La Dee-vina Comedia

Stop the presses! Thought I'd never see the day, but peace has broken out between Stuie and Sir Why You Little. See, guys, it's not that hard to be civil to each other.

That's cruel and unusual punishment possibly banned by the Geneva Convention. And if it's not, it should be.

I think you're being generous. I think he has a history of one stunningly impressive patch of play followed by long periods of inactivity in the same game. His best is terrific, but it is far too infrequently seen.

As a matter of interest, when VFL games commence properly, will they also have the same Interchange cap as the seniors? And thanks to those who went and provided the above excellent reports.

If O Mac is fit, I expect him to come in before Dunn as (a) he's taller and we lack height in the backline, (b) he's the future and Dunn is not and (c) the footy department seem to have O Mac ahead of Dunn and Frost as a key defender at the moment. However, that doesn't mean Dunn can't also be picked so we play a taller backline overall. I could see Garland playing on a smaller player and T Mac, O Mac and Dunn lining up on North's tall forwards. This would mean Vince and N Jones both playing on ball instead of one of them off half back. The four smaller, rotating backs would be Lumumba, Salem, Jetta and Garland with the first two also playing on the wing on occasions. If Dunn and O Mac come in, I could see Kent and Bugg/Harmes being dropped unless there's a player who is injured or needs a rest. I'm also sorely tempted to suggest Frost for Pedersen to add more pace but while Frost adds athleticism, he doesn't offer much else at the moment.

Dunn not playing against Essendon is neither here nor there. He wouldn't have been able to stop Daniher given the way the game was played. The bigger surprise to me with selection was that Frost didn't play. Dunn has Frost covered for skill, kicking and marking. But Frost is taller and faster than Dunn and would have been a better match up for Daniher.

6. N Jones 5. Kennedy 4. Vince 3. Tyson (although I wish he would improve his disposal) 2. Jetta 1. Gawn

This is from the UK Maths Trust test in 2010 and is circulating online today:

You're not actually Damien Barrett, are you? Although the alternative that he's just plagiarising your work is, in itself, quite amusing on a number of levels.

From how last week was reported in the media, I'm sure Dangerfield could fill in as a ruckman if needed. As long as he's got time to heal the sick and multiply bread and fish at the same time.

I'm interested to see who actually plays in the back six. Matt Jones was selected on the half-back line last week but played the whole game on the wing, and very well. Instead, Vince played the first three quarters at half-back and then swapped with N Jones, very successfully, in the last. I suspect Vince will again start half-back and will share the kicking in duties with Salem, like last week. Frost didn't have a good game last week but I'm still a little surprised to see him dropped given O Mac's absence. We are taking a big risk playing only one genuine tall defender.

Not that I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm looking forward to having a record of "two losses in a row" as something not broken for many years.

And then thinks he's really funny. For what it's worth I stopped watching when Brownless and Crawford became semi-permanent panelists. Not only did they add nothing but took away from the show one-third of the contemporary players.

He's lucky. Most Collingwood supporters are grateful if they're given parole for Christmas.

I dream that Channel 7 would put the interests of the competition first. But I know that's a dream that won't come true.

The OP says the score between the coaches is zero-zero. In their current jobs, sure, but they had a ding-dong time a decade or so ago. As a matter of interest, does anyone know what their overall coaching win-loss rate against each other is?

So, by about 5 pm on Saturday I will know exactly how much a buzzillion literally is. I just won't know if it's a metric or imperial buzzillion.

In what way did N Jones, Viney and M Jones try to lift training standards? Was it longer hours, more intense efforts, verbal encouragement? I'm not doubting you but just curious.

Buckley was an excellent "special comments" presenter on radio in between his playing and coaching days. He is both astute and articulate.

Not sure you actually need the word "cry" in this sentence. Reads fine without it.

It's a good question. He's no longer vice-Captain or in the leadership group and he was picked as an emergency last week, which suggests he wasn't injured, just not (in the eyes of the selectors) good enough to replace any of the other talls, but in particular O McDonald. Has the footy department lost confidence in him? If so, is it an onfield performance issue or has he done something else the club doesn't like, such as throwing the toys out of the cot when he wasn't included in the leadership group?

Thanks for re-directing me. With respect to those in the media with multiple roles, I often wonder who they consider to be their prime employer. For example, would Mark Robinson ever break a news story on SEN or Fox or does he only do so in the Herald Sun? Similarly, would Caro bring up a new newsworthy matter on Footy Classified, Offsiders or 3AW or reserve her best material for The Age? And it's not just them. Mick Warner, Gerald Whatley and Rohan Connolly (and many others) have multiple roles.

And that would be...?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but are you saying that Mark Robinson brings accurate, balanced and investigative journalism to SEN? If so, I have to make the point that I'm not convinced he's accurate, balanced, investigative or a journalist.

Before crediting the forward line as working better with Pedersen in the backline, there was another tactical change which needs to be considered. Up until 3/4 time Gawn was pushing forward and "getting in the way". He wasn't doing that in the last quarter. It may be that Gawn was running forward under the express instruction to tire Mumford and perhaps that part of the plan worked. Nevertheless, the forward line worked so much better when (a) Pedersen wasn't there, (b) Gawn wasn't there and (c) the ball movement in the final quarter was so much quicker that there were fewer GWS players there, too.