La Dee-vina Comedia

It would be better for everyone, though, if you also remember to wear a belt.

My suspicion is that he is young. An older person might have known how to spell her first name correctly.

According to the excellent Demonwiki, there have been 6 players for Melbourne who had the first and last initials of K and C. What chance one of them had the middle initial F?

I'm suspicious that Proper Gander might be either a proud family member of James Harmes or his manager who is about to start wage negotiations with the club. Extremely entertaining reporting.

Conspiracy theory question...have there ever been questions about prospective draftees missing the Combine with supposed injuries so as to avoid close scrutiny? I stress that this question is not at all about Spargo. But it seems to me if a prospective draftee wishes to get to a specific club and that club wants that same player, couldn't they concoct an "injury" to reduce other clubs' interest in said player?

Literally? Or is that a euphemism for something else I don't understand?

Ah well, Baker can have the LP nickname. Still works, particularly if he becomes the Cream of the latest batch of recruits. (Sorry. Couldn't help myself)

Agree with this, although, personally, I like reading about the political side of AFL and no-one else comes close. Having said that, if Mick Warner wrote for The Age, he could possibly take on that role. But his employer, the Herald Sun, isn't as interested in publishing that angle in the first place.

For example...'inevitable departure'. Although, eventually she'll prove to be right.

Cause and effect? Surely not!

I believe she will be writing a weekly column for The Age.

Yeah...what was that all about? If it had happened in the US it would have been a major story involving a political protest.

In one final trade, The Age has recruited Jake Niall from Fox with Caroline Wilson relinquishing her role as Chief Football Writer. I know she's not been everyone's cup of tea, but 19 years in the role is a pretty solid career. With more positives than negatives in my view. And definitely more lucid than the Herald Sun's equivalent. Interestingly, Patrick Smith has also retired (this week, I think) as a full time journo at The Australian.

If we're giving Petty number 33, surely his nickname has to be LP.

Having cruelled the careers of Bate, Georgiou and Spencer by choosing monikers linked to their names*, DeeSpencer will again re-name himself and have the rest of Demonland arguing over the career expectations of the new borderline player he is named after. My prediction (unless he now deliberately chooses to avoid it) is that Dean Kent might find his name or character somehow incorporated into DeeSpencer's new name. *For those who don't know, DeeSpencer was previously known as The Master and Georgiou R R Martin (and possibly others before I joined Demonland).

Wow, someone believes our recruiters have only been watching these players for just one year. Three to four years is more likely.

Just to ensure Demonland isn't accused of fake news, Tina Louise's character was called Ginger Grant. (Fred Astaire used to dance with Ginger Rogers.)

...which I'm sure was the thought process of the old Fitzroy Football Club administration. Sometimes, though, the will becomes an instruction as to how to dispose of the remaining assets of the deceased.

The biggest threat to the MFC is beyond our own club's control. I suspect everyone agrees that the major source of revenue for the competition is media rights. So what happens if the revenue to the AFL, which eventually filters through to the clubs, goes backwards? And that's a real possibility. This article in today's Age (and perhaps other Fairfax publications) is about the NFL. But its key message about the drop off in viewership could happen here, too. It's not really about the popularity of the game; it's more about the viewing habits of younger people. And, indirectly, I think it's why AFL clubs getting out of the poker machine business is an unlikely option. Clubs are going to have to retain their current major revenue sources if TV viewership drops, especially as reduced TV popularity will presumably also lead to lower prices paid for sponsorship.

Seems a better fit for St Kilda who already have a J Bruce on their list.

Here's your handy tool to decode what the recruiters mean when they use the following expressions after the draft is done and dusted: "He's a project player" means "He needs to add at least 15 kg and he still may be no good" "He comes from a great family" means "He has no outstanding qualities of his own" (or, "They have no visible tatts") "Couldn't believe he would still be there at our pick" means "We're worried that there's something wrong with him that everyone else knows but we've missed" "Has real X-factor" means "We're taking a risk because he's unfit and has a reputation as a lazy trainer. But that left foot...!" "Was in the top few at the Combine" means "He's a great athlete...hope he knows how to play the game" "We went with best available" means "We couldn't find the player we needed to fill the specific gap in our list" "He's an elite kick" means "He doesn't get the ball a lot" "Couldn't be happier" means "Could be happier. Maybe next year."

Interesting expression, given David slew Goliath about 1000 years before Jesus Christ was born.

Given the President of the Geelong Football Club, Colin Carter, is on the Board of World Vision, a Christian charity of which anti-pokies campaigner Tim Costello was recently CEO, I find this claim hard to believe.

I sense some hostility toward gambling, Dr G.

I thought I didn't care. But when I saw the announcement I felt a flicker of joy inside. So, my inner me must have wanted the bounce to remain.