La Dee-vina Comedia

Petracca has more powerful arms.

Can't agree. In my opinion it's still the most entertaining game in the world. I've been following the game for over 50 years, and contrary to the views of the doomsayers, the standard today is higher than it's ever been.

That's true for small shareholders. But fund managers with large holdings (for example, more than 10% of the company's shares which would, on today's valuation of Pacific Star Network, be worth over $3 million) might have enough clout to get changes made and may prefer to do that than sell.

Of course, my opinion would be completely different if we were talking about the big four banks!

SEN is owned by an ASX listed company. The Board of Directors is accountable to its shareholders and made what they presumably think is the right decision to merge with Crocmedia and install Hutchison as CEO. If the changes Hutchison makes don't work the Board would expect him to fix them and if he doesn't or can't shareholders would expect the Board to change the CEO. And if they don't the shareholders would likely change the Board. Keeping on air and off air people employed just because they are "good blokes" isn't the way to run a business. And neither is not paying people what they are owed. If Schwarz and Allen are owed money, they need to be paid. I would be very surprised, though, if employment lawyers weren't consulted by SEN before the terminations happened.

I think Craig Hutchison's Crocmedia produces Footy Classified for Channel 9. If that's correct, it would seem Hutchison likes Garry Lyon given Lyon was on that show for many years.

I don't know how good these seats were...but I gulped when I saw the price.

Here's a start. Call it e-sliced bread. Sure fire winner.

From the sublime to the ridiculous. One of the great things about AFL is that all sorts can play at the top level. Tall or short; fast or slow (though, not too slow); academically gifted or not; silver spoon upbringing or from the school of hard knocks; and serene or as mad as a cut snake. All of us who watched Flower and Mark Jackson know who was serene and who was the cut snake.

It's hard to imagine any number other than #2 being affixed to an original royal blue era jumper. If anyone out there had a different number it would be interesting to know which one and why. As to the new clash jumper, why has it taken a decade or so to work out that a royal blue jumper could actually work as a clash jumper? It looks good, doesn't antagonise the fans and adds a nostalgic element.

The only reason I can come up with as to why we need a clash jumper at all is because someone at the AFL has worked out that our jumper clashes with the Casey Demons and has decided we need a clash jumper because of it.

I apologise for doubting you. I don't recall it ever being anything other than 1422. I must have been either too young to have known or am now too old to remember.

Earlier in this thread we had a few headline gems. Today we have a new contender. Irrespective of your politics, this surely has to be accepted as a masterful piece of work:

1422, actually.

Is, or was, "Be part of the journey" being used by the club? I ask because I haven't seen it anywhere and in a tweet today the club has used "#RaiseHell".

Quite right. Now that you've mentioned the Clive James description , I think I might be mistaken about Mick Conlan's nickname.

I first heard this term used to describe Fitzroy's Mick Conlan. I don't recall him ever being accused of anything improper or having excess stress on his body. Must have had better quality condoms in the 80s.

Does this mean Rohan Connolly might also be in trouble? On a more serious note, I would expect Hutchy will be trying to steal Caroline Wilson from 3AW. He already has a working relationship with her and for all his "blokiness" I suspect he recognises that attracting more female listeners would be a good strategy to grow ratings for SEN. Having some female presenters would enhance those prospects. And it has been reported elsewhere that SEN is expected to announce some more on-air signings in the next few weeks.

I've only half-read one article, but it seemed to me the house in question may not be one that Bomber lives in. The article seemed to very carefully refer to the place as being owned but not necessarily lived in by Thompson, yet written in a way that might allow someone to infer that Bomber is the target without actually saying that was the case. If that's right, the raid may have nothing to do with him but rather with the tenant.

Just to tie up a loose end, Pacific Star Network (owner of SEN and some other media assets) has today confirmed it will merge with Craig Hutchison's Crocmedia (I suspect subject to shareholder approval and maybe some form of regulatory approval). Craig Hutchison will be the new CEO and on the Board of Directors of the company. What it means to SEN programming is not known, although it has been reported elsewhere that the recruitment of Gerard Whately was Hutchison's doing.

We should be able to spend the next three days and about 100 more posts questioning the meaning of a lack of "2018" on the scarf. Does this mean it will be the last scarf handed out free with memberships for the next few years? Or a decade? Or forever? Is it deliberate or is it just a design error? Or a manufacturing error? Has Jack Watts tampered with the knitting machinery? Or does it mean Hogan's off to Fremantle?

Just to bring the topic back to SEN, I note that its owner, Pacific Star Network, has asked that its shares be suspended on the stock exchange pending an announcement about a merger. I have no inside info, but I suspect it's with Crocmedia. Pacific Star Network had announced a few weeks (months?) ago that it was in negotiations with Crocmedia.

I see it the other way around...for an average club, it has quite powerful membership.

Canberra also has a high proportion of former Victorians, and to a lesser extent people ex-WA, SA and Tassie upon which GWS can build. I realise most will bring their loyalties with them, but any children they might raise in Canberra might prefer to follow a team which actually plays there on occasions.

Our former President would have been 91 today... (Included in this thread because his passing was also discussed here.) December 30, 1926: Former Opposition Leader and Speaker Billy Snedden was born. He lost the 1974 federal election to Gough Whitlam and died of a heart attack at a Sydney hotel in 1987.