La Dee-vina Comedia

I haven't read everything in this thread, but I'm amazed how many people here choose to believe what's written in the newspapers.

I think I dismissed all but one (Drugs in sport) and have a qualifier on a second - GWS. My view about GWS is that the AFL has made two mistakes. The first is that it should have moved into western Sydney at least 5 years earlier than it did. And secondly, it put in place a process for recruitment of players to make GWS competitive from the beginning but didn't realise that GWS management would choose to ignore any chance for early success.

Though you should have used the upper case on the first letter of the first word. Perhaps there should be comma between the second and third words, too. Your turn.

I'm just referencing the line in the OP which says we've won 7 and North 13 since 2000.

I hope you're referring to his foot skills rather than his work ethic and attitude.

Such is the conditioning we supporters have had for so many years I was surprised that we've actually won 7 of the last 20 against North.

And do MFC/MCC members have free entry to this game?

While I don't think the stats differential from one game has any statistical merit, the way the game is being played does. We're now a poorly performing AFL team. Previously we weren't playing a standard that was worthy of even being in the AFL competition.

Contrary to others on here, I prefer Laidley to Craig and Eade. I think he's tactically superior and showed at the Roos he knows how to coach. Would still rather Williams, though. Would be ironic (probably not quite the right word) that if we don't get Roos we might instead get the Roo's coach.

You left out one question: Which Free Agents and players interested in being traded will come to a club which doesn't honour contracts when players get injured?

I'd like to see what players like Tapscott, Jetta, Strauss and other "fringe" players under Bailey and Neeld can do under a different coach. It's really hard to judge whether they just didn't have a chance to show their wares in poorly coached teams or whether they just aren't good enough. So, I'd like to see them before the end of the year. That being said, we need some like-for-like changes, so a replacement for Garland is needed (time to try Davis) and I think Kent has run out of steam (replace with Nicholson - I know he butchers the ball, but he's likely the only player on our list who can keep up with Boomer Harvey). If one of Fitzpatrick or Gawn need a rest because of injury or exhaustion, then Spencer should come in.

Try here

OK, Franky, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. But the amateur psychologist in me is still wondering why you bothered to point it out if you don't have an opinion.

Don't forget any team that comes back from Darwin has a prepared excuse as to why it loses the following week. We were never going to beat North. I would be disappointed if we used the trip to Darwin as the excuse.

I don't understand these comments. If he was a lazy player bringing the club into disrepute I could see the point. But he isn't. Injuries happen to players on both high and low salaries. And I'm sure he's hurting not being out there far more than any supporters who wish to quibble about the money.

My memory is also foggy, but I think Hird was out for one year, came back for a game or two and then broke down (and into tears) and went out for the rest of that year as well. In all, I think he missed the best part of two years.

And the so-called "biochemist Shane Charter" would be with him.

i know there's not a lot of love for James Hird on this website. But he came back from a serious foot injury and eventually led his team to a premiership. Let's hope for the same result.

It's a pity this didn't all happen in the 15th century so Shakespeare could have written a play about it. Or maybe he did. Macbeth seems to have all the requisite players including witches making a vat of prohibited substances. James Hird would be Macbeth having 'murdered' Matthew Knights. I wonder who Lady Macbeth might be. Mark Thompson? David Evans?

No worries FerdDaDee. It's all going to boil down to one thing: Was AOD and any other substance taken by the payers banned or not banned when it was administered? As I've said all along, I suspect Essendon is arguing that the substances were not banned at the time they took them*. How they can argue that is difficult to see on the publicly available information. *I guess there is an alternative argument - that the players (and the club) believed what they were taking was something other than prohibited substances and that they were genuinely mislead by those doing the injecting. If that were true, I suspect some sort of criminal offence (medical fraud? is there such a thing?) might have occurred. If that happened, the Club will be severely punished because you would have thought there were sufficient warning signs (eg, injecting off-site) to raise a red flag.

I assume you understand that the concept of tipping is that the result of the game affects the tip and that it's not the other way around.

with both feet.

45HG - as always a more interesting analysis than that provided by the mainstream media. Well done.

Is there any way we can go back to the date of this opening post and start again? I'm all for skipping the last two years. Bit like Bobby Ewing and the dream sequence in Dallas all those years ago.

I would have thought written advice from ASADA would trump any online list, thereby, in relative terms, making the online list irrelevant. Of course, it remains to be seen whether ASADA provided written advice, and if so, what it said.