La Dee-vina Comedia

And you can add that not one player has held a gun to the head of a club and demanded a particular level of payment. Apart from players on the EBA base salary, every player has been made an offer by the club which they've chosen to accept.

So a contract isn't a contract? While clubs can pay players contracts out, that's not a particularly good way to run a business for a number of reasons. The one that strikes me is that players may choose not to come to a club which has shown a propensity to cut a contract short.

Hey, old demon. Please buy some more punctuation marks. They're not expensive these days.

I agree that Neitz and Jones are probably the best we've produced in this century. But I think we've been so accustomed to mediocrity and worse, that we're overstating their status. In short, and I don't like saying this, but I wouldn't classify either Neitz or Jones as "greats". That's subjective, of course, and my opinion is no more or less subjective than Dunn's or anyone else's on this forum.

Great words from Dunn. I must admit I didn't expect him to be able to articulate his feelings so sublimely well. Which says more about me than him. But if I could just stick my tongue in my cheek for a moment and question his judgment. He says "I have played with some of the all time greats of the MFC". That's hyperbole in the extreme. (Of course, he and everyone else could shoot me down and point out that he means great in character, not necessarily in ability.) I was never a great fan of Dunn, the player. But Dunn the person has won me over completely.

Completely agree. A very fine team could be made of high numbered players. However, for reasons which escape me, modern AFL players seem to believe a low number somehow equates to status. To that, I'll just mention Cyril Rioli, Shaun Rehn, Robert Walls, Alex Jesaulenko, Swan McKay, Kevin Bartlett, etc.

To be honest, I opened this thread with some excitement combined with disbelief. When I read the title I thought something truly bizarre had happened overnight and we had somehow ended up with picks 6, 14, 19 etc in the draft.

We assign too much power and superstition to jumper numbers. I'd like to think an individual's performance and the team's destiny have no link to jumper numbers, past or present, in any way.

A bit of research shows that Lynden Dunn is the current AFL player who has played the most games without a final having played 165. Second is Garland on 141, followed by Watts on 137. That's not just for Melbourne, that's for the whole AFL. Which tells us two things, we've really stunk for a decade. And a Collingwood player is now on the top of that ladder.

I must remember not to ask you to deliver my eulogy.

Pity we missed out on Gary Ablett Sr. Might have got some value there (from him and subsequent father-son selections).

And wasn't Dunn the player on our list who had played the most games without playing in a final? If so, who has the baton been passed to? Garland, perhaps?

Has there been official confirmation of this?

Clearly Lewis. The sponsors' logos are clearer. Isn't that the true purpose of these photos?

While Robbo has form with cheerleading for Essendon, what he's saying is not too dissimilar to the situation with Mitch Clark and Melbourne. I seem to recall that Clark was adamant about moving to WA only to see a last minute change of heart when Melbourne stepped in with an offer attractive to both Clark and Brisbane.

I assume that's a typo and you meant to write "Why", not "How".

Purely hypothetically, if it turns out we could only have one of Jordan Lewis or Michael Hibberd for basically the same trade price, which should we do?

One of the unknown side effects of Dank's program?

I keep reading that Jordan Lewis has done a backflip. Given that a perfectly executed backflip lands the person in exactly the same position as when they started, that suggests to me the Lewis is still a definite chance to come to Melbourne. I note, however, that I am posting on the Trade Whispers thread, not a Trade Facts one, so maybe he hasn't done a backflip but just a 360...oh, wait.

If it helps to get Hibberd to Melbourne, I'd support Demonland trading Olisik to Bomberblitz.

Thanks Diamond_Jim. This form is exactly what I've been looking for. If I were an Essendon player I would have argued that I didn't think I had to disclose the injections because I didn't believe they met the definition of "non-prescription medication or supplements" on the basis that I (the player) thought they were vitamins or peptides...which, surely, aren't supplements. But it seems they didn't argue that, so, I have no idea why (a) they didn't complete the form properly and (b) they didn't choose better lawyers who would have thought of this as a cogent argument.

Come on dc, that's not Donald Duck. Surely you can do better than that.

I've read some silly things on Demonland, but honestly. Toumpas was pick 4 while Wines was taken later. Clearly PA will have to throw in another player to get that deal done.

It's a peripheral point, but what exactly was the relevance of failing to disclose "the presence of Stephen Dank at away matches"?

One day people won't understand what that refers to. The Age has been tabloid (sorry, "compact") for a few years now and The Herald ceased to exist in 1990.