La Dee-vina Comedia

Agree with this. Didn't kick a goal and didn't have as many possessions as some of his other games but it was the best four quarter effort I can recall him playing. I've been a critic, but yesterday he was pretty good. Even tried to kick on his right foot. (It was pretty miserable, so I can see why he doesn't want to do it.)

6. Oliver 5. T MocDonald 4. Frost 3. Jetta 2. Neal-Bullen 1. Lewis Tossed up between Lewis and Petracca for the last vote but went with Lewis becuse he absorbed all the physical punishment which allowed Oliver and Petracca to "do their stuff"

This. Exactly.

Four ins and six outs. You have a great deal of confidence that the 20 can get the job done.

To be fair, Ron didn't claim that he wasn't an average Australian.

Unfair advantage. Unless he knocks himself out.,

I find the selection of Weideman to be the most interesting. Until the above poster mentioned the possibility that Frost might not play, I had thought Weideman's selection could only mean one of two things. Either Hogan is still doubtful or (my preferred option) the club is telling Hogan he's under no pressure to make himself available. Assuming Frost and all others in the named starting 18 play, I hope the bench includes Trengove, JKH and any two out of Stretch, Smith and Wagner, I also hope that JKH and Neil-Bullen play full games on ball. That's where they've played their best football at Casey and neither have done particularly well as small forwards in the past. And I'd like Melksham to stick like glue to Docherty.

Radar, I think I've worked you out. You're actually Andy Maher, aren't you? Evidence: Radar is Andy Maher's well-known nickname The letters which spell out your name are embedded in who you claim as your favourite player, Gary Hardeman The opening post is clearly promoting your program over the other one Your avatar is marginally out of focus, which is consistent with the quality of your eyesight.

However, don't expect anyone from North to say "We should have moved to the Gold Coast when we had the chance"

I agree with this. And he should do it without any PR or cameras in tow and without him mentioning it on his social media. Alternatively, or as well, he could spend some time visiting or working with something like the James McReady Bryan Foundation where he might understand the potential consequences of a single punch to the head. Professional footballers get paid for allowing other people to watch what they do. He needs to understand that people watch everything they do and some fools replicate what they see on the field.

Strange that the GWS average home crowd has dropped 5.1% this year. More importantly, we need to keep getting big home game crowds. Essendon's average home game crowd of 54,000+ is basically equivalent to a full Etihad Stadium. Obviously the average is boosted by larger crowds at the MCG. I expect Essendon to move its home games permanently to the MCG as soon as their current Etihad deal expires (or earlier if they can get out of it), which will put pressure on other MCG tenants.

Is that fact (for both May and Rance) or media speculation?

I don't know if you're right or not, but well expressed food for thought.

I decided to "like" this post for no other reason than balance. The rest of the thread is a mix of rather humorous comments mixed with solid criticisms. Until we know more, perhaps we should accept that there may be more than two sides to this story.

You do realise that Demonland is a form of social media? I know this will sound a bit like the "guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument. But technically it's the users of social media rather than the medium itself which is the problem. Particularly the ability to be anonymous and physically removed. (I recognise the irony posting under a pseudonym.)

Are you suggesting a person can be only one but not the other? If so, I can't agree. In fact, just read Demonland. It's full of supporters who are willing to criticise the club and players. Sometimes the criticism is warranted, and sometimes it's probably not.

I presume you mean she's done a 180. If she's done a 360 she's back where she started. But it's nice to see some humanism shine through.

Depends a lot on the voting system. For example, because of "player management" strategies, Geelong has deliberataly changed its voting regime so players are only eligible for votes in something like their best 16 games for the year. If, however, we follow the Brownlow model of 3,2,1 per game I would say Oliver is currently leading from T McDonald and Hibberd. By the end of the year, though, I expect Oliver to tire, particularly with the extended absences of Jones and Viney so that he may well be overtaken.

How beautifully expressed. Economical and accurate.

I wonder what he meant here? I can read into it a couple of possible interpretations: That there's not much time left before he'll be back properly training and playing That there are not many of the symptoms of concussion (eg headaches, nausea) still bothering him. I really hope he means the first.

I'm not a great fan of Bugg as a player. But I do hope he gets a chance to play at least 6 more games. The symmetry of getting to the 100 game milestone which is denied him (by his own actions) over the next 6 weeks adds to the story. I hope he returns, and when he does, he lets his football do the talking. (Over the next 6 weeks, I hope he maintains his fitness and works on his skills, particularly his goal-kicking). Personally, I think the 6 week penalty was about right. Comparisons with Barry Hall's penalty for hitting Staker miss the point. Hall should have been suspended for double what he received. I'm not commenting on whether Houli should have received a longer penalty, because I haven't seen what he did.

On the plus side, it seems that in many recent games we've played against Carlton we've gone in strong favourites and lost. Perhaps this week the players available will be switched on from the get-go and produce the result we all want to see. [Insert glass half full emoticon]

Rotisserie recipe?

It wasn't acceptable, but it was accepted by those controlling the game. That's why players such as Jimmy O'Dea, Carl Ditterich, Mal Brown, Robbie Muir, Cowboy Neale, David Rhys-Jones, Ron Andrews and going back even further Mopsy Fraser and Jack Dyer were able to go around king-hitting players in-play and behind-the-play all the time. I'm definitely not condoning how Leigh Matthews (or any of them) played, but the way he played was not inconsistent with the standards of the day. The Neville Bruns incident and the following court action was the community's way of telling the game's administrators it was time to clean up the game. Without doing any analysis, I suspect that the Matthews-Bruns incident was the turning point and on-field thuggery reduced thereafter. In summary, all I'm trying to say is that Leigh Matthews was a product of his time. And if he played today he would play the way the modern game requires.

Just a hunch, but I don't think the Tom Bugg appearance before the AFL Tribunal will be a good news story. So positive news - should there be any - can only start after the media has finished extracting every drop from that story. So let's say Thursday.