La Dee-vina Comedia

Although some clubs have a better strike rate than others, such as Sydney.

Why would you state the second part of the highlighted sentence unless you'd already made a decision that you didn't want him? In my opinion, if GWS were seriously considering Tippett they would have just said, " We also have to consider whether he is the right fit for the club". Adding in that bit about building a strong culture suggests GWS has serious concerns about what Team Tippett (meaning player, father, agent and any other hangers-on) would do for that culture...and for some reason wanted to say so.

Actually, makes perfect sense to me. What she's saying is that even though they had a 'secret deal' with Tippett, if you add the dollar value of that amount to their disclosed total player payments, the Crows would still have remained inside their total player payment cap. But by not disclosing that 'secret deal', they broke one of the rules of the salary cap system.

Bit of personal bias here, but the Herald Sun's recent announcement that Mark Robinson has been appointed as their Chief Football scribe puts The Age's efforts into perspective. Basically, Robinson's work makes Caroline look like a three time winner of the Nobel prize for literature. (Keep in mind that the Nobel prize is often awarded for works of fiction). Edit: Added last line

Not so sure that's the reason. I suspect it's published as "Fairfax" instead of "The Age" to simplify syndication into other Fairfax publications (in print and online).

Ironic that her husband has just tweeted as follows: "Best ice in Melbourne" and includes a photo. http://t.co/gqEaLyPB (Apologies if the link doesn't work. I've never copied a tweet before)

And to prove your point, I read your message as saying you wanted a "mate to play at its best". (If that had been your intention we'd have to get the grammar police to correct "ist" to "ihs".)

It took Jamar a long time to make the grade. I suspect we were still unclear whether he would make it when he was 23. And 'best case' for Spencer isn't to become "a handy back up ruck". 'Best case' would be for him to be the #1 ruckman. (I could argue semantically that 'best case' would be that he's the #1 ruckman, who becomes All Australian, wins a Brownlow and a Premiership all in the same year. But I accept he might not ever actually make that definition of 'best case' - I'd be happy with just the Premiership.)

And 16'6" is the standard width of Victorian terrace houses. I have no idea how I know that.

Thanks. I'm of that vintage that remembers measurements in yards (but not old enough to remember perches and roods...or is it rods?). Admittedly, "half a yard" sounds a lot better than 18 inches of pace or even 0.4572 metres.

Helps to be making squillions from North Sea oil.

Interesting measure. I'm having difficulty actually visualising what "half a yard of speed" looks like.

Well defended and explained.

Harsh. What if he was following instructions from the coach to play that way? It certainly seemed to me to be the modus operandi of the team at the time. Given Davey's left boot was the most precise in the team at the time (and much more reliable and quicker than Jamar's), if it was the coach's instruction to play that way, it wasn't the worst of Bailey's ideas.

FN crazy

So Stingrays is your real name? And for the poster who opined that 'Captain Blood' was the best nickname ever - and it is a beauty - I prefer 'the galloping gasometer'. Probably meaningless to anyone who (a) doesn't remember Mick Nolan (B) doesn't know what a gasometer was and © doesn't remember the Arden Street Oval. But those who do will possibly agree that all those things combined seamlessly into the descriptive nickname which I seem to recall was invented by Lou Richards.

Strongly disagree. Ridiculous suggestion. Clearly he got rid of players because of their non-traditional first names, such as Cale and Jared.

The Age is reporting that Garlett will be training with Essendon. Presumably with permission. Bombers set to hand Garlett an AFL lifeline And Kurt Tippett presumably doesn't have permission.

And Pettard

So Jayz is Yiddish. Someone should tell Beyonce

For every player who wants to leave Victoria there is probably another one who wants to return here. So, not only do we want to have a team from which no-one wants to leave, we also want to have one that homesick Victorians would want to come to. A successful and culturally strong club should help on both sides of that equation.

Purely for the inner nerd in me, is his real name Dimitri, James, Jim or Jimmy or something else? And while I like "Thumper" as a nickname, somehow I can't get "Kick Ass Toumpas" out of my head.

There is another option...that the #1 pick wasn't wasted but the first 2-3 years of his development were.

Acronym swearing, maybe? If not, please explain.

Extra points for courage? The only person here who has passed on Toumpas.