La Dee-vina Comedia

It's not just their fitness levels. We should also praise Griffiths because we've had so few muscle strains. I'm sure that's a product of the regimen he puts them through. Injuries can kill your season and while collision style injuries are unavoidable, it's impressive how few players we have had missing with muscle injuries.

The inequities of the draw were possibly exacerbated by there being three (nearly four) of last year's finalists who have missed out on finals this year. Not only have Essendon and GWS missed finals, they've plummeted down the ladder. In addition, early in the year Port Adelaide were horrendous. The AFL attempts to minimise inequities, but because the methodology has no choice but to be backward looking, it's always possible that a draw that starts as even as possible can be blown out - to be easier or harder - by the way teams actually perform. In the end, I'm not sure it matters. Would you rather be going into finals having had soft wins against inferior opposition or battle-hardened by having played teams also preparing to play finals?

I can understand what you're saying as I prefer day games, too, but I'll take a season like this with mostly night games over mostly day games when we lose more than we win, even if that means having to watch many of them on TV.

I can't remember who it was but an AFL coach about 20-30 years ago said that he wanted his team to be seen as a seriously good team in the competition. I'm paraphrasing, but he said seriously good teams don't "just" make finals and get knocked out quickly and seriously good teams don't just win one premiership and then disappear for a stretch. I think we are now a seriously good team. Postscrip: The coach may have been Terry Wheeler or someone at the Bulldogs.

I'm old enough to remember when the expression "quotation marks" was not allowed. They always had to be called "inverted commas". And they were always double, irrespective of their use.

Spargo has played the last 48 or 49 games in a row. That's win, lose or draw. What makes him the talisman? Are you saying that when he plays well we win? I'm struggling with that given his performance in the last two games.

Some tough markers here. I thought ANB played a highly disciplined game trying to keep Rich out of the play. He ran him around by doing his usual gut running which Rich couldn't keep up with and which he does to clear paths for players like Petracca, Pickett and Fritsch. It wasn't ANB's best game and he didn't prevent Rich from getting the ball all the time, but I thought he was still pretty good. The only change I can foresee is Salem in for Bowey. The tougher question might be the following week: If Tom McDonald is ready, who would he come in for?

6. Oliver 5. Lever 4. Petracca 3. Rivers 2. Brayshaw 1. Pickett

I keep reading that the VFL standard is so much below AFL level that it's hard to evaluate form. If the standard is that much lower, does that also mean playing a full game does not require the same level of exertion? In other words, would a five day break be sufficient for Harmes given the lower level of intensity at VFL level?

Answer: Your post minus 1 (although that wasn't my intention.)

I suspect Clarkson will end up at North. Rather than Clarkson negotiating with Essendon to see if he should go there, he may be using that by-play as a test to see how resolute North are. If North don't panic (and so far, there are no public signs of panic) it might help convince him that North is the team that's ready for him. In other words, he may be deliberately stoking the Essendon fire to test North's resolve, not Essendon's.

It's not the perpetual Collingwood coverage that bugs me. It's Caroline Wilson and Eddie McGuire talking over each other and their co-panellists that I find most irritating. Conversely, watching the discipline of Matthew Lloyd and Ross Lyon who ensure they don't speak when it's not their turn might help explain why they were so successful in their former football roles.

Training threads often go off topic and become unreadable. This one, however, has become quite delightful in its non-football references.

The Beatles opened their Melbourne concert at Festival Hall in 1964 with "I Saw Her Standing There" which starts with the lines, "Well, she was just seventeen, you know what I mean". Times have changed.

Maybe. For those that don't know, Expresso Love is a 30-year old Dire Straits song. Music lyrics in the early 1990s were probably more subtle with their references to that particular physical activity than the music of today. (Mind you, not as appalling as the Starland Vocal Band's nearly 50-year old "Afternoon Delight"). I've always thought Expresso Love was blending two themes - appreciation for a woman with a love for coffee ("tastes just like a peach", "with the honeysuckle musk" and "I don't want no sugar in it"* are all, in my view, references to coffee). NB: *Demonstone - please direct your complaints about the double negative to Mark Knopfler.

The view of someone claiming to be an accredited AFL umpire is that Brown ran forward of the mark while out of bounds. Hence, a correct call. See "Has the Umpire made a Bad Decision" on Twitter

I believe there's a Canberra version of this which asks what would Scott Morrison be if he wasn't Prime Minister? Every day there's a new job added, such as Minister for Health, Minister for Home Affairs, etc.

Given the context was about the coffee cart, I'm a bit disappointed you didn't include expresso love in your post somewhere.

I wonder what they'll do if Clarkson turns them down... It is being reported that Clarkson is "interested" in talking to Essendon, but for all we know, he's just doing that (if it's true) to extract a better deal from North.

Maybe. Or maybe Essendon is working to develop an appropriate severance package. I assume Rutten can't quit or he loses the right to claim a severance payment. And Essendon presumably didn't start working on an appropriate arrangement until yesterday. Hopefully the delay is being caused by Essendon trying to do the right thing by Rutten now that they've (presumably) decided to move him on.

This should be in the dictionary as the perfect definition of irony.

If I were Clarkson, I think North would be a better option. I assume the remuneration will be somewhat similar, given he's got the stronger bargaining position. I think North is better because there's so much upside. In essence, North will improve from where they are and he will get the credit. Essendon may yet get worse. If improvement is not seen at Essendon by 2024, there will be impatience everywhere - from members to sponsors to the TV broadcasters. I expect Clarkson thrives on pressure, but his enduring reputation cannot be tarnished by what happens at North; but it can be by a stint at Essendon.

So, to summarise, we are one of only eight teams who have won back-to-back premierships since 1897. Now, what about back-to-back-to-back...? In recent times there have been Brisbane and Hawthorn. Collingwood has done it and so have we (twice). Any other teams?

Nice work. Reward yourself with some extra Ham-let on your Melb-A-Toast.

Of the 18 teams in the competition today, how many have ever won back-to-back premierships? Obviously not Freo, Gold Coast, GWS, St Kilda or the Bulldogs. Off the top of my head, not North or Port Adelaide either. On the other hand, definitely us, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Richmond, Essendon, Adelaide and Brisbane. So, what about Geelong, West Coast, Sydney and Carlton (surely they must have?)