La Dee-vina Comedia

Neitz and Robbo were exciting forwards but I wouldn't label either as an "elite goal kicker". I'd reserve that term for Tony Lockett, Peter Hudson and many others. I still recall Darren Jarman kicking them from everywhere one day at the MCG. Think he may have kicked 9 straight.

I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying Beams wouldn't want to leave Collingwood because he'd be going from a flag contender to a lower ranked team but Cloke would?

The crowd number won't be helped by it being on Channel 7 (delayed). On the other hand, our sponsors should be happier that instead of around 10k at the ground and the smaller number which would watch on Foxtel, there'll be all those Channel 7 viewers seeing the Opel and Webjet messages*. *Can't hurt to give them this minor additional plug right here and now. Hope I haven't contravened Demonland policy.

On the issue of the need for all clubs to pay at least 95% of the salary cap, my suspicion is that this has been put in place to avoid restraint of trade action by players. Because of the draft system players are unable to choose where they play. The draft prevent players from seeking market rates (although this will be partially overcome with free agency...which still won't help young players). So to avoid legal action, I suspect the requirement that every club paying at least 95% means every player should be able to get close to market rate wherever he ends up being drafted to.

Our thanks will remain. I think we all understand that "IT stuff" can have a mind of its own. I find this site is great for testing other websites which don't seem to be working. Tells me whether I should keep trying or go and have a coffee and come back later. Reason for edit: fix typo

Except that our first shot for goal will miss everything and with no-one there to bring the ball back in to play the game would be abandoned. But I'd probably take a nil-all draw at this stage of the season.

I'm not so sure. It's only recently that a kicking test was added to the Draft camp (aka the Combine...presumably now called that because it's where clubs harvest players. Yes, silly joke, but it's a silly name). Prior to that recruiters were obsessed with athletic skills such as vertical leaps and beep tests. Somewhat ironic that WCE are quoted as leaders in this field given they pioneered the policy of recruiting athletes rather than naturally skilled footballers in the 1990s. Give me skilled footballers every time. They can be turned into athletes. It's much harder, but not impossible, to turn athletes into footballers (eg, Jim Stynes). And to quibble with comments above, Petterd is not a good kick; Bate has an extraordinarily ugly but very effective left foot but an appalling right foot; Dunn is long, but not always accurate; Mitch Clark has shown this year he's an excellent kick for goal; Davey is our best "short kick on his preferred foot" but not much good on his right; Bail is not nearly as bad as suggested but neither is he as good as he needs to be; and if you could somehow score a player's kicking on right foot/left foot/ distance/ accuracy/set shot/ running shot etc, I suspect Jack Watts would be the best followed by Sam Blease and Luke Tapscott (I haven't seen enough of James Strauss with the ball to know).

The Herald Sun headline writers are already salivating at the prospect of "Clark, Cloke click" when they fire and "Cloke, Clark clunk" when they don't. (Note: Don't read anything into the order of the names. It's just the gestalt way they I wrote them)

I'm not sure that's a real word. But if you mean we kick like girls, maybe we re the best, not the worst.

Or he might be playing with injury. (Is OP known to recur after a few year's absence? I hope not.)

I didn't get to see or hear any part of the game against Richmond. Did Dunn play CHB? I thought he had done OK as a HBF the previous 2-3 weeks and might have found his niche...after about 8 years. But CHB? I wouldn't have thought he was physically strong enough for a key position.

Actually, I think we were worse during the Bailey years. During that time I couldn't discern a plan (I don't mean a game plan, I mean development strategy). Most of the young players, that is players who have been on the list 5 years or fewer should be kept to see what they can do once Misson gets them properly fit. I'm sure skills diminish with tiredness, not just during a game but over a season. Players who have been around for 5+ years should be closely scrutinised to see what value they add, For example, Davey may be essential for mentoring our indigenous brigade. And I'd be interested in the possibility of Green taking on a James McDonald/Luke Power/Chad Cornes role of assistant coaching while playing one more season. Even if he retires, I'd still be interested in retaining him as a kicking coach. So, players such as Bate, Moloney, Dunn, MacDonald, Bartram, Petterd, Jamar, Sylvia, Green, Davey should all be looked at and decisions made. Of those, I'd keep Green (unless he wants to retire), Davey, Jamar, Sylvia and probably Bartram unless for any of them an 'over-the-odds' trade option opens up. And given we've already had two of those in recent years (Johnstone and McLean) I'd be surprised if we got that lucky again. And we were certainly worse in the second half of the 1960s and the 1970s when the MFC didn't understand that the competition was becoming professional.

Of course, there is another option - that St Kilda's list management guys were just lousy negotiators

Unfortunately, the most likely scenario if there is to be a late change has to be Jones missing out because he hasn't fully recovered. I hope that's not the case. But if it is, I'd rather bring in Cook and have at least one key position forward, even though it's not a like-for-like change.

Good to see Jetta's name. I'm not convinced he'll make it in the long run, but at least he has a few rounds left to show what he's got and whether he should remain on the list. let's hope he can play the rest of the year without further injury.

Now I'm feeling foolish. But my central tenet still stands. People shouldn't go backwards with their careers.

I had thought Bailey had been appointed Football Manager at Adelaide FC. I now realise he's "Strategy and Innovation Coach" which I agree means he's an Assistant Coach.

TS;DU* (*Too short; didn't understand. But now that I know, I must say I like it.)

I have no idea what "TL;DR." means. But I'm fascinated that with only four letters and two punctuation marks you still needed to edit what you wrote!

How many senior coaches move on, or backwards, to being assistant coaches? I accept Mark Williams is doing that now at GWS but in my mind that's a special set of circumstances which may already include an agreement that he steps into the main role in a year or two. Dean Laidley had a part-time coaching role with Port Adelaide, but it was very part time with him allegedly coaching via Skype because PA couldn't afford to fly him to Adelaide. To me that seems more like a mentoring role. There may be others...but I can't think of any. Most ex-coaches move to different roles (media, football manager, etc). If I were Ratten's adviser, I would be telling him not to take an assistant's role and definitely not at Melbourne. (That's free advice for everyone...never go back to an old job). But that's not what the question was which was asked. Would I want him back? No. And it's got nothing to do with his abilities. It would be disruptive to our Senior Coach with continuing murmuring whenever we lose a few games that Neeld could be replaced with Ratten who would be seen as a potential coach in waiting. By the way, our Prime Minister made this same mistake having K Rudd in Cabinet for a while. And look how that worked out.

Those arguing that Sellar and/or Dunn should have shared the ruck duties with Martin are forgetting that they, too, are looking to find a spot in the side. I've been no fan of Dunn for years, but have been more impressed with him playing off HBF for the last two weeks than any of the other myriad of positions he's been played in previously. To take him from there to pinch hit in the ruck would once again stall any possible development left in him. I think he should stay at HBF until his form doesn't warrant. If he manages to secure his place there we've gained a defender and freed up Garland or Rivers to play forward. Similarly, when Sellar played ruck earlier in the year he looked like a fish out of water. But in the last few weeks playing as a defender, he's looked OK. So I wouldn't want him moved back to the ruck, either. Which means someone else needed to help Martin out. One thing I've noticed about Neeld is that he's not that keen to move a player around during game day but quite prepared to do so before a game begins. I like that during this development phase. Players are learning to play a role for the whole game. And Neeld is learning what they're capable of.

I think you needed to add a reference to Phil Scully and massive amounts of food to make it clear it was a joke. Or maybe add Bate into the mix. A player and a draft pick is always a more entertaining discussion.

If I recall correctly, I believe his father passed away when Travis was a teenager. Perhaps it's not so much Travis needing the comfort but perhaps he feels a need to support his mother by being closer to her.

A calf strain for an older bloke (Jamar) is not usually just a one week injury. Of course, his might not be a strain. It could be...er, what else could it be if it's his calf? I suppose it could be a corked calf, although it's not an injury I can recall ever being talked about before.

If only we had Peter Hudson at CHF. (Note: This probably only makes sense to people aged 50 or more and who can remember the graffiti famously posted outside the church in Hawthorn.)