La Dee-vina Comedia

To be fair, Ticketek has to (a) have software that makes sure it only sells a seat once and not multiple times; (b) safely connects to your device/PC without letting in the baddies who might go phishing, etc and (c) safely allows payment without your bank account being drained dry. I suspect I've accounted for almost all of the first 10c they charge. (Note: I have no idea how much any of that costs.)

Dog of a school.

Presumably Freo are dealing with Hooker's manager. Is there anything that prevents Hooker and his manager getting together? And the issue about whether Hooker might leave or not needs to be read in the context that he's a free agent at the end of the year. If he hadn't been suspended it's hard to imagine Hooker not being of interest to a number of clubs...so the only real difference is that (a) he's missing a year of footy and (b) his level of satisfaction with his current club might be diminished by his current circumstances which might encourage him to leave. (OK, he's also guilty of taking illegal supplements, too.)

Thanks Lucifer. I didn't reaslise that unused salary cap could be carried over. Now I understand the argument...I just have to decide now whether I disagree with it.

There's a lot about this whole saga I don't understand, but how exactly would such an opportunity arise? The suspensions, and therefore presumably the ban on salary payments, ends before the next round of recruitments begin. I confess to not understanding this argument at all.

So, for those people who think this thread's a waste of time, now we can make it interesting. It would appear you're suffering from a Laius Complex (like an Oedipal complex but father-son, instead of mother-son). There you go - a free diagnosis.

Well, for a start, you follow Melbourne...

We have threads on the pros and cons of our logo, jumper design and off-field apparel. All of them show that people have differing tastes. But they also show that fashions change with the times. And thank goodness for that - imagine wearing 1970s flares or 1980s shoulder pads today. Or tattoos in 2020.

I saw the "worm" on one of those footy apps before I knew anything about the game and just assumed we were the team leading at the start only to be swamped by what at first glance looked like a 10 goal straight avalanche. It was quite a shock to see that the boot was on the other foot, so to speak.

Nice to be able to write atypical Melbourne performance and not a typical Melbourne performance.

Agreed. The overseas online betting sites can exchange info and pay the sports, but are not required to. However, it is their own interests to do so. They're the ones who lose money if there's a scam or a fixed match.

The whole point of having legal and regulated betting markets is to allow an exchange of information between the sports and the betting operators. The way it works is that the sports give the betting companies permission to bet on their product in return for (1) information about suspicious betting transactions - such as $1M on a NAB match and (2) money, which the sports use to fund the costs of their own integrity programs. If betting is illegal or not regulated, the betting companies do not provide the sports with either information or money. And that's a recipe for corruption. Also, online betting is better for controlling corruption and match fixing as it leaves an audit trail not available with cash betting.

Who are you referring to as "the enemy"?

Haven't I read somewhere that Fitzpatrick is preparing to leave and will do so as soon as an appropriate replacement is identified? As to McLachlan, I think it's still too early to tell whether he's good, bad or indifferent.

While the issues might be mutually exclusive, not everyone sees it that way. There are many on here who seem to believe the majority of the MFC's problems exist because of mismanagement of (or by) the AFL. I disagree with that view - I think the AFL is, overall, a well run organisation. If the MFC had been run that well over the last 50 years (or even just the last decade) we might be a powerhouse club, too.

How ridiculous. Obviously they should be playing for the Matthew Bishop trophy. (and what's with those last 7 words?)

Um, which one is which? I predict the bull won't be as long for this world as the (stupid) guy in the blue t-shirt.

Clubs being stuck at or around the bottom of the ladder isn't a new phenomenon. And to the AFL's credit they've tried to do something about it (eg, salary cap, drafting), although arguably not enough. Having said that, clubs perenially at or around the bottom of the ladder are generally poorly run, which suggests its not all AFL HQ's fault. The best evidence for this are the comparative positions of Carlton and Hawthorn. Carlton was a powerhouse in the days when you could "buy" premierships by raiding SA and WA for the best talent by paying the highest prices. Conversely, Hawthorn was a basket case for most of its first 50 years in the competition. Carlton is now a struggler as it hasn't adapted to the changes required; whereas Hawthorn has worked out how to operate best in the new world.

Meta-schadenfreude?

I really want to see the coaches and players use this opportunity to get rid of all the cliches early. I would be very surprised if I don't hear (or see in writing) the following cliches used: we blew away the cobwebs we wanted to convert training form into playing form we wanted to build match fitness it was a useful hit-out we wanted to see the new gameplan gel "NAB 1", "NAB 2", "NAB 3" If we can get rid of these cliches early, we might get some sensible comments in later matches.

Chris, I admire your principles, but perhaps you could still buy a Melbourne FC membership but "punish" the AFL in another way, although I'm not sure how. (Perhaps don't buy a pie at the footy.)

Thanks for the image. Surely someone can get up a meme of that bus with Gill driving it.

Bub, I don't understand your concern about the phone use issue. The AFL, like many other sports, is concerned about corruption in betting which can lead to compromised results. Hence, the AFL integrity people - the ones who you scorn - are attempting to put in place measures to protect the sport from this worldwide scourge. One of those measures, adopted by many sports around the world, is to require sports people (including officials) to leave their phones behind. And now you're criticising the AFL for doing what seems to be the right thing to protect the game's integrity? Or have I misunderstood you?

Actually, never went to Windy Hill. And just for balance, the ground which I thought was the friendliest (ie, the attitude of the supporters was most friendly) was Glenferrie Oval.

The further the better. I've been attending the footy for half a century. Over that time I have felt more uncomfortable (ie, fearful for my personal safety) when among Richmond supporters than I have been when among supporters of any other club.