La Dee-vina Comedia

My suspicion is that those people actually only think there are three (ie, no ABC or SBS).

I have serious doubts about the criteria used by Champion Data to measure flubbing it.

What proportion of TVs in use don't have access to 7Mate? I would have thought very few, if any. The bigger problem - and this goes for all games on any night - is what it is up against across all TV networks. I accept that there is a certain inertia among viewers who seem incapable of tearing themselves away from the "main channels", but as long as 7 promotes on its main channel that the football is on 7Mate (and whether they will do that remains to be seen), I can't see people not knowing that it's on if they want to watch it.

While I support the call for a cautious approach, for all we know we may already be doing that by holding him back until the Essendon game.

Selfish.

I like your thinking, though what would likely happen is that the player with the ball would take the advantage and play on. Same effect though in that (1) the game progresses as it would have and (2) the AFL will have to step in and amend the rule because the tackling by the man on the mark of his opponent will be a blight on the game, particularly if the player who is attacked retaliates.

A post which explains quite well why you call yourself "don't make me angry". I recommend a Bex and a good lie down.

For those who have a choice and are contemplating not going to the game on ANZAC Eve, how would you feel if we win and you are not there to see it? From a purely emotional perspective, I've always found the unexpected victories to be the most satisfying.

I worry about this point. Why is it that we (as supporters) seem to fall back on this excuse yet we can't beat teams in an identical situation. Last weekend Hawthorn were two down on the bench from around half time and it didn't seem to tire them; in another game (was it last year? year before?) against GWS they were, I think, three down on the bench and still won.

I agree with everything you've said but want to add that the best game plans revolved around the strengths of the players you have AND the personnel and gameplan of the opposition. To use a cliche, horses for courses.

Disagree. They have always been unbearable. As to the crowd, I'd like to think there will be an expectation of an improved performance leading to a much more competitive game. It's so typically Melbourne...we might expect the players to react in such a way that we could actually win. Which will lead us to ask...why can't they always play like this?

Maybe dumb. Maybe stubborn. But don't discount the experience differential. Goodwin was coaching his 27th game versus Clarkson's 309th. If players didn't age physically, we would expect a player with over 300 games experience to be able to overcome one in his second year. It's an interesting article and shows how important structures are. What I can never tell on the day though, is which coach is being proactive and which reactive.

I also like the "Lest We Forget" on the back. Simple but ensures the ANZAC theme is on both sides of the jumper.

There's a snippet in the Fairfax press today (two different stories in The Age and Financial Review) which both make the point that Rupert Murdoch's father tried to prevent Sir John Monash from leading the Australian troops in WW1. Why? Because Murdoch Sr couldn't control him. Apples. Tree. One of the great strengths of social media platforms, such as Demonland, is that we no longer have to rely solely on what the traditional media chooses to tell us. One of its weaknesses, though, is that people are not sufficiently rigorous in the assessment of what they are reading and too many people still choose to believe what they want to believe.

To be fair, the people are their own worst enemies by lapping up what the media provides.

The difference, though, is that the Bulldogs already had some excellent "ageing leaders" in Bob Murphy, Matthew Boyd and Dale Morris. Apart from our two imports (Lewis and Vince) we've had just Jones. Similarly, perhaps they're not as aged, but the Tigers had real leaders in Cotchin, Rance and Reiwoldt.

Not quite the arrangement of letters I was thinking of, but, yeah.

Childish, I know, but I just keep thinking about the diminutive Mr Guy, some St Kilda footballers and a box of matches.

It might explain why he played poorly, but it doesn't explain why he continued to play. It's not like we had other injured players on the bench. Nevertheless, irrespective of the foolhardiness of playing on, it shows great courage. I suspect he played with either (or both) a numb hand or significant pain relief which knocked him about, because he clearly looked out of sorts. Get well soon.

I caught about 5 minutes of each of the Channel 7 Footy Show (is it "Talking Footy"?) and Footy Classified. Both shows happened to discuss the matter in that time and with only 8 so called experts between them, none gave a convincing argument for or against the tactic. Both shows drew on historical precedent and both showed ignorance of the rule. That is, on both shows the panelists admitted to not understanding what the rule actually is.

There's merit in this argument. It seems to me that Pedersen seems to play well first up from a break, with gradually diminishing returns until he is once again dropped for a few weeks. In addition, in this particular scenario, with only a five day break between games, it's possible that a few of our more mature players may need to be rested for one of the two matches, although not necessarily just the second one.

I suspect the editorial meeting at Fox Footy questioned which would be a better selling story: One Brayshaw moving west or a different one moving east and decided to go with the former. "Keeping an eye" on someone is no more than what every club should be doing with every player in the competition. If that's all Fremantle is doing with Angus Brayshaw, it's no more or no less than what the other 16 other clubs are probably doing.

Just like last year, Hibberd nowhere to be seen in the Demonland votes after the first few weeks. Lets hope he gets back to his AA form for the rest of the year.

Fair comment. Wow. Just wow. ENYAW, you're either taking the P15S or drinking too much of it.

This is an example of team maturity that only comes about once other core skills and fitness levels have been achieved. I'm also convinced Hawthorn has more than a Plan A and can switch between those plans quickly as the need arises. On the other hand, we're still learning our Plan A and are nowhere near being ready to worry about doing the little things well.