La Dee-vina Comedia

After the post went live I notice that. So I can't claim it was deliberate...which suggests the possibility of a Freudian slip.

I know it's the software and not the Demonland administrator's fault, but auto-censoring the diminutive of Richard is patently ridiculous.

Damnit! Thought I done enough to disguise my true ID.

And I left out the biggest reason...establishment of an independent Commission to run the game. Go back 30 odd years and the competition was run by the clubs themselves with their self-interest at heart. It's hard to believe today, but the clubs had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this new model. Some of them (particularly an all blue club and one with black and white stripes) continued to believe that their competition was other teams such as Essendon, Geelong etc, rather than other sporting codes and entertainment options.

I'm not sure I agree with this. I accept that we don't live in a perfect AFL system but smaller clubs have a better chance now than at any time since 1964. I post the following reasons why, in my opinion, things are better than at any time since then: salary cap draft system fairer father-son bidding system overall financial strength of the AFL which allows financially poor clubs to be supported more professional management of clubs all round (we were very late to join the others. Arguably, we didn't get our act together until 2013) and possibly the one which will be most disputed on Demonland - free agency. However, if the compensation scheme is abolished as has been occasionally suggested,I would change my view. I can't see how a club losing a player for adequate compensation (accepting that the definition of "adequate" might be arguable on a case-by-case basis) can be harmful. In our latest instance, I'm sure we received more than adequate compensation, as we did, under different circumstances for Scully. In short, the failures of smaller clubs to win premierships is fundamentally a problem of endemic poor management or those clubs. Edited to fix mistakes

Just out of curiosity, what did Rodriguez use? I think it's relevant when comparing him to the EFC situation to know whether he used an accepted performance enhancing drug or a dodgy peptide of unknown benefit which is nevertheless on the banned list.

"Dear xxxxx, The report aired on 3AW was complete and utter rubbish. The Club made the decision not to respond so as not to give the story any oxygen to propagate it further but I do want to assure you that it is a nonsense. You will recall that Peter renewed his contract with the Club last year on an ongoing basis until at least Oct 2015 which is great for our Club. Peter originally signed on for 6 months back in 2013 when he took over as CEO and the Club has benefited tremendously from his decision to stay on past that original term. Peter continues to achieve outstanding results for our Club and the board couldn't be more pleased with the efforts of Peter ,our executive group, staff and players. The Club is in the strongest and most stable position it has been for a long time. Glen" Ironically, if you re-read the above and replace the word 'CEO' with 'Coach', we'd all think the coach was in big trouble. This time, however, I'm fully prepared to accept the statement at face value.

To be honest, the five players named so far are no worse than the recruits we took in the Neeld era. Given the talent still available to play at Essendon is better than the best we had then, the side they will have out there will be better than Melbourne circa 2012-13 in terms of personnel. Whether they'll have time to gel (ie, learn the gameplan...apprently every team has one) and whether the ring-ins have maintained a suitable level of fitness will be a negative, though.

i was thinking more of the non-playing personnel such as coaches, physios, medicos, trainers and whoever else is needed. Nevertheless, whether we like it or not, we're living in the 21st century and with that comes various employment obligations which may not have existed in bygone eras. I also think we're stretching the responsibilities of the club if an intraclub practice match has to be considered as an entertainment product which should fit in with the fans' expectations.

According to 3AW's Sports today on Twitter: "Petrenko, Mitch Brown, Clisby, James Magner and Clint Jones all join the Bombers"

If only it were like this on game day...

I think the colour is all wrong. It's not a 'silver lining' per se but closer to one of C & B's golden tickets. When he returns, the pressure to be a superstar from game 1 will be removed. He will be excused if he doesn't dominate and hopefully the lifting of this pressure that we supporters would otherwise have placed on him might make it easier for him to become a truly great player.

Or in my case, impossible

I hope players like Tapscott and Strauss get a call up. What better way to convince recruiters at all other clubs that you should be given another chance by performing well under these circumstances. I admit that it's a long shot for them, but if they still have a burning desire, here's an unexpected opportunity and those recruited to Essendon should make the most of it.

Maybe...but I could also have named Tadgh Kenneally, Pierce Hanley, Zac Tuohy, Sean Wight and others. (Hopefully I haven't butchered the spelling of all those names too much. Apologies to the aforementioned if I have.)

Really? In what way? My recollection of both players is that Judd dominated from his first game and never waned until about 10 years later whereas Scully played one excellent quarter and a few OK games (good for a first year player, but hardly dominant).

With 3AWs Neil Mitchell today. No idea what's been said - have just seen the picture.

I hope he makes it. Just so we can have two Christians and a Lyon in the one team. And while we're talking about players not picking up the game until they're 16 or so, don't forget Jim Stynes, Mike Pyke and all the other successful imports. At least Josh Lyon has grown up around football and will understand the game unlike those who grow up overseas.

Of course it's Schwab's fault. If he hadn't been at the club we would have just won our third premiership in a row in 2014 and consequently would not have been in the running to draft Petracca in the first place.

This is a highly risky thread. It won't take much longer for the usual suspects to say "It proved we should have drafted player X instead of player Y". If you don't know who X and Y are, (a) enjoy the thread while you still can and (b) you can't have been on Demonland for very long.

How about because they are all full time employees (including coaches, etc) and have weekends off during the off season as part of their employment agreements?

For those of us feeling a little dis-spirited, can someone post some names of players who've had ACL injuries and come back as if nothing ever happened? One that I think comes to mind is Tony Liberatore, but I'm sure there are others.

When I daydream I often wonder which would give me the greater enjoyment - thrashing Collingwood in a Grand Final like we did in 1955 or coming from behind to beat them like we did in 1964.

I hope your last word was an auto-correct error and you meant to type "tourists". If nothing else, Demonland has probably just been added to the US Government's NSA watchlist.

And if they haven't? Or, at least, claim that they haven't? Then what? (BTW, irrespective of the current Essendon imbroglio, I would have thought the risk of an AFL club not having enough players to field a team during the season proper must be a matter which the AFL should already have a contingency plan for. I'm sure we've seen before that clubs have got injury lists which leave them the bare minimum to choose from).