La Dee-vina Comedia

I wouldn't dismiss Peter Gordon lightly. He's a specialist in class actions and this class of 34 may be able to identify sufficient grounds for appeal. If it is correct as claimed somewhere (in The Age today, perhaps?) that one of the 34 ceased his involvement in the injection program before TB-4 was ever introduced, that player clearly has been unfairly treated by CAS. I'm not arguing the facts - I don't know whether that claim is true, false or provable. But ask yourself this question: If Jake Melksham was that player and it can be clearly demonstrated that he could not have been injected with TB-4, is it fair that he cannot play for us this year? And if the process has failed that one player, I think it raises doubts about the whole CAS process which may be worthy of an appeal.

I suspect anyone under the age of 40 (or even 50) may not have heard of the term "Collingwood six footer". Saying "Collingwood 183 centimetre-er" doesn't have the same ring to it, either.

Get back to me in 2021.

The Dons ate my homework?

Although I don't agree, I think I can see where Balme is coming from. The AFL is a purely local competition. There is no international competition at all. Therefore, in the mind of people like Balme, the AFL should make its own rules because whatever happens within the AFL competition doesn't affect anyone else. It's not like a club from, say, Spain, misses out on winning an AFL Premiership flag or someone from Japan missing out on a Brownlow medal because someone within Australia was doped up. Before I get jumped on, I repeat, I don't agree with the view.

I suspect context matters. I assume he's trying to explain that he would prefer that there were no suspensions and Jobe was still captain. (Mind you, can you imagine any one of our recent knife-wielding PMs saying this at their first media conference after ascending to the top job? Mind boggles with the thought of it.)

OK, thanks. Let's just call it a snufu rather than a snafu. (ie, System normal, user effed up)

[OK. I'm trying to Quote Mandee's post earlier in this thread and somehow it's coming up with one from Beelzebub from two weeks ago. I'll just post this and see whether it corrects itself or not.] It didn't correct, so, apologies to all, but I'll leave this completely irrelevant post here so the Administrators can see it as it might help them with the software glitch.

Today I've successfully used the Quote function in one thread and then found it not working properly in another. In the latter attempt, when I wanted to quote the post immediately above it instead quoted something that I had previously quoted weeks ago. Strange. [Note: I deleted the post before completion...so it's not there for Andy to find. Now I realise that's not very helpful.] Actually, I have now posted it and the error remains. It's in the Christian Petracca's broken toe thread at post number...oh, no numbers. Posted at about 9.30 am today (22/1) Melbourne time.

Conversely, if only one or two do leave the salary cap space freed up will allow those remaining a possible windfall as the club potentially overpays just to keep those players from leaving too. In the end (now that virtually everyone involved with the supplements program will have left), I expect money to talk the loudest. And therefore I expect most of those suspended will stay.

If Port's tallest player on their rookie list is only 189 cm and they knew there was a risk that Ryder might be suspended, I think Port needs to consider whether they might have contributed to their own dilemma by not planning better.

I don't think I can compete for Satyr's affections against the like of 40-odd footballers...and his lovely lady.

I can understand why Jamar might be selected as a top up player. Essendon need key defenders. McKernan could take one of those roles, rather than playing as a backup ruckman or forward. Jamar could then be the backup forward and ruckman. He may never get to play a game, but he'd be some handy insurance.

Gee, is good to have you back. Not just for your excellent first-hand accounts, but who else could coin a phrase like "he has actually toned his sinew" and get away with it?

Proved your point. Hogan missing from the Geelong game meant that the Cats were completely unprepared as they had only planned for that one scenario. With Hogan out, they were completely unprepared and lost.

Now that's a nasty side-effect. Didn't hear about that one previously,

No comment needed. (Source: Mark Hawthorne's Twitter account. He's a senior journo at The Age)

Is this even possible?: Essendon FC ‏@EssendonFC 10m10 minutes ago Crowley: "In time I'd like to sit down and have a chat to the 12 players. I could give them a real insight as to what they may go through." I would have thought that now Crowley is on the Essendon books he can't have anything to do with the other 12 players. If that's right, someone needs to tell the Essendon social media person that this tweet was probably not the best one to publish. nutes ago

My first thought about legal action by players against the EFC suggests that the consent forms they signed which got them into strife with CAS may now be their undoing in the legal action.

We can only hope when Richard Ings says "I do give up", he means it. Oxygen thief of the highest order.

So he's capable of growing both muscle and hair. Sadly, I can do neither.

I don't know if any of the suspended players are in the US right now, but if they are they should be watching Frontline on PBS tonight (ie, 19 Jan US time). I assume it's not about the EFC, but any program called "Supplements and Safety" should surely hold their attention.

If people are concerned about the "look" of Essendon taking on Crowley and maybe Saad, I think they're looking in the wrong direction. Surely the appointment of Worsfold as coach is far more problematic. Not because of the irony of his Pharmacy qualification but because he was in charge at West Coast when that club obviously had uncontrolled problems with players taking unusual substances.

Or he's a perfect fit. How often do we hear the game is played between the ears? At least he knows what his teammates (both playing and suspended) are going through. If he's fit enough and has the desire to play (which I assume he has) I think it's an inspired choice.

Interesting point. Whose facilities are they? If they're owned (let's say) by the Yarra Park Trust, or whatever the Government body is that manages the land in the precinct, and just leased by the various sporting clubs, such as Melbourne Storm and the MFC, why couldn't the Essendon 34 also lease them, should they be available?