La Dee-vina Comedia

Given the way he played, would it be too much to ask whether Scott Thompson's nickname was "Hunter"?

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!

We don't "deserve" anything other than what we earn. Part of the reason we are in this position is because the old MCC (back in the 60s and 70s) believed they were better than everyone else and "deserved" special status.

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.

Same size as Ben Simmons. It's just that it's not as noticeable on a basketballer when virtually everyone else on the court is so very tall.

It's important for the AFL to understand why the numbers have fallen. Is it just due to a demographic shift (reduction in numbers of people of playing age) or has the population grown but diversified into other activities, including choosing other sports to play? There's nothing they can do about the former, but plenty they could do for the latter.

Interestingly, someone I know (admittedly not well) who used to do some work at the club told me that one of the coaching differences between Neeld and Roos was that Neeld followed the Malthouse view that players needed to change to meet what the coach requires (and if they couldn't, they were jettisoned) whereas Roos believed that coaches should work with what they've got and build around each players' strengths. Buckley's major post-player career mistake to date has been staying at Collingwood and not experiencing alternative approaches to coaching other than the Malthouse style.

Actually, not that hard. During the late-1960s and through the 1970s while the rest of the competition recognised that the game was becoming more professional (although not as professional as today), the MFC was still being run by the MCC with people in charge who thought cricket was more important. Their decision making was centred on what was good for the cricket club, with football just an afterthought. We have never fully recovered from that damage. While it is a fair question to ask why after all this time has the damage not been fully rectified, part of the answer is the "lost generation" of supporters. That is, Melbourne FC supporters who were ignored by the MCC and passively discouraged from attending. As an example, when I was a boy (60s and 70s) I used to attend games on what was then called a Ladies Ticket (now called a guest pass). That allowed me in until I was 15. Even though I was added to the MCC waiting list the week I was born, I didn't receive any form of membership until I was 20. So, from the age of 15 to 20, I was ignored by the club and in return, I found other things to do with my Saturdays.

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.

Image, yes. Finances, no. Therein lies the answer.

Football boots on a hard floor? Seems risky to me but perhaps professional sports people become more used to such matters and cope accordingly. Nevertheless, if it's true that the sports science people at football clubs don't want players kicking for goal because it damages their precise calculation of how much activity each player should do, they must have conniptions when they see something like this.

It's forecast to be 36 degrees in Melbourne today. Anyone watching training and reporting has my grateful thanks. But please stay in the shade.

In my view there are only two logical spots for the club to have a supporters' facility, meaning a place to view the 12 Premiership cups, various other memorabilia and for member services to be offered. Either at the MCG or somewhere within the Melbourne CBD, such as within the Melbourne Town Hall or at Fed Square. The former has the attraction of being our true home; the latter has the advantage of promoting the club more broadly by providing exposure where the most people are in a location which has a logical synergy because of our name and heritage. Everywhere else is flawed. A triangle of land near Gosch's Paddock might be great for the club but it won't be of much use to supporters.

Is it really about building something for the supporters to make use of? Ideally, I could see some value in that, but as much as we are and should be the heart and soul of the club, isn't the purpose of this particular facility primarily about combining the back-of-house (or "administration") with the footy department?

Orrong Park is on the Malvern electorate (east) side of Orrong Road. The Prahran electorate starts on the west side. And, yes, Prahran is a marginal State seat with each of the Greens, Libs and Labor in with a chance at the next election.

It's not in a marginal electorate, State or Federal. It's in the Federal electorate of Higgins which Labor and the Greens tried to convince the media was "gettable" at the last election by claiming it was marginal when they knew all along it wasn't. And they didn't get close. Her margin is at least 10%. (It's hard to calculate because it's unclear whether to look at the margin over the Greens - about 15% or against Labor - about 20%). And it's (just) in the State seat of Malvern which is rock solid Liberal, held by Michael O'Brien (a Carlton supporter).

I hope so. He's a natural CHF. Has the strength for pack marking and the agility to hunt ground balls. When he runs his defender around he's far more damaging. The space within which he will work as a CHF is ideal for his game style. Parked in the goal square is much harder for him because there's less room to move and consequently easier for the opposition to nullify him.

I'm not sure we should compare AFL crowd numbers with those who attend NRL games. NRL seems to get smaller average crowds than AFL but still good average TV viewership. I think that model's a big risk for the NRL. I would be concerned that TV audiences won't be sustainable if the viewers are regularly seeing half-empty (or worse) grandstands.

Can't "Like" this post enough. So I've copied it and said so.

Unfortunately, there's no commercial value to the AFL in placing a team in Tassie. The incremental increase in revenue would be miniscule because of the small population and the fact that most are already watching AFL. That's why Gold Coast was a preferred option.

You've given me an amusing visual of Gillon on a tractor ploughing up a cemetery. Hopefully many years from now, of course.

I'm not sure that there are more people watching yet because of GCS's abysmal performances. But I'd be reasonably confident that if GCS performed well on-field, there would be more Queenslanders watching. And not just those living on the Gold Coast.

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