La Dee-vina Comedia

And once again the thread descends into Saty-bashing. Give it a rest. At least Saty (a) makes the effort to go to training and (b) posts on Demonland so we know what he's seen. Whether we like what he says or not, surely those opinions can be withheld. It's been said before...if you don't like what he posts you can always place him on Ignore.

That's true. But has it been good for cricket? Is it cannibalising interest in the other forms of cricket to the detriment of the long-term future of the game? Conversely, could it be cricket's saviour? Personally, I think cricket is in huge trouble with declining interest and the possibility of a huge drop in TV rights money. I don't think the Big Bash has been the sole cause of cricket's demise...but I do think it is masking cricket's real problems. I'm not a fan of AFLX because as much as I love the real game, I think scarcity of the product (by having a real off-season) enhances the love of the game when it is in season. I know that in the last few weeks the over-saturation of football by having Thursday night games has actually diminished my interest, not increased it, like I suspect the AFL and Channel 7 had hoped.

I don't want to re-post the full acceptance speech above, but I notice that Josh Mahoney's name is mis-spelt under the photo. Is that a mistake made by the MFC? If so, it's extremely amateurish. Mistakes of this type appear too often on the MFC website and in MFC tweets and is disappointing to see for a club that is otherwise being run so professionally.

Is it possible the missing $64k is accounted for by payments outside the salary cap? I don't even know if such payments exist, but things like community, marketing and media work (although not necessarily these examples) might earn players on average $64k per annum and could be included in the average salary but not the salary cap.

Jones out for 4-6 weeks is not unusual. It's just that it normally happens in September/October. I think they've just brought forward his break to have him fully fit for the pointy end.

This is an excellent article. Explains why it's so hard for older players to be selected over the more recently retired. Of course Lyon and Neitz should be in the Hall of Fame. But how Brent Crosswell and Nicky Winmar are not is completely beyond comprehension.

Worked for Xavier Richards.

No. I live a highly refined life and don't stoop to sniffing garbage, hot or cold. I didn't even know there was a choice.

I suspect being a Premiership player carries substantial weight and helps players like Stevens and Hall get inducted ahead of players like Neitz. If my suspicions are correct, there's a problem with the selection criteria. It's not the fault of players like Skilton, Flower, G Ablett Sr, Robert Harvey and many others that they were not Premiership players. By the way, I have no problem with either Stevens or Hall being inducted but I'm not sure either should be ahead of Neitz.

I had thought that ex-players couldn't be inducted into the Hall of Fame while they were still involved in the game as coaches. Obviously I am wrong. Well done, Simon Goodwin.

Lots of confusion in this thread with references to multiple Kennedys, whether we are ready for three six day breaks having just had the bye and whether we need more talls or should stick to the smaller team structure that's been winning recently. But to my mind the critical question to be answered is in this post. Is playing like hot garbage better or worse than playing like cold garbage?

We should retaliate with a story about Ben Kennedy playing but with a photo of Jay Kennedy-Harris.

If you replaced "Collingwood" with Richmond, I'd agree with you. I actually think Collingwood supporters are the opposite of what you believe. I think they not only never criticise their players, they continue to praise them irrespective of any obvious failings and beyond logic. I suspect, however, this constant sanctification is as damaging for the Collingwood players psyche as the Richmond supporters' vitriol to their own.

I keep reading in this thread about the concern of a "long trip to WA". I hope it's only supporters who even think that it's a concern. West Coast and Freo cope with this "long trip" every two weeks or so. If they can do it, we can do it. And we only have to do it a couple of times per season. If our team's mindset is somehow compromised by this concern then we're not yet ready to be a power club.

For different reasons (ie, balance), Oliver, Hunt, Salem and Watts.

BB, while I appreciate what you are saying, I think it's more likely that the coaches subscribe to the "what goes around comes around" theory. If a team is respectful and shows humility it makes it that much harder for another team to find a mental weakness on which to prey. Remember comments like "bruise free football" and Dawes saying something to the effect that Hawthorn were gettable? Those sorts of statements don't show respect or humility and can rebound against those who say them. On the downside, if showing respect and humility means saying nothing at all in order to avoid saying anything even remotely "controversial", the media will probably just make something up to try and create something. (Insert here off-topic comment that I'm glad Rebel Wilson won her defamation action.)

To be fair, I think the barb was pointed at Joeboy himself.

I thought I knew everyone on our list. But Jack Piney? Seriously, though, how good has Hibberd been? He missed 3 or 4 weeks, havng not played at all the previous season, and he's in third position.

What a difference a few years can make. If this thread had been started after round 12 in 2013 it would be about 12 or perhaps more pages long by now. For context, a quick check shows that we didn't actually lose in Round 12 in 2013, but only because we had the bye. We were 17th on the ladder with one win and 10 losses and a percentage of 49.8%. Our previous game was against Collingwood where we lost 17.20 to 5.9. And without making any particular comment, I note that it was during the mid-season bye that Mark Neeld was sacked on 17 June 2013.

So what comes after peak nothingness? Over the peak nothingness?

Was what we see in the opening post all we are talking about? There's nothing more? How on earth can anyone interpret anything negative, positive or problematic from that? Surely we've reached peak nothingness with this story.

They must think they're in some sort of circular, Kafka-esque world when they read Saty's posts then. Imagine the footy department following the advice of someone who says he won't provide any advice because the footy department already knows best. Seriously. Saty - we need you reporting from training this week to tell us how Jones, Watts and Hunt look. If everyone is fit, I have no idea who comes in for Gawn other than to say it would nominally have to be a forward. That's because with Gawn playing, Pedersen plays key forward for most of the game which will push out one of Hannan, Harmes or ANB. Of that lot, I would suggest Hannan might be the unlucky player.

I haven't seen the game and only heard a little of it on radio. so I'm not voting. But I can't recall another game where the voting patterns were so diverse. Some games (whether we've won or lost) have clear choices. Not this one. I think that's a sign of a true team performance.

There's a free-to-air network which is probably available at a cheap price. Having said that, surely the AFL will have a look at whether it's worth them buying the Ten Network and thereby having total control over vision.

As a matter of interest, when Shaun Smith took his "Mark of the Century" did he also convert the kick into a goal? Seems obvious, given the place on the ground where he took the mark, but I've never seen what happened after the mark was taken.