable to leave him in the middle. In essence we need 5 small defenders. Could that group be Jetta, Hunt, Hibberd, Vince and Lewis?

Might be a good idea to give Stretch another chance on the wing to play Tyson's role and move Tyson on-ball (to replace Salem) where he seems more suited.

So you think a player who has played 64% of one game is impacting more for us than the guy who's played all six games and is coming third in the Coaches' Votes and leads the (admittedly pretty pointless) Supercoach points? You're hard to please.

Couldn't find room for the other 10 players?

Yes, but only because they didn't think of "Charlie out of the spa - go time!"

Which makes me wonder whether he used to have better disposal skills and, perhaps, speed, which GWS saw when they drafted him. If so, is it possible he has some form of chronic injury like the dreaded osteitis pubis (which, generally speaking, seems to have disappeared from the AFL)?

The problem with this theory is that Essendon played finals last year. It's hard to see how that fits your narrative. It's just possible that they're struggling this year for other reasons, not the least being that three of their losses have been against potentially good teams (Freo, Collingwood and Melbourne). Add to that, their two wins are, somewhat ironically, probably against teams better than the ones they've lost to.

Whereas Jack Watts stings like a butterfly and floats like a bee. (Apologies to JW. Doesn't really deserve such criticism. I just couldn't help myself)

What a difference (less than) a week makes. After the Richmond game Demonland was sinking under the weight of comments that we don't have enough depth even to make a proper squad of 22.

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but I notice that Tom McDonald only had 69% game time (next lowest was Hogan with 71%, who I know had an injury concern; and Spargo with 74%). We also know that when fully fit, he generally plays 95% plus game time. So, was he just being managed or did he appear to have an injury? Hopefully it's the former.

Glad they went with the Heaven's Door name rather than Dylan's somewhat lesser known "Vomit Express".

I didn't see the game, but do we have two players called Harmes? There appears to be approximately the same number of people giving Harmes votes as want him dropped for the next game.

I've read this over and over. It's not about your proposed changes but your writing style. It's not iambic pentameter, a limerick or a haiku but you write very poetically.

So, who are the other five? Of course, I'm really just fishing to uncover who you'd leave out in this rather hyperbolic statement.

Nice work here...

Fair point. But it's why I don't usually read his stuff because it doesn't inform me. Out of curiosity I read this one and learned nothing.

Does anyone know whether Wayne Carey writes his own opinion pieces? Or does he have a 'Tom Prior' (Lou Richards' ghost-writer) to help him? It reads to me like a ghost-written article perhaps based on some of Carey's comments. Anyway, I think its the puffiest of puff pieces which asks lots of questions, offers no answers and, in essence, provides no insight.

I don't think our interchange will consist of four forwards. It's usually the seventh defender (small defender) and one small forward and two mids (who sometimes go forward). Having said that, I have no idea who will play this week. As much as I think Harmes is lucky, I suspect he's in because he gives 100% effort 100% of the time. ANB should be in the side. He's much better than he's given credit for as a link man (and also gives 100% effort 100% of the time.) Yes, he can improve his disposal (a lot) but he's an integral part of the style of play. Stretch is somewhat unlucky. He was awful against Richmond, and if it were up to me I would drop him, too. He's unlucky because most players promoted from the VFL are given two games to see if they are any good before they are dropped. I think his future looks grim.

This post is not just in response to you, Jibroni, but more a reminder that we should keep things in perspective. So, a couple of answers to your rhetorical question: Chapeonse Manchester United Let's hope Petracca gets better quickly and when he returns plays better than ever.

And what sort of surgery is needed for an infected finger?

If that's your sole criterion, then neither are (or were) Buddy Franklin, Matthew Richardson and Nick Reiwoldt. FWIW, every team needs an accumulator. He acts as the link man by working hard to get into the right place to get the ball. Needs to improve what he then does with it, though, so that he consistently delivers it correctly. On that last point, a similar statement could be made about many others in the team including Harmes, Hunt, Wagner and Tyson.

Clearly there's an error in the thread title. The word "not" is missing. I avoided this thread for 24 hours as I thought it would be unnecessarily insulting and demeaning. I was right and I'm now sorry I weakened and had a look.

So, let's split the difference and suggest that Hunt should spend time on the wing. I can definitely support that.