La Dee-vina Comedia

As far as I can recall there have been six Abletts: Gary Sr, Kevin and Geoff of the earlier generation; Gary Jr and Nathan of the next generation plus Luke. And the surname goalkicking total gets a good head-start with Gary Sr having kicked over a thousand. There are a few more Johnsons to add to your list, though including Wayne, Paul and Tassie.

I am in no doubt the AFL scheduled us against GWS last night precisely because it was in the middle of Easter when they would have expected a lower attendance.

What about Ablett? Or Matthews?

My opinion is that it's a bigger issue than just last night. Footy crowds generally seem to be down this year. I don't see the usual emotion around football as a must-see, must-talk about event. I wonder if this is something to do with more people working from home and thereby losing the social contact which generates enthusiasm? In addition, I have no doubt that many people have taken the opportunity to travel out of Melbourne for this Easter break. I know a few die-hard Demons who usually attend home games who are interstate this weekend. Finally, there are too many night games on free-to-air TV. In particular, I think Thursday night football is diminishing the appetite for the game so by the time Saturday night comes around, people have had their fill already for this particular week's consumption. I've said it before, Channel 7 is a corporate mess and does not appreciate the economic value of scarcity. The AFL should be much more resistant to Channel 7's demands and if it costs money in the short term, the product will be better in the long-term. The AFL is the guardian of the product and needs to ensure its sustainability, something Channel 7 does not care about.

Jake Bowey now holds the record with 12.

6. Gawn 5. May 4. Petracca 3. Spargo 2. Oliver 1. Harmes

I'd rather see Laurie than Dunstan. I want us to give the newbies opportunities. If that means Jordon, ANB and Harmes spend more time in the midfield while Laurie stays forward, I'm fine with that.

Chris Daws. And like Lewis and Cross, added credibility to us as a destination and appeared to improve the professionalism of the club. Although wasn't a great on-field performer.

The other advantage for Petracca not playing this weekend (or anyone else who might be sore) is that because our previous game was a Wednesday night and our following game is a Sunday night (ANZAC eve), there are 17 days between those two. Missing this week provides a longer than usual break to aid recovery.

Correct. Look at it the other way around. Look how many games sons have played whose fathers' played zero games. That's most of the competition, after all.

Petracca has had two quiet games (by his standard) the last two weeks. It has been easy to put that down to intensive tagging by the opposition, but perhaps he's been playing with a troublesome knee. If so, I'd like to see him rested to get his knee right. I think we have sufficient options available to do so, such as moving Brayshaw or Jordon into the midfield and then filling the gap that creates with Smith (if we need a defender) or maybe Laurie if we need a wingman (even if Laurie plays forward and Neal-Bullen moves to the wing. Alternatively, Jordon could remain on the wing and ANB could be a mid-fielder for a week). It's nice to have some options.

What do you do with the jumpers? Do you wear them? Frame them? Store them in a safe place to eventually hand over to grandchildren? All of the above?

That is a pathetically contrived, tortuous headline, though.

Bump George Christensen channelling former Melbourne President, Joe Gutnick

You've asked a reasonable question. The best answer I can give is that what I really want is consistent starting times. If it's always on the quarter hour, there are only four times to remember, on the 10 minutes only six. The five minute option has 12. (I did say it was a minor gripe.)

I suspect it has a lot to do with it. A 2.35pm start in Perth makes it a more premium time than it might seem here in Victoria. Interesting that people are referring to the 4.35pm Saturday timeslot as "graveyard". On a Sunday I can understand, but why do (some) people think it is that on a Saturday? My gripe is a tiny one in the overall scheme of things...why 4.35pm and not 4.30pm or 4.40pm? To my way of thinking, either all games should start on the quarter hour (ie, xx00, xx15, xx30 or xx45) or all games should start on the 10 minute mark (xx10, xx20, xx30 etc). And every night game should start at the same time whether it's 7.15 or 7.30 or whatever.

Many, many years ago teams played at least two nominal ruckmen, sometimes more. This was in part because it meant there was always a player somewhere nearby to attend a ball up or boundary throw in immediately. Of course, in those days there was only one field umpire and two boundary umpires, so there was often a bit more time while the umpires got into position. The idea that a team could play with just one full-time ruckman is a relatively modern phenomenon.

Brett Ratten's turn to miss this week due to Covid protocols. Not sure if he has Covid or is a close contact. Shows the importance of having a smooth running coaching team and not just relying on a singular, autocratic coach.

There's some stiff competition. What about the ruck nomination rule? The "insufficient intent" rule? The kicking out from a behind from outside the goal square rule?

Jobs he has previously been linked with (meaning there's been unsubstantiated speculation) include CEO of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games organising committee and CEO of Crown. Given today's announcement of the Commonwealth Games being held in Victoria in 2026 I think it's inevitable that he'll be linked to the job of CEO of that organisation, too.

I don't know Watson-Wheeler and what she's done, but it would be no surprise to me if the next CEO was someone with experience in the entertainment industry generally, not just from within the AFL or sports administration.

Is it better treatment? Or does Luke Beveridge and his team understand the rules, and therefore how to exploit them, better than everyone else? I'd suggest it's the latter.

I should add, though, I agree with your point that free kicks not being paid is as relevant as those that are. It's not dissimilar an argument to comparing the performance of forwards with defenders. We have goals kicked to help us determine if a forward played well, but we don't have a proper metric for goals prevented to help us understand whether a defender played well.

As hard as it is to do, we should avoid blaming a single incident (or mistake) whether it's made by a player or umpire for the result of any game. There are thousands of other decisions made in any game which help determine the outcome. I agree that in this instance it should have been a free kick against Geelong, but given they won by more than a goal, I'm not even sure it was relevant to the final result anyway.

In fact, if anyone can discern a pattern from this data which shows that free kick numbers are somehow linked to winning and losing, I'd be astounded.