La Dee-vina Comedia

Sorry, I can't let this one go through. Morton may make mistakes but I wouldn't say he shirks the issue. In fact, with a body like his I think what he does is more courageous than most on the ground. Courage is not being brave when you are strong; courage is being brave when you are scared sh!tless.

I think these are mutually exclusive. If you want it to be "as fair as possible" it can't also be random. FWIW, each team playing 12 teams once and 5 teams twice will always throw up aberrations. Let's just hope that we have a draw that is commercially attractive (ie, no home games at Etihad!) as well as being beneficial for performance. And in short, the best 4 teams will make the final 8, irrespective of their draw. From those 4 teams will come the premier, so the draw doesn't really determine a team's ultimate on-field success or failure.

Apropos of other news late today, I've always thought of Nason as being Richmond's equivalent to Addam Maric. Similar size*, similar role, similar output and now similar outcome. *Note - my assessment of size is purely visual. If stats say different, so be it.

Foresight...or knowledge of suitable father/son selections. Not that I'm aware of any.

In the 1970's The Bulletin magazine used to do one page serious book reviews. For the book "Yea" the review was simply "Nay". For Nason, I say, nay,son.

Hey, let's give the kid a break. Which of you, if offered $6m for four year's work (or is it 5?) and were told you had to keep it a secret wouldn't do the same? Hell, I know I would. And I'm an oldie. Imagine having to do that as a kid? And, as a matter of interest, if in 4 (or 5) years time he's a gun and wants to come back to Melbourne FC, would you want him? I know i would. As to a report on his 2011 performance? Not much to see here. Just an ordinary, uninspiring year at a club that had (at best) an ordinary, uninspiring year.

I think Carlton may become the new distraction. If I'm correct, Ratten will be the third-longest serving coach (meaning at their current club) with only Worsfold and Clarkson serving longer. And both of them have won a premiership as coach. If Carlton doesn't make top 4, there will be massive pressure on the club.

I've never thought numbers per se were particularly important. But perhaps who your locker is next to might be. I wonder whether clubs give any thought to the psychology of players when deciding on their numbers. It means a couple of years ago all our new players were numbered in the high 40s which would have meant their lockers were all together. Intuitively this seems mistaken. I think new players should be mixed in with the more experienced players. Putting a new key position prospect near James Frawley, for example, might make more sense than putting him next to another new player.

Keeping Bate means two spots still have to be freed up on the list rather than one to comply with AFL rules. I guess the FD decided Bate was more valuable than the two players who will make way. I'm not sure who is out of contract, but I guess Maric will be one and maybe Joel MacDonald the other. I think Bate is better than both of them...but I also wouldn't have been upset if he'd been traded out.

The word "massive" is the most over-used, hyperbolic term used by football journos (and probably sports journos generally). I think it's Andy Maher's favourite word. But I guess if your job is to promote whatever is to follow (ie, Trade Week radio, Before the Game, etc) some puffery is acceptable. I just wish they'd buy and use a thesaurus.

And I'd like to think the new fitness people can work on his body shape. If he can be made trimmer, perhaps he will be more valuable.

From The Age: "As you know, they'll [Fremantle and Melbourne] both be in there fighting, lock and barrel." Why would neither team choose to also include their stock to go with the lock and barrel?

On the contrary...I predict that MFC will make great, positive announcements about how lucky we were to get from the draft players who (a) we expect to be 10 year/200+ gamers (B) that we didn't think would be available when our time came to call out their names and © they are exactly what we need going forward to complete our list. And then posters here will be in raptures...particularly about our final rookie pick who apparently was missed by every other recruiting manager in the first 5 or 6 opportunities they had to draft him before we did. Of course, it is always possible that there is a James Hird, Chris Grant or Dane Swan out there who will slip through.

Maybe discussions re Lisle are on hold pending the outcome of the supposed Mitch Clark deal.

If his nickname and hair colour aren't enough to deflate his confidence, this story surely must...http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/redheads-rejected-as-sperm-bank-bans-deposits-20110919-1khd2.html Clearly no point in trading him to Europe in order to organise a father-son pick.

It seems to me there's another obvious reason not stated here. Because they are a better performing team (on field) it's logical that their 20th best player is better than hours, as is their 25th, their 30th etc. So they have better discards to play with during trade week. Added to their willingness to trade away better draft picks, which they should do, because they are clearly close to winning another premiership, they are able to put together the better packages. I imagine that having a coach with a clear strategy and gameplan also helps - they can identify exactly what they want and then concentrate their efforts in that direction rather than taking a scattergun approach - which I don't accuse MFC of doing (but I do think it has been the Richmond and Western Bulldogs way in recent years).

Did anyone make Daffy duck for cover? or, if he has indeed left, did he just decide he wanted to move on? Not every doc wants to hang around forever like Reid at Essendon and Zimmerman at the Bulldogs. Maybe, just maybe, there is nothing to see here.

I'm so disappointed in Dunn that I'd be prepared to trade him for a draft order downgrade just to be rid of him. There has been a lot of comparison between him and Bate on this site for a few years. In my view, Dunn has greater physical attributes but less game nous than Bate. I'd rather the game nous. What I'm most disappointed about is that Dunn was given a chance to play every position on he field and didn't do enough to warrant perseverance in any of them whereas Bate wasn't given a chance to play anywhere but in the forward line until he was given a chance to play an onballer role at the end of the season.

Slightly off topic, but earlier in this thread there was discussion about making 3 or 4 places available for the draft. Does anyone know whether we have another player eligible to be added to the veteran's list this year? if so, does that free up a spot on the main list or does it only create an additional spot for another rookie?

Personally, I think the problem was the shaking turf. I nearly got sea sick just trying to watch the clip.

I have a vision of geometry teachers in leather jackets and a beard

FACT: Melbourne has won twice as many premierships as Collingwood in the last 57 years.

Should we feel sorry for Bailey? Did he not have the same support because MFC wasn't prepared to allow/financially able to have this significant support structure? or did Bailey get everything he wanted but it was just a smaller team?

He called him "Omith". Either it was a typo on the card he was given or he needs new glasses.

I'm old enough (50+) to remember the graffiti added to a church sign in Hawthorn in the 1970's. The sign said "What would you do if Jesus Christ came to Hawthorn?" The added graffiti said, "Move Peter Hudson to centre half forward". So, what would we do? [Note: I assume every one of us would gladly say, "Make Jim Stynes well". In that case, I'd settle for the second thing you'd do.]. Me? Get Jurrah superfit and play him on the ball.