La Dee-vina Comedia

How so?

Let's not fall for the tabloid version of the story. Ten years in gaol is the maximum penalty. He clearly won't get that. And he may not even be charged with any offences. Irrespective of any criminal process, based on what has happened to players involved in football betting, the AFL will presumably suspend him for a considerable period. What will be interesting is whether he would be given a chance at redemption (should he want to continue as an umpire) once any period of suspension is over.

Arnold Rothstein isn't still alive, is he? (Google him)

I'll take a punt and suggest there are no envelopes at all and that the votes are lodged through some online process. We'll know if that's the case next year when some Russian hackers threaten to release the votes before the Awards night unless the AFL pays a multi-million dollar ransom.

If that were to happen, the betting would still happen but just be with illegal bookmakers. The likely reason these arrests occurred was because legalised betting means the licensed betting operators have agreements with the AFL Integrity Unit (I know, an oxymoron) to share information of concern. Presumably, one or more of the bookies identified suspicious patterns and alerted the AFL to the problem. In short, banning the bet type might actually make things worse.

By the time the AFL releases the fixture, I fully expect its marketing team to have scrapped the term "magic" because it is already used by the NRL. Instead, I anticipate the AFL will reprise the term "Festival of Footy" as the official descriptor.

Channel 7 and Foxtel are covered in their own drool just at the thought of it

Essendon has lost a lot of players over the last few years - Daniher, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Fantasia, McKenna, Saad. None of them were there during the supplements scandal. That one of them now wants to come back (and McKenna might be another) confirms in my mind that the Bombers had significant cultural problems in the last few years which may now be in the past. The appointment of Brad Scott, plus other changes, suggests that Essendon just might be getting its act together. I hope so, not because I want Essendon to perform well on-field, but because every footballer deserves the chance to have a happy workplace wherever they are.

On my first reading, I thought this meant that each player would have a choice as to whether they would be available to play the game. On a second reading, I think it's meant to mean that the players as a group have given the AFL their consent to proceed with the structural change of abolishing one pre-season game and replacing it with an extra Home and Away round. No wonder Tom Browne's earlier tweet had syntax problems. He must have gone to the same school as whoever wrote the above.

I don't think the ambiguity about the $500,000 is the biggest crime against the English language in Tom Browne's tweet. By my reading, the Magic Round was played in SA yesterday afternoon. Where's the write up of the result of our game?

Whenever changes are mooted for the rules of the game, there are plenty of posters critical of the proposals. I'm generally less fussed. However, I'm much more concerned about tinkering with the fundamental structure of the game. There is no need for a "magic" round or a 23rd game per season for each team. Furthermore, if the AFL wants to see how not to run a professional sport, watch what cricket has done. By ignoring the "less is more" concept (more appropriately called "scarcity" in economic terms), cricket has devalued its product to the extent that the TV networks seem to have minimal interest in the broadcast rights any more, other than for Australia v England Test Matches. The AFL runs the risk of losing its audience if it changes the competition without good reason. (A good reason would be the introduction of a Tasmanian team, for example).

I'll add Gawn and Jurrah. Gawn, because I've never previously seen a ruckman with the ability to tap the ball to all 360 degrees of the compass with either hand and with such precision. And Jurrah because he's the most freakishly talented Melbourne player I have seen. Not the most consistent, not the best at all aspects of the game (tackling and aerobic capacity, for example) but just the most exquisite in aspects such as kicking and marking.

I'm-a gonna have to live with that, I guess.

My preference would be that my name is pronounced with true Italian purity, given it is claimed that proper Italian is based on the work of my author, Dante Alighieri. I think of him as the Christian Petracca of 14th century Italian poetry. Or not.

Getting back to the dominant storyline in this thread, I recall those dark days of the 1970s when watching Melbourne play on a Saturday afternoon was a pretty dismal experience. On the other hand, music of that time was a great joy. I've recently revisited what was probably called prog-rock in those days listening to a lot of Jethro Tull, Rick Wakeman, Mike Oldfield, EL&P (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and the Alan Parsons Project. I'd forgotten how enjoyable their music was. For the uninitiated, I recommend Bouree, Locomotive Breath and Aqualung from Jethro Tull, the Six Wives of Henry VIII by Rick Wakeman, Fanfare for the Common Man from EL&P, and, of course, the timeless Tubular Bells from Mike Oldfield.

I can't get out of my mind that some marketing genius got paid $$ for coming up with the gimmicky promotional idea of "23 in 23", meaning 23 rounds of football in 2023 and now the AFL is trying to retrofit the schedule to fit the idea.

I'm quite bullish on the Suns' prospects from here. Notwithstanding Rankine leaving, they seem to have staunched the bleeding of players and they've now got a solid core, with a number of high quality players, upon which to take the next step.

And how many Grand Finals have each played in and lost over the same period?

I'll have the answer to this momentarily.

I've read quite a bit of Shakespeare, Conrad and Dickens over the years. Hasn't helped me understand footy much.

You're not Umberto Eco outlining the plot to the sequel of "The Name of the Rose" are you?

To be fair, we were excrement in 2013 and won a Premiership in 2021. Would anyone have said at any time before 2017 that we would win a premiership that soon?

If he plays the same way with us he'll be considered a clever, evasive outside runner.

Perhaps you could save me from having to read the article...but does it explain why the Bulldogs window is one year longer than ours?

Hopefully just in looks, not in character.