La Dee-vina Comedia

I find this "travelling interstate" issue a distraction. Every club, bar those based in Victoria travel interstate almost every second week. Why should Victorian clubs complain?

Coaches are so predictable. Brad Scott wants to increase the interchange to five and dump the sub. No surprise there and another example of why coaches should not have control of the rules of the game. I would suggest the game would be much better off if we keep four on interchange and either dump the sub altogether or go back to last year's iteration where it was supposed to be for injury only. I would change it though, so that the player subbed off must miss the following game his team plays. No exemptions, even if the next game is the Grad Final. The moment you provide exemptions, it will be rorted. Nothing surer. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/it-just-makes-sense-essendon-coach-wants-sub-scratched-for-five-on-the-bench-20230409-p5cz4e.html

Not sure the laugh emoji is the right response, but you did make me chuckle.

Didn't I read somewhere that the SA government is paying the AFL $10m for the rights to hold this round? And did I also read that each club will get $500,000? Or am I thinking of something else? It still doesn't explain why the competition has been expanded so that each team now plays 23 home and away games, though. Personally, I think it's a stupid idea but I am sure the spinners and their media acolytes will tell us next week that it was a huge success, whatever happens.

6. Oliver 5. Grundy 4. Petracca 3. Rivers 2. Viney 1. Sparrow Fritsch and McDonald can consider themselves unlucky to miss out.

Brisbane

I think a mid-season trade is supported by some elements of the media as they think it will be good for the marketing of the game. I disagree with this view. Supporters, particularly children, want to identify with all the players in their team. Losing one to another club during the season will harm that relationship. As an example, it has been suggested that one of the the Big Bash's biggest problems is that player movement between teams prevents supporters from forming lasting associations with the individual teams.

Actually, I think the opposite. I suspect the gameplan requires Langdon and Hunter to stick to their half of the ground at all times whereas it may not have been a hard and fast rule for the wingmen in previous years.

After a turgid start, the article becomes quite interesting. Stick with it, folks.

Does she play for Casey or Frankston?

I find that Bowza kick mesmerising. I just keep watching it over and over.

I agree with you. However, just to clarify, is the Lewis incident with Viney directly related to vilification in that specific match?

Half! That's still about 80% more than I'll be able to identify.

Would it be OK to ask for a 191 point winning margin? It's embarrassing to have to point out that 186 is not our greatest losing margin ever. That (dis)honour belongs to the Melbourne team beaten by Fitzroy by 190 points in 1979. Final scores were Melbourne 6.12 48 to Fitzroy 36.22 238.

I think you're correct about the players using the traditional method more. But that may be as a result of where they were kicking from, rather than any change to the kicking technique. Fewer shots taken from deep in the forward pockets reduces the need for the round the corner kicks.

Not so sure I agree. Langdon and Hunter played their best games as a combination of wingmen in our last game. Was that because Jordon gave each of them a chop out? And he also played on ball and drifted forward. I'm not convinced Jordon will be the one who misses out. If it's a small forward who gives way for Pickett, it's out of Spargo and Chandler, neither of whom deserve to miss. If it's a midfielder, I would have thought Sparrow was at greater risk of losing his spot than Jordon. Either way, whoever misses out is very, very unlucky.

The Bulldogs seem to be in a world of pain. it doesn't matter how accurate you are if you aren't generating many shots on goal.

I wouldn't be shocked. Pickett has to come back in and I expect it will be "like for like". So, if Brown goes out, I expect a KPF like Tom McDonald to take his place, not Pickett. So, if it's not Chandler, who does Pickett replace?

It's a great read, but not sure I agree with this bit, " Plenty of late, hard hits, scuffles, following with the elbow when you lose out on a contested mark. Both teams played like they felt hard done by, which in turn created more scuffles, more malice, more venom in the contests." It's not what I saw.

Will be interesting if Chandler loses his spot to Pickett. If he does, I'll have to assume his vote came from Longmire.

It was interesting to see Rivers in the midfield rotations yesterday. I don't know if that was because he was playing on a specific person and followed him in there or not. But I can't recall us in the Goodwin era ever using one of the nominal seven defenders in a midfield role. As to changes, Pickett for Chandler who becomes the sub with Melksham being omitted. It's tough on Chandler, but he's effectively playing the Pickett role. If Brown is injured or needs to be rested, I'd bring in Tom McDonald. If Hibberd is injured or needs to be rested, I'd bring in Tomlinson.

I'm really curious as to what has been censored here. I'm conscious of the Demonland policy so am not asking for the censored word to be disclosed. However, is it simply just a case of a typo with the intention to write 'shut' being erroneously written? After all, the u and i are adjacent on a qwerty keyboard.

6. Oliver 5. Grundy 4. Petracca 3. Langdon 2. Hunter 1. Rivers Really sorry I couldn't also include Jordon.

Major League Baseball in the US now gives players a special patch to add to their uniform when they debut. It's all about the collectibles market. I expect the AFL will eventually follow suit. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-30/mlb-rookies-to-wear-debut-patches-bound-for-collectibles-market?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business#xj4y7vzkg

For those who follow US sport and the conference system, do the same teams remain in the same conferences every year? I would find it somewhat depressing if we went to two conferences and played against the same 9 teams every year and only against teams in the "other" conference in finals.