La Dee-vina Comedia

The minor premiers win the Dr McLelland trophy which, apparently, is "a perpetual shield that is kept at AFL House" (see Wikipedia)

The kicking in last week's game against Richmond still gives me nightmares. Imagine what it must have been like when Hawthorn played St Kilda in 1977 and kicked 25 goals and 41 behinds (with only two of them rushed, apparently). That's 66 scoring shots overall!

Can't beat "Short and Broad" for names which also describe the way they play.

That was the original intention. However, I assume it was changed because the AFL realised it could be abused by clubs who had to take off an injured player, perhaps with a hamstring strain, for example, claiming that the said player also had concussion.

I'd be happy to get rid of the medi-sub if we could be confident that clubs will bench a concussed player for the rest of that game. Do we have sufficient confidence in the integrity of every coach and medical staff that they will keep a concussed player off the field if there isn't a replacement player available?

To be honest, when reading stats of a game I haven't seen which says (hypothetically) that it was Melbourne 2 x 50m penalty and our opponents 0 x 50m penalty, I have no idea whether that means we received two or gave two away.

Isn't it the same principle as a free kick - ie, for and against? For every free kick for that a team is credited with, a free kick against is credited to its opponent. Isn't it the same with 50m penalties?

I don't like Thursday night football for various reasons (see below). But, the AFL and presumably Channel 7, thinks it is a prime slot, so we can't complain about our success being ignored. List of reasons why I don't like Thursday night football: Hard to get to the game on a work day when there is a work day the following day Ditto, school days for kids I struggle to be ready to watch a game on TV on a Thursday night because of other very standard lifestyle commitments - like finishing work, getting dinner ready, etc I'm psychologically not ready for football on a Thursday - football is a weekend activity and there's no way of describing Thursday night as the beginning of the weekend It devalues the Friday night game, whoever is playing It spreads the football out too much with it taking four days to complete a round Related to the previous point, there's too much football. (Die-hard footy watchers will disagree, but the AFL and Channel 7 risk killing the goose that lays the golden egg with football saturation. I know I now watch fewer games than ever before precisely because there are too many games too watch. It's lost it's special status.)

Didn't age well. As sorry as I am for Jordon that he didn't get a run in the GF, I'm proud of the club for upholding the spirit of this rule on the day. I can understand why the "concussion sub" became a generic medi-sub (because players who pull a hamstring would also just happen to have concussion as well, thereby leading to abuse) but the AFL should have held firm and stated that any player who is subbed out will have to miss the next game and a minimum of 12 days.

Presumably not a fan of the supergroup Cream. Anyone who remembers that band would automatically call Oskar Baker "Ginger" rather than "Sauce".

Helpful that Langdon plays the whole game on the southern wing side. Will make it easier for Yze to communicate with the bench.

It's 4 out of 23, 3 in to 22. (The trickiness of the medi-sub.)

It might be game of the week but it's two teams based in rugby heartland and probably not likely to have the viewer numbers it deserves, whenever it's scheduled. Hence, Channel 7 was always unlikely to want it in prime time.

These decisions were made by the Board?

I thought what Dunkley did - by deliberately leading with his head - was already in the "illegal" category. I would have thought paying a free kick against him was what the current rules require. Having said that, I don't wish to blame the umpire. In real time, it might be hard to recognise this action for what it was. And if I'm mistaken, what Dunkley did absolutely should be made illegal for the very reason you have explained. Side note: Did the Adelaide player on the mark give away a 50 metre penalty for shaking his head as a sign of "dissent"? I hope not.

That can't be right. We're the Melbourne Football Club. We don't have common sponsors. We have up-market, classy ones befitting of our status.

Missed by the length of a finger, I suspect.

Not sure about T Mac, only because it's forecast to be very wet on Saturday with between 15-35mm rain. It might be better to use Weideman as Gawn's little helper and replace Jackson with a smaller player. Opportunity here for the "move Smith to the forward line" proponents to argue that Smith could be moved forward to ruck/forward just for this game to see how he goes.

Nice work. Pity there hasn't been a past player with the name Terry Dactyl.

If he turned up. He'd probably miss the game cavorting with Kim Jong Un in North Korea.

Is B Brown having had Covid confirmed? I know he missed a week (which became three weeks for other reasons) for "Health and Safety Protocol" reasons, but that doesn't necessarily mean he had Covid. He may have been living with someone who had. And I know (or at least hope) we all think this, but let's hope anyone who has Covid gets better quickly with no lingering symptoms. That's much more important than whether we win or not on Saturday.

With 15-35mm rain forecast for Melbourne on Saturday, it wouldn't surprise me in the least that if a tall player misses (eg, Jackson) he's replaced with a smaller player.

According to Wikipedia, last ex-Melbourne player to coach was Todd Viney in 2011 (5 games) and, before that, Greg Hutchison in 1997 (13 games).

At least Oliver (and everyone else) won't need sunscreen.