La Dee-vina Comedia

I found it hard. I'm from the era where liking anything to do with Collingwood was grounds for dismissal. Not just from work, but from my own family. It says a lot about how much I admire what he's achieved that I included him in that list. At least the Irishmen all had some experience with Gaelic Football. Cox started a lot further behind than any of them. In my opinion, that means he's arguably a greater success story. It would have been so much easier to like him if he played for any other club. Except Richmond.

Category B rookies face enormous challenges if they are ever to make it. I've always believed a person with Australian footballing skills but who is not fully fit has a much better chance of having a successful football career than an athlete who has to learn the skills. There are exceptions and I admire everyone that has a go, whether they make it or not. It makes the stories of success for players not bought up with Aussie Rules, most obviously Jim Stynes, but also Sean Wight, Zac Touhy, Tadgh Kennelly, and even Mason Cox, something we should all admire. However, I suspect Oliver Sestan might have a better chance of success than any recruit initially chosen because of their success as athletes but without any Australian football experience.

I assume with five interchange (or, rather, 4 interchange plus a "tactical sub") we should expect the annual 22 players under the age of 22 will become the 23 players under the age of 23. It seemed that Oliver was in the "22 under 22" list every year for about 8 years!

I hadn't realised that the Casey ground was also used for soccer. (I assume that's what the painted markings on the ground are for). Do soccer teams just train there or is it used for games as well?

Noble, and I believe you mean it. But I suspect if you really had to make that decision you might come to a different conclusion. After all, those contacts will still be there after you've retired. And your earnings capacity in any other line of work might not match what you were due to be paid in your last year. (Please note, I'm not insulting your current capabilities and earnings capacity. But if you had been in the AFL system all your working life to date, it might be hard to move to another job that pays that well.)

Apart from anything else, we don't know the details of his contract. He might have agreed to do something for the "good of the club" when he originally signed on, such as back-ending his contract. Conversely, there might be an agreement for him to transition into a formal coaching role whenever he retires to enable him to maintain the equivalent income.

I hope Pickett isn't asked to play too much on-ball. Although Davey won a B&F as a midfielder, I thought it might have shortened his career because of all the crunching bumps and tackles he received in the role. Pickett will receive similar attention when he's in the midfield.

For some time Melksham has looked to me like a coach-in-waiting.

I think it's fair to say we were keen to keep him...but not at the price WCE was prepared to pay. I'm sorry to see him go, but also understand that we have a salary cap to maintain. We don't want to be in the positions that Collingwood, Gold Coast and others have been in where good players have been lost because of salary cap/list mismanagement. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's closer to a win-win than any other combination. Hunt gets a better deal and we aren't forced to overpay for a player.

I was under the impression we didn't move Hunt on. Rather, he was offered a contract on better terms (either a longer contract or more money or both) by West Coast which we were not prepared to match. The effect is that Hunt has left us, but I believe he had an offer from the club to stay. Therefore, to say he was "moved on" is probably unfair on both Hunt and the club, even though the end result is the same.

I wonder how much better it is for a premium ruckman to be training with (or against) another premium ruckman rather than a second stringer? We see it all the time with the best forwards having to battle the best defenders. But most clubs don't have a quality second ruckman to put up against their first choice big man.

I wanted to join in the fun but the choice cuts have all been taken.

I love that we like to make jokes about things like this. I like it even more that players from different teams can train together.

Who am I? I got into trouble in 2022 for being too Franz Lizst at a restaurant in Prahran.

Bread and fishes. Where have I heard that before?

Foxtel is just providing younger people with a better understanding of what watching Channel 7's football coverage was like in the 1970s and 1980s. It was wall to wall replays of Collingwood, Carlton and more Collingwood in those days.

You may be right, but I think to be fair to Jordon we should also consider the possibility he was playing to instructions. Often when he had the ball it was because he had made space on his wing so the ball could be safely delivered to him. Once he had it, though, there was often no-one for him to kick it too as the players in front of him were often still on the "Langdon" side of the ground. It's possible he was told to wait for the players in front of him to present opportunities rather than just bombing it forward in hope. PS: This is the sort of analysis which is only possible by being at the ground and watching the game live. TV coverage doesn't show this because it's not possible to show simultaneously the ball in play and also what's happening further up the ground.

I think we must have a different opinion on the meaning of "cheating".

I'm convinced that speed is more a product of ball movement, not leg speed. Teams that have a higher handball:kick ratio will be slower because the ball moves more slowly up the ground.

Just to explore this idea of "cheating" a bit more, it seems that some people believe that players who successfully exploit the rules and the way the game is umpired (as has been suggested about Hawkins and Selwood in this thread) are "cheating". Kevin Bartlett made it an art-form to bounce the ball in front of him just before he was about to be tackled to earn a free kick for holding the man. That was using the rules (as they then were) to his advantage. Was that also cheating?

Then, by definition, he's not a cheat. If he were, he would have free kicks paid against him all the time. Let's not use words like "cheat" unfairly. It maligns the character of individuals in any walk of life to use emotive words like "cheat" or "liar" unless they actually are proven to be so.

I've never noticed Oliver to look this muscular before. Has he changed or have I been blind?

If you're new to Demonland and wondering what to make of these reports, I recommend for your own sanity that you assume that each of Whispering Jack and Picket Fence are about 50% correct. In other words, take a bit from each and land somewhere in the middle.

The only sort of mishaps that we want to hear about from training sessions.

Strapping? Otherwise I don't know what this means.