La Dee-vina Comedia

Leigh Matthews played in a different era when on-field thuggery was accepted. It shouldn't have been, but it was. That doesn't make Matthews' comments today somewhat tarnished. On the contrary, unlike many other older footballers working in the media, he's kept himself relevant by moving with the times. I expect he would know as well as anyone that what he did in his playing days would be unacceptable now and should have been then.

Fair point (first line). And isn't it nice that there's a hostile public? In 2012 and 2013 it was an apathetic public which didn't care whether we survived or not. And who could blame them? We were the competition's embarrassment. At least now there's recognition that we're a club worthy of being disliked again.

Bit hyperbolic. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, it won't be as hard as anything in 2012 and 2013. It may be disappointing if we fail to reach finals from here, but I'll take this season and whatever the next few weeks throw up ahead of anything that we were forced to live through in 2012 and 2013 (with the single exception of the day Paul Roos was appointed as coach).

If I'm mistaken about Mills' jaw being broken, I apologise for my error (but am pleased for Mills). But I still wouldn't be uncomfortable with Bugg getting a 6 week penalty.

Not sure I agree that the precedent has been set. (I assume you mean by the Houli penalty.) Doesn't Mills have concussion and a broken jaw whereas Lamb only concussion?

It will go straight to the Tribunal, so he won't be given the option of a discount for an early plea. He'll get a fixed penalty which will be a certain number of weeks and that will be it (unless the AFL appeals what it considers to be a lenient penalty as they did last week with Houli).

I thought White was completely out of his depth. But, has he ever played competitively in the AFL or VFL at night before? And last Friday the weather was particularly brutal. (It might not have looked like it on TV, but it was probably the coldest night anyone playing out there had played in). I remember playing football as a kid (a long time ago now) and when it was cold, the ball hitting hands was incredibly hard. So, would White be a better player on Sunday in the daylight in normal winter weather conditions? I don't know the answer and I'm not sure we'll get a chance to find out, although in the last few years I don't recall us bringing in players just for one game. We seem to give everyone two or three chances first.

It seemed to me that ANB wasn't in many centre bounces against the Swans. If I'm correct in that perception, maybe he was one of the players suffering most from the multiple 6 day breaks. After a 9 day break, I'd like to see him doing more of the in-and-under work that we've got used to Jones and Viney doing (although I accept they also play well on the outside). ANB wasn't alone last Friday, but it wasn't a great game from him. Previous to that, though, I've liked his game. He has done a lot of the linking up play between the arcs. I don't know if he'll be the one to step up, but I would like it to be.

There's a lot that could be queried about Bugg's behaviour but I'm not convinced that players who can jump in the air with other players around them and still manage to mark or punch a moving ball should somehow be less precise when swinging their arms towards a player. AFL players have very good hand-eye coordination. It's self-evident or they wouldn't be employed as an AFL player.

6. Hibberd 5. Tyson 4. O McDonald 3. Jetta 2. T McDonald 1. Frost Four defenders shows how much we could have been beaten by if they hadn't played as well as they did on the night.

I apologise if this has been discussed on another thread, but is it correct that if we win tonight we will be the first team in AFL/VFL history to win four games in 18 days? Note: That's what I'm sure I heard, although technically today is the 19th day since we played - and won - on 12 June

Demonlanders are a funny bunch. We complain when the media is uninformed and then complain when they read whatever they can get their hands on, such as Demonland. David King might over-analyse but at least he's using data to inform his view rather than just guessing.

And maybe you don't. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. But what really troubles me most about your posts is that the structure, language and punctuation is essentially identical to the tweets of President Trump. You're not him...are you?

Credit where it's due. Well done Saty. It's posters like you who watch and analyse training who make Demonland valuable to those of us who can't get to training. The one comment above which is yet to be fulfilled is Hunt playing forward tonight. But given your strike rate, I now expect that to be the case.

Not quite sure what the adjective "sneaky" adds to this unexplained number. Irrespective of the formula used to determine the "37 per cent chance", that number is meaningless if we're not told what the percentage chances of every other club is.

Didn't he tell the media he was "best on the ground"...during a recent training run?

Just a reminder that we only have to reduce the list by two players this year because Lumumba has already picked himself as the third.

Not sure why we need to bring in an extra defender, unless Tom McD plays forward/ruck. We generally play with seven being three nominal talls (O Mac, T Mac and Frost) and four smalls (out of Hibberd, Jetta, Hunt, Salem, Melksham, Vince, Lewis, Wagner, Harmes). Even without Salem and Wagner, there are enough options for small defenders already - eg, Hibberd, Jetta, Hunt and Vince or Lewis. If Tom McDonald is to play ruck/forward, then I can see the reason for Wagner being picked. I'd like to see JKH play on-ball (replacing Salem) and Kennedy taking Garlett's spot. I remain unconvinced that Kent has got the defensive side of his game up to standard. if Tom McD is to play forward, then Wagner might come in and Kennedy might miss out.

I secretly hope that one of them makes the team and the AFL's team selection website stuffs up and accidentally abbreviates the name of that player to Ken.

Isn't that what they're doing? Copycats.

I apologise for being pedantic, but seeing 'sprewking' and 'sprewk' is rather disconcerting as it is so close to another word which means 'vomit' and 'vomiting'. Try using 'spruik' and 'spruiking' from hereon and I'll feel less nauseous.

So, what exactly, is 'hamstring tightness'? Does this mean the muscle fibres have over-contracted but without causing damage? And how does the tightness dissipate? Just with time and perhaps massage, ice (or heat) and ultrasound?

Are you sure you're not part of the MFC marketing team? With advice like this, you should be.

Don't forget some of those 40,000 plus members are also MCC members who won't dip into the 30k allocation. (Why am I allowing myself to indulge in discussion about Melbourne in a Grand Final? I thought I had screwed the lid down tight. Clearly not tight enough.)

Is it just my laptop, but all I see is "imagejpeg" in a rectangle with a little graphic on the left hand side?