La Dee-vina Comedia

When I first started work I entered a system where promotion on merit had just replaced promotion by seniority...and there were grumblings. In the late 1980s, governments were using the phrase "affirmative action" to explain strategies to redress gender imbalance and increase female participation in senior roles...and there were grumblings. In 2012 the MFC arguably "pays overs" for particular talent...and there are grumblings. The first two examples paid off. Whether the third will remains to be seen - but if you want to make cultural change, if you want to do more than stand still, you have to do more than exchanging like for like.

Not a chance. It is an impossibility to expect all 18 clubs and their employees to keep a secret. Any secret.

Purely hypothetical, of course, but I wonder what we would have been doing in the trade and free agency period this year if Dean Bailey was still coach. Somehow, I think it would have been a very quiet period.

Please let it be true...

Could also mean St Kilda will only let him go if they need salary cap room. Which may happen if they can lure Mitch Brown from WCE (although you'd think that would happen as a straight swap for Jason Cripps who wants to go from St Kilda to WCE).

Extraordinary that he played VFL prior to being drafted and subsequently struggled to get a game in the VFL afterwards. It adds to my view that there must have been a serious disconnect between the drafting and development sides of the club just two years ago. Hopefully that disconnect has been repaired.

Jack Viney blames Jack Watts for Demonland

Surely someone on Demonland bemoaned the fact that St Kilda managed to get Andrew Lovett arguing he was exactly the player that we needed at that time. Probably a good one to have avoided. Similarly, Lawrence (was that his first name?) Angwin when he went to Carlton.

Rodan has now been delisted by two clubs. Surely that's got to be a concern, whatever the reasons.

Personally, I think the team was doing a pre-season for 2013 for the whole of 2012. I believe Neeld realised early on that 2012 was going to be a write off due to all sorts of issues (fitness, learning a new gameplan, etc) and used the year accordingly.

So, everyone now thinks Dunn is safe?

But can he kick on his right?

Excellent work Roger. But you did leave out: defence (emphasis on first syllable) - defence (emphasis on last syllable) playing defence (as pronounced above) - defending

Umm, no. And I'm using the name under false pretences as I've never read the book. However, I understand it's intended to be a comedy about finding redemption and eventually leaving hell (the inferno). Not really dissimilar to watching Melbourne.

I'm a fan, but I'm not sure he's being played to the best advantage. Given his running ability I'm surprised he's playing half forward flank. I'd rather see him on ball, playing half back flank or back pocket. And I don't think his kicking is as bad as one would believe from reading the above posts. His tackling, on the other hand, needs refinement. He gives too many clumsy free kicks away by either tackling high or in the back. But at least he tackles. As has been said above, he has all the grunt, desire and fitness. He just needs to work on his skills. Everything I've just written above (except the bit about playing HFF) could have been written about Nathan Jones three years ago. And look where he is now.

Fascinating. In essence, Rules III, VI and X are still basically the same today with Rule IX only modified by the addition of the out on the full rule which I guess was introduced some time in the 1970s. Plus hundreds of additional rules added essentially to stop coaches from exploiting the rules.

"they got us on the spread" = we aren't fit enough "it's important we stick to our structures" = we aren't individually skilled enough, so let's hope if we stand in the right spot the ball will come to us "he's a quality person" = (1) what he makes up for in his lack of skill are his nice manners or (2) he's stuffed up this time but hopefully he'll learn his lesson if we repeat often enough that he's actually an OK guy "wow wee" = BT's vocabulary isn't broad enough to find another phrase

Thanks. And if I recall correctly he retired from football early to concentrate on his medical career.

Conversely, I'm not sure the manager would be doing his job properly if he didn't make at least one call to each of the 17 other clubs to see whether there was any interest in having a more detailed conversation. It's what I would expect my manager to do if I were in Moloney's position.

Anyone know who the last doctor or medical student was who played AFL at the top level? It's interesting that footballers today can study law (Stef Martin, Luke Ball, Chris Dawes and I presume others) but apparently not medicine...unless I'm mistaken and there is one on a list somewhere.

And he'll be at the required level of fitness. And just out of curiosity, being a dual premiership player means he missed out on one. Was he injured or just unable to get into a very good side?

I'm not quite sure of your point here. Perhaps I've misinterpreted what you've written but if you think somehow that Brent Croswell was an ordinary payer, think again. He was an absolute star and won four premierships (two each with Carlton and North Melbourne).

While what you say may be true, I don't think Watts actually played the loose man role. In the Essendon game for example, he played on the small forwards such as Jetta, and ran off them to make a loose man when the opportunity arose. That is, he spread when necessary - something that was generally lacking from most players during the year. That was the game for which the umpires awarded him 3 votes. Many people have mistakenly assumed he was playing a loose man that evening.

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but if no other club makes Moloney an offer has Melbourne FC made any public statements about whether or not it would offer him a new contract? Or will he just be let go and I guess end up in the draft?

Do they? I thought I read somewhere that Essendon now has the worst facilities of all Melbourne-based teams which is why they are proceeding with a new development in Tullamarine.