La Dee-vina Comedia

6. Lewis 5. Neil-Bullen 4. Hunt 3. Kennedy-Harris 2. Oliver 1. Melksham (for his first half, and not just for the three goals).

Believe it or not, his name was mentioned on 3AW pre-game today. Callers were asked to name their best 5 Hawthorn players ever and one caller included Colin Robertson. I'm not a Hawthorn person but I could comfortably name a best 22 over the last 50 years and Robertson wouldn't get a mention.

Gill was interviewed about this on 3AW today. He didn't say anything particularly interesting or new (hardly surprising) but he did mention that one of the things he and the AFL Chairman did yesterday was contact all the AFL's "partners" meaning club Presidents, sponsors and broadcasters. I'd love to know how the conversation went with Channel 7, particularly if the person they spoke to was Tim Worner.

For the innocent victims, such as families, sure. For the perpetrators, not so much. People must always appreciate they have to be held accountable for their actions.

He's a Melbourne supporter. Of course he's a masochist. We all are.

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor." Robert Frost, poet

They were found guilty, but I'm not so sure they were "clearly very guilty". The "strands in a cable" argument is sound, but so is the "breaks in the chain" argument. It could so easily have gone the other way. I can understand the AFL thought process. Should we stick with tradition (albeit, a relatively new one) or not? I think Choke has summed it up best. The AFL should have gone with the "it's too soon" line. Of course, James Hird might do them a favour and decline which ironically would go some way in the minds of many football fans to kick-start his redemption. To be honest, I'd never realised that the medal was being presented by past winners in order anyway.

Goodwin, and Roos before him, seem intent on giving most promoted players more than a week before they send them back to the VFL. (I know there have been exceptions, most recently Mitch White). If Smith doesn't show something in Darwin, he may find himself back at Casey next week. Of course, if the injured players start to return, he may find himself back there anyway.

Or, Tyson and Watts aren't fit. Why not just go for the simpler explanation?

I had to look it up. From Wikipedia (so it must be true...) "Optimus Prime (formerly Orion Pax) is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. Optimus Prime is consistently depicted as having strong moral character, excellent leadership, and sound decision-making skills, and possesses brilliant military tactics, powerful martial arts, and advanced alien weaponry. Optimus Prime has a strong sense of honor and justice, being dedicated to building peaceful and mutually beneficial co-existence with humans, the protection of life and liberty of all sentient species." Based on the above the players must think Frost has one or more of the following characteristics: strong moral character excellent leadership sound decision-making skills possesses brilliant military tactics has powerful martial arts skills has advanced alien weaponry. Or, the players are being deliberately ironic and he has none of them.

I doubt very much that BT or Bruce make the decisions as to which games they call or the method they use to call games. They're just the on-air talent. I can't believe I'm coming to BT's defence, but he has shown that he performs as his producers want him to. When they ask him to call seriously (Friday nights) he does so and very well. When he's asked to play the buffoon (Saturday nights in previous years and post game on Fridays) he can do that too. We should save our criticisms for the producers of the programs, not the on-air talent. Either way, I'm just glad that this game is on FTA TV. It's been hard to get used to Friday night and Saturday night TV watching. But I'd be quite happy to get used to it.

I'm grateful to Lucifer for referencing this story, I can't access the link. Just to clarify, is it "almost $1 million" a year for just the Darwin game or for both NT games? I presume the latter, but can't read the source. I can recall PJ initially signing on for a much shorter period. Was it 6 month? or 18 months? Either way, some kudos for the Board who have provided the environment which has encouraged PJ to lengthen his term to our great advantage.

Doesn't Demonland impose bans on posters who make unsubstantiated statements which get everybody's hopes up? I know it's not about the MFC, but unless puntkick can substantiate his second line, I think he deserves a holiday.

Do you suffer from chromesthesia or the rarer smell-colour synesthesia?

Did I read somewhere that Casey has a bye this week? If that's right, I expect JKH to play in Darwin. He was the carry-over emergency and therefore didn't play last week. By all reports he's been in form playing midfield for Casey so is the right type of player to come in, and it would be unhelpful for him to miss playing any form of football two weeks in a row. So, in my mind I've settled on JKH and Tyson (if fit) to come in for Stretch and Smith (if Tyson plays). I know that means two midfielders to replace a midfielder and a defender, but any of Lewis, Vince, Melksham or Harmes can replace Smith.

I think you're giving the AFL w-a-a-a-y too much credit. I believe the AFL was just being reactive to clubs resting players previously in the final home-and-away round which was compromising the integrity of games being played in that round. Reactive decision-making seems to me to be standard operating procedure for matters associated with how the game itself is run. (On the other hand, for commercial and long-term strategic decision-making, such as competition expansion, I think the AFL has a well-honed strategic thought process.)

You could fix that by simply switching "Bolton" and "Goodwin". Though if you do that, I'd suggest swapping Jetta and Kreuzer as well.

I feel very sorry for Cripps (yes, truly). But having watched the vision of it, I'm extremely thankful that Hunt didn't get injured. It could so easily have been the other way round with Hunt seriously injuring his lower leg by kicking into the back of Cripps' leg. Both players should be commended for their courage and their willingness to play hard. Both have the potential to have outstanding careers.

You are correct. And given that each coach gave their 1 vote to separate players, we can also work out that Oliver must have got 4-0. Otherwise, there's no way to allocate the votes to two of Petracca, Curnow and Tom McDonald. Two of these players must have got a 3-2 split while the other one got a 5-0. So, in summary, only three players (Murphy plus two of Petracca, Curnow and Tom McDonald) scored votes from both coaches.

I reiterate what I said above. In this particular incident, a fine is the only wrong answer. He's either guilty or he's not. If not guilty, no penalty, and I could live with that. But if he's guilty, it must warrant a suspension.

So, how's a "kick rating" measured? Is that the same thing as disposal efficiency? Irrespective of how it's measured, though, mere observation can tell anyone that he kicks the ball to advantage more often than not.

Or could get the worst outcome of the lot...a fine. The reason I say that it would be the worst outcome would be because a fine means he must be guilty of something. All he could be guilty of is deliberately or recklessly pushing him into a behind post. And if he's guilty of that, he should get 2 weeks. Personally, I think he shouldn't get anything. I lean towards it being a not unreasonable bump in the course of play with an accidental and uncomfortable ending.

We can agree on this point. But I think his other skills compensate for that...but only when he works hard. I also think he's lost some weight since earlier in the year. He's solid, but at the beginning of the year I thought he looked a bit pudgy around the midriff.

Clearly we see things differently. I thought Kent played his best four quarter game ever for us. It's the best effort I've seen from him. On the other hand, Stretch, Pedersen and Smith all really struggled. Smith, in particular, looked completely out of his depth. If Watts is ready, the only way that I could see Pedersen staying in the team is if the club is nervous about Adelaide's tall forwards and recognises that Tom McDonald might need to be shifted back during the game. However, given Darwin's humidity, I suspect we will need more run, so, on balance, Pedersen out for Watts. If Tyson is ready, I see him coming in for Stretch. While Stretch was better than Smith yesterday, I think Smith deserves another game to see what he can do. Yesterday was virtually his first game. Also, if Smith stays in, that allows Lewis and Vince to play up the ground instead of one of them taking Smith's spot. I always think we look better with Lewis and Vince in or around the midfield.