La Dee-vina Comedia

I disagree. He hasn't been good enough for long enough.

Freudian slip?

'Challenge the comfortable, and comfort the challenged' That's a good way of putting it. I suspect that's the coaching style of Roos. On the other hand, (and I admit I have no evidence no back this up) I suspect Malthouse and some of his proteges agree with the first three words but perhaps not the last four.

So, is it that simple? All we need to do is chip in, buy Roos a megaphone and the premiership will be ours.

Has a club (Club A) ever nominated a player as father-son and then let him go to a club (Club B) which offers a draft pick higher than Club A was prepared to part with?

If we are going to pursue raffle via phone app and special Twitter threads, the MCC will need to improve its wifi/3G/4G networks. Anytime there's a half decent crowd, it doesn't cope.

But do you think it mitigates their behaviour and consequently should result in a lesser penalty?

It's all Chris Judd's fault. As a Visy ambassador he's convinced the AFL not to be so wasteful and to recycle all the MRP material so it doesn't go into landfill.

If Essendon's powers that-be-move quickly today the ideal headline would have to be the double-meaning "Hird Loses Appeal"

Maximum merit in your post, Chook.

Cogent argument which forces me to re-think. There is definitely merit in the idea of trialing rule changes. I'm still not sold on the idea of different rules for the sake of it.

The club sends their chief marketing officer? Bet that wasn't in his job description.

I don't particularly like any form of pre-season competition. But if there's going to be one, it should have exactly the same rules as the season proper. Otherwise the teams practice all pre-season for one set of rules and conditions and then have to waste their time playing something else.

I suffer from hair envy.

Isn't that what got them into this trouble in the first place?

I note that while Elvis might have left the building, his manager is now writing stories for the MFC.

*Bump* This announcement yesterday ups the ante on the Melbourne University story.

I appreciate the sentiment behind Stynes and Flower being on the banner. But if any ex-players are going to be included, surely Ronald Dale Barassi should be there. In fact, the only three ex-players I'd have are the aforementioned. If it's current personnel, I'd just have the Coach and the Captain (or co-Captains).

Of course, Caro may have been right and then the EFC reversed their decision. Didn't we do the same with Schwab (or was it Bailey...I can't remember now)?

It's the modern version of the Kennedy family versus J Edgar Hoover standoff. It has been claimed that JFK and Bobby had a picture of Hoover in a (more than) compromising position with Clyde Tolson when it wasn't public knowledge that Hoover was gay (or a cross-dresser). Hoover allegedly had an audio recording of Bobby Kennedy being successfully seduced by Marilyn Monroe which Hoover threatened to release if the Kennedys went after him.

Um, Did you want to try that last sentence again?

I'm impressed. I got lost in this morass quite some time ago. Whether you're right or wrong, I admire your willingness to (a) take a position and (b) give it a timeline.

Wow. Two highly optimistic statements in one post. I'm not confident 12 months will be long enough for anything to play out. And, however the matter plays out, I'm not expecting the truth will ever see the light of day.

It's complicated but what I think they are trying to fix is that under the current model, pick 1 and pick 18 have the same value. Ditto pick 2 and pick 19. Consequently, if you finish higher up the ladder, a father-son pick is nominally "cheaper". For example, if Melbourne and Hawthorn both had sons of fathers that they wished to secure in the 2014 draft, the bidding system would say that if any other team chose to bid their second round pick, Melbourne and Hawthorn would have to use their round 1 pick to secure that player. In 2014 that would have cost Melbourne pick 2 but Hawthorn pick 18. I think the scheme is an attempt to close that gap. If I'm right, it's a benefit to a lower placed team, not a disadvantage.

Fabulous stuff, DeeVoted. Certainly makes you think how lucky we are today. Sometimes we like to say, 'Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.' And it's a fun quote. But sometimes it's better to reflect on what's really important.