La Dee-vina Comedia

So, how many players are still on the list from the time Dean Bailey left?

Is that allowed? Can anybody choose to skip the National Draft and then be allowed into the PSD?

And you could add in Tom Flower and Brian Stynes as brothers who weren't as successful as their more famous siblings.

Interesting approach. What would you think about an overall Captain and then four vice-captains to take on the roles you have suggested?

"Fitzy takes leaps and bounds"...I know you meant something else, but what a great description of how he plays.

Apart from abstemious

As a matter of interest As a matter of interest, have other father-sons (at other clubs) worn the same numbers. I know that Gary Ablett Jr and Jobe Watson are different. But can anyone recall any examples where they were the same? Seems like an added and unnecessary burden to saddle a player with their father's number. The inevitable comparisons make it hard enough already without adding to the weight of expectations.

Three problems with this suggestion: Can get a bit hard with players with the same name. And before someone says "just add their first initial", how would you separately identify Gerard and Greg Healy? Can also be difficult for long names such as Cockatoo-Collins. My eyes (numbers can be hard enough!)

i have a vague recollection that the AFL imposed some draconian rule about numbers having to remain low (ie, below about 55) after Robert Mace wore 60 for a while.

I accept that club history is important. But each of the above numbers became famous because of the player(s) who wore the number at the time. I'd like to see our players create their own history. So far we (arguably) have 31, 9, 2 and 11 accepted as numbers of historical value. I'd like to see more numbers valued in the same way by current players making a name for themselves in whatever number they are randomly given. I'd be just as delighted if Jack Viney could make No 7 famous for all time as Jack Fitzpatrick in No 48. In short, I'd like to see players given one number for their whole Demon career; and I'd like new players not to be burdened by the expectation which comes with wearing a legend's former number.

What a great name. Sounds like a Puritan from 17th century Massachusetts. Mind you, here's a better list of Puritan names.

I'd rather a home game in Darwin than Etihad. The former has a strategic and financial benefit. The latter is an insult.

While I prefer a single captain I seem to recall Paul Roos favoured multiple captains when he was at the Swans, so I suspect we should anticipate something similar here. I don't know who should be captain because it needs more, much more, than the ability to be the team's best player (although being a regular starting 22 player is a necessity). That doesn't mean Nathan Jones shouldn't be captain. It depends on all the other aspects which the club considers important such as media capability, glad-handling sponsors, controlling off-field antics of immature players, training professionalism, on-field behaviour (can't have someone as captain that spits the dummy on field) etc. From what I've seen it probably means James Frawley shouldn't be captain as he doesn't appear at all comfortable in front of the camera and that's one of the captain's key responsibilities.

We should go into Round 1 with a mindset that any game is winnable. By round 2, though, reality may have settled in.

Query. Can teams trade PSD picks like they do national draft picks? I don't recall it ever happening before. And I'm a bit disappointed that no-one has suggested Liam Jurrah for the PSD. I thought it was compulsory that his name be suggested in any thread that discusses the PSD or rookie drafts.

While I like your logic, I'm not sure the AFL and Channel 7 will want to open with an Essendon game if there's a risk that the Bombers will be without a swathe of players. Of course, the AFL might already know, but can't publicly say, that such an outcome won't happen.

Hard to see the downside of the Alice Springs game in winter. It won't be hot and it's a shorter round trip than Melbourne-Perth. The argument that travelling is somehow a problem is a fallacy. West Coast and Fremantle have been coping with it since their inception.

Captain of the Scotch First XVIII or Captain of the whole school (or both)? If he was captain of the whole school I'd expect he's got talents beyond his footballing skills and may have strong leadership skills, too. Mind you, at this stage, I'd settle for an improvement in his footballing skills sufficient to see him a regular in our team.

Haven't seen Taggert at all. But not "pushing back" after being pushed isn't necessarily a worry. He may be completely undisturbed and is letting the player who pushed him know that he (Taggert) can be pushed as much as the opponent likes, but he won't be distracted by it.

Firstly, I don't think I can watch any of the games of 2013 again. And secondly, I think we were even worse in the first half of 2013 than in those "final games".

The silly season began in 1965 and is yet to finish. Let's hope it finishes soon.

Let's just keep it simple and call him Perignon.

If we get him (or his brother) will replace Wonna as the most mis-spelt name on Demonland.

Forget the actual merits of the trade. This is my trade period highlight.

How could I forget. Thanks. A net seven it is...to date.