La Dee-vina Comedia

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.

The TAC Cup GF was broadcast on SEN yesterday afternoon. While the Oakleigh Chargers lost, Viney was their best (and may have won whatever the equivalent to the Norm Smith is called for BOG in the GF). Edit: there's a TAC Cup GF thread elsewhere. Apologies for posting here.

Minor quibble. Tom Harley works for Channel 7...though perhaps you think he's getting the chop to allow one of Channel 10's special comments team to transfer. On the question of his suitability as a coach - I'm not against him as an individual, but with a Senior Coach new to the job, I suspect an experienced assistant might be more valuable at this time.

I'd like to know whether TV has contributed to longer game time. I thought watching on TV this year there appeared to be longer between goals caused by (1) more than one advertisement and (2) the network covering the game choosing to play advertising and then a replay of the lead up to the goal before the game re-started. Similarly, at the ground there sometimes seemed to be very long delays while we waited for the ball to be bounced to restart play. And, if there were there more goals scored this year than in recent years - which I seem to recall being one of the arguments supporting the substitute rule - this would exacerbate the problem. If I'm right perhaps the answer is to regulate better the control of the time between a goal and the next bounce down.

That's the same logic that would suggest that playing football is all about what's between the ears...so let's draft Stephen Hawking. FWIW, I want someone who has the necessary mix of skills, pace, size and nous...and goes in 100 per cent every time. Unfortunately, at AFL level, in my view Valenti has three out of five.

How much stronger does Tapscott need to get?! Fitter, yes; faster, maybe. But stronger?

I thought the rumour was that SOS had believed he'd recruited Tom Cruise.

Hilarious. Your talent is being wasted here. Twitter should be your go. What exactly is the difference between being stiff and being hard? And I'm not even going to touch the question of ball movement!

For what it's worth, Luke Darcy spoke about this on 'One Week at a Time' last night. He was one of the selectors of MOTY so his views are worth something. he explained that while it was a difficult decision, the key determinant that got Krakour's over the line was that it was a pack mark rather than one on one like Walker's. Do I agree? No. I'd have gone with Walker - but at least Darcy explained the reasoning.

The romantic in me says: Dean Bailey speaks like this because he's a genuine good guy and genuinely likes the MFC players The cynic in me says: Dean Bailey speaks like this because it is in his interest to be able to say Melbourne should win a premiership because (a) he did the ground work and (B) if it doesn't happen, it's the fault of the next coach because he (Bailey) got them close I hope the romantic is right and the cynic is wrong.