La Dee-vina Comedia

Are we sure he got passed over at GWS? I recall some commentary that he left GWS because he wanted to live in Melbourne (because his wife wanted to. And quite frankly, who wouldn't?)

Arguably, Mitch Clark is the only "best 22" in that list.

I think it's more likely he'll do a Toyota Great Moments in AFL TV advertisement. Perhaps a new one with James Hird showing his joy when Essendon gets away with nothing more than a slap on the face with a wet lettuce leaf.

Would've been even better if it was North Melbourne we were talking about: Rude Roos rues Roo's ruse. Or maybe Nick Reiwoldt... Rude Roos etc etc And talking of North Melbourne, is Dean Laidley considered to be in the senior coaching field? Not sure about his marketability (which, unfortunately, I think has to be part of the package these days) but I have great respect for him as a tactician and someone who appears to get the best out of his players.

Or perhaps their parents.

The New York Times online has just published this story about the Walpiri people and the birth of a new language. There is nothing in the article about football or Liam Jurrah, but Demonlanders might be interested in understanding more about the rigours of living as a Walpiri. For example, I didn't know that in 1948 the Federal Government forcibly removed 550 residents of Yuendumu and relocated them to Lajamanu because of drought and overcrowding. And that twice those 550 residents walked back to Yuendumu only to be forcibly removed once again.

I'm just concerned that we'll find that we've mixed up our mythical characters and instead of being Sisyphus we'll find out we're actually Icarus, get to the top of the mountain and have our wings drop off. In answer to the question initially posed, I think it's passion. The Demons may not give all the rewards that passion can deliver, but they also don't expect anything in return.

Must have been using this software

It's so hard to know with most of our fringe players how good - or not - they really are. Since 2007 we've had NQR coaching. How much is it the player and how much the coach? And how much longer should we wait to find out? My own view about Tapscott is that he played his best footy early in his career when he played HBF where he could use his marking and strength to advantage. Maybe he needs to go back there for a while to see whether he can recapture that form.

You're quite right on the position he took on the tanking matter. But there's a difference between saying there's 'confusion on the substance injected' and 'confusion on the legality of the substance injected'. I thought Andrew Demetriou was arguing the latter, not the former.

I would have thought you could add Spencer and Fitzpatrick to the trade bait pile - although I assume no more than one of Jamar, Spencer and Fitzy will leave. I'm not against keeping Spencer and Fitzpatrick - it's just that we know a number of teams need ruckmen and we need a midfield. There may be mutually beneficial outcomes available.

I still think we'd be a better team with him than without him. He could always provide the run and spread that so few of our players seem to be able to do. I'm in the camp that says he was burned by the club he got drafted to in the first place, not the other way around. Hope he succeeds (except when playing us).

Rusty, you make a persuasive case. Perhaps the match committee was doing what many on here implore them to do...'play the kids'. Rodan won't be around when we are next challenging for anything other than the bottom four so we might as well find out whether Blease should be. In a similar vein, I don't think Kent has done enough in the last few games to retain his place if we were worrying about the here and now, but I applaud the decision to keep playing him to give him more experience. I'd like them to be a tad more courageous and play Strauss instead of Dunn. We know what Dunn can do - I think we're still to determine whether Strauss will make it.

I didn't get to see or hear anything about this game so to see people giving Toumpas votes is very encouraging.

Perhaps if it was written like this allegedly drafted by Arnold Schwarzenegger it would be worth reading.

Demetriou is supporting the confusion reigns about classification argument His saying this publicly suggests to me he has pushed or is pushing this argument with WADA and ASADA. Whether he and Essendon will succeed is another matter. Although if I was a bookie I'd be just bringing the odds in a little that Essendon's and his view will prevail. (I say this because I don't often hear Demetriou publicly taking a 'losing' position).

At least most of our players could kick the distance when taking shots at goal. Although I don't know what the impact of less gravity is on banana kicks.

For what it's worth, if I could play football and had to be coached by Malthouse, I doubt I'd respond well to what appears to be his coaching style. Perhaps he's different to the view he exposes to the outside world, but I find him terse, grumpy and unforgiving. Wouldn't get the best out of me.

MFC better check on the spelling of his name. It's Glen in the text of the website and Glenn under the photo. I note he's ex-WCE. As a matter of interest (and this is definitely not be interpreted as any criticism of our new Director) but I couldn't swap allegiances just because I move interstate. Could any of you?

From a batting point of view, I wish our embarrassment of riches was numbers 1 to 7 rather than 8 to 11. It's sort of like Melbourne's forward line at the moment with our midfield being equivalent to Australia's batting top 6.

A player who has been unable to settle in one position hasn't shown his coach enough in any of the positions in which he's been tried. I think apportioning blame to coaches is a cop-out.

I prefer "Corporal"...for all the F-Troop nerds out there. Mind you, if you can find some link between him and Drew Petrie, I'll swing back to "The Microbiologist".

How so?

I won't howl GNF down, but I don't agree that Dunn is particularly good or much value as a depth player (in my view the term "depth player" is just a synonym for "not very good player") - but if he were better than I believe him to be, perhaps that would make him excellent trade bait. If we want to trade for someone good, we will have to part with a good player or two or well-placed draft picks.

Midfielders are generally pretty easy to find in the draft. So we should be able to add to Viney, Toumpas, M Jones, Kent (and maybe Taggert) in the upcoming draft. If we want to recruit a ready made midfielder from another club and we can't get him via free agency we need to accept that we will have to trade away one or more "good players"* or those with potential. I hate losing home grown talent. But in this instance it may be worth it. *I just hope that another club sees Dunn, Sellar or Pedersen as "good players".