La Dee-vina Comedia

There were times during the Collingwood game where I wished McVee and Salem were doing all the inside 50 kicks. Both were so far ahead of every other Melbourne player for consistently good and effective disposal.

Sorry. I was being a bit cheeky - I knew you meant growing up overseas.

Who are your three Irishmen? I've got four in mind: Jim Stynes, Sean Wight, Tadgh Kenneally and Zac Tuohy. For what it's worth, I like Mason Cox and believe his ability to get to 100 AFL games is a huge achievement. History has shown that it's been harder for Ameericans to learn our game than the Irish. The definition of "import" perhaps needs clarification, too. There's bloke who was born in Austria who came to Australia as a 4 year old who played alright. Hint: Ukranian father and Russian mother. Played for Carlton (and St Kilda, although no-one cares about that bit.) I have no idea what went on between Cox and Petracca, and, frankly don't care.

Agree with everything said here. It's only at the ground that you can see what he does. We probably wouldn't have won against Collingwood without him. He minimised Nick Daicos's influence in the first half. His hard running in the last was rewarded with a goal which was only possible because he outran the Collingwood player to get to the drop of the ball.

I really don't think we should argue this point. Our home ground is where the AFL Grand Finals are always played (apart from World Wars, pandemics, etc). I don't want supporters of a club that has won 9 premierships arguing that our 13 are somehow tainted because we won most of them with a home ground advantage. In fact, I find this whole "woe is me" argument that we have to play at Kardinia Park when the big teams don't tiresome. It's solvable in a very logical way - become a big team, like Collingwood and Carlton, so that the AFL will choose to play more of our games against Geelong at the MCG.

I wasn't aware that Joel Smith "has the tank", ie, has great aerobic capacity. I've never really seen that in him. What I did see yesterday, though, was enough to convince me we should persist with him as a key forward for a bit longer.

Almost every week someone wants to replace the sub with another player. This week, its Oliver for Jordon. Unless those making the suggestion want Oliver to be the sub (which I'll assume is unlikely), another player has to make way. That player might end up as sub. But the sub, in this case Jordon, is already considered to be an "out".

I thought Petracca was playing more of the Oliver role; that is, the first-possession extractor. That role is always going to lead to lower efficiency than the outside distribution role he usually plays. In fact, I gave Petracca votes because of the job he did.

I doubt anyone had Geelong and "much needed experience" on their bingo card this year. Is the statement, that Geelong needs more experience even close to accurate?

6. Viney 5. Salem 4. May 3. Tomlinson 2. Petracca (disagree with The Age that called him "ineffectual". I thought his ability to extract the contested ball and stand up when tackled went a long way toward us winning) 1. Neal-Bullen (spent a lot of time successfully minding N Daicos early and then used his power running in the last quarter to cause huge problems for the Pies) I notice that a lot of people have given votes to Hunter and Rivers. I thought Hunter made too many simple disposal errors. Rivers was probably unlucky not to get a vote from me. But so were Grundy, McVee and Brayshaw (after a dodgy start)

Are you referring to Mark Jackson? I can't imagine how difficult it would be to play football either with or against someone like him.

I thought 'surreal' was word reserved for footballers starting their career in this millennium. I'm quite pleased to see it was already in use by footballers in 1973.

I think Blair Campbell is credited with inventing the "banana kick" (aka, "checkside"). I don't know who invented the round the corner kick, but Steve Johnson from Geelong appears to be getting a lot of credit for it. Whether that's for inventing it, perfecting it, or for growing its popularity amongst modern players I'm not sure.

Just seeking clarification...did he actually wear the spectacles on the field in his first game? I never remember seeing him playing in spectacles. The only players I can recall who have worn spectacles while playing are Geoff Blethyn and Mason Cox.

Get well soon, Monbon.

I'm trying to work out what the literally qualifies here: the "almost", the "got away", the "murder" or the "week after week". Or perhaps "literally" is (ironically, literally) not the correct word. 🙂

She used to read the sport for 7 News in Melbourne on weekends. Also co-hosts various sporting coverages such as the Olympics. Is also the great Herb Elliott's granddaughter.

Passage of time means older thugs are not appropriately remembered. I didn't see either play but I suspect Jack Dyer and Mopsy Fraser may consider themselves unlucky to have been overlooked. Conversely, 'Diminutive of Richard' Reynolds would likely be a saint.

On the other hand, the bad thing about stats is that they are a quantitative measure with limited qualitative application. To be fair to Champion Data and others, over time they have tried to introduce quality measures such as effectiveness and efficiency, but the moment you do that, you introduce subjectivity into the data.

I guess it depends of your definition of success. Premierships won? Nope - Essendon and Carlton each have more. It's even worse if counting from the creation of the national competition in 1987. Club wealth? I believe West Coast is financially stronger Supporter numbers? They're probably number one in the land, but equally, I suspect there are more people who dislike Collingwood than any other club. In some respects, one cancels out the other

Red delicious?

I doubt footy shows have become any worse. Your declining interest in footy media may be less about the quality of the shows themselves and more about the passage of time. I know that I would consume almost anything football-related in 2021 and while we were reigning premiers in 2022. Now that we've been displaced, I'm less interested in all forms of footy media.

Please sir, can I have some more?

I thought the system was meant to be focussing on potential to cause harm and not so much on the eventual outcome. If that was the case, Pickett was extemely lucky only to get two weeks. He should have got 4 as should have deGoey as they both had the same potential.

Or do you mean Oscar the Grouch? He lived in a trash can. (Of course, if Sesame Street was set in Australia, he would have lived in a rubbish bin, not a trash can.)