La Dee-vina Comedia

The discussion seems to be about a "day" start at 2.30pm, a twilight start at 4.15pm (or thereabouts) or a night start at 7.30pm-ish. Would a 3.20pm start be an option? Not a traditional grand final start time and not quite twilight, either. But it would be consistent with the start time for a lot of day games.

What happens when an aerobic beast like Langdon breaks his ribs? (Note: I'm not saying they are broken as we appear to be still waiting for confirmation). Does he get back to full fitness more quickly than most because of his base before the injury? Or does he lose that particular strength overnight because he can't do the exercise necessary to maintain his aerobic fitness?

6. Oliver 5. Jordon 4. Lever 3. Sparrow 2. Petracca 1. McDonald

Jake Bowey tops the list of players who never played in a loss with 17. Next highest is 9. In addition, should we win next week, he will equal the 18 games that Albert Lauder from Collingwood played before his first loss. So, something extra to play for over the next two weeks - the chance to equal Lauder against Freo and then to go on to break that record the week after.

As a matter of interest, which other players have had songs written about them? (Excluding Greg Champion/Coodabeen Champions songs).

One thing I've learned from Demonland is that there is no consistent view from supporters as to preferred timeslots. Some prefer night, others daytime or twilight. Some prefer Thursdays, others don't. And so it goes on. I think the AFL has realised that they can't satisfy the supporters. So they go out of their way to satisfy Channel 7 instead.

I'm OK with Melksham playing. There could be many reasons for this selection but perhaps he got the nod over Dunstan and Bedford due to a concern that we're not really kicking large scores, even though we're winning. Melksham provides a better forward target and a better forward distributor than either Bedford or Dunstan. The latter two provide better on ball work and probably better defensive pressure, but perhaps we use Neal-Bullen more on ball this week to compensate for that part of Harmes's game that will be missing.

Peak viewing time on TV is between 6pm and 8pm. When more people are watching, the TV stations can charge more for advertising. When advertising revenue is higher, broadcasters pay more for TV rights. And if more is paid for TV rights, clubs get a bigger financial distribution from the AFL. That was the essence of Eddie's argument on Footy Classified. He just had trouble articulating it because Caro kept interrupting.

Thread title needs a change.

What about the reverse? Could he now be picked by another team in the MSD?

Correct, but not going to happen, unfortunately.

Do you think this year is particularly different from others? Don't you think there are "cheap wins" every year?

Matthews is probably the best player I've seen while Jezza was up there with Robert Flower as the best to watch. (I did see the tail end of the careers of Barassi, Whitten, Nicholls, Polly Farmer and Skilton but don't count them as I didn't see them at their best). My ranking of the best I've seen would be 1. Matthews 2. Carey 3. Ablett Sr 4. Ablett Jr 5. Flower (but I concede that I may be biased and others in contention would include, in no particular order, Jesaulenko, Bartlett, Judd, Hird, Goodes and M Voss. N Buckley and Ricciuto are just a bit further behind.) (Late edit: Dustin Martin belongs with that group on equal 5th and probably Peter Daicos, too.)

Are you thinking there might be a bigger story? If I were an Essendon supporter, I'd want to know why McKenna, Daniher, Saad, Fantasia and now Walla all wanted to leave in a relatively short period of time. Each may have had a personal reason for leaving, but losing 5 players like that in a short period of time might also hint at a bigger problem. I hope Walla lands in a happy place for the rest of his life.

I worry that those well connected friends might relieve him of any excess cash. For that reason, I hope he allows someone else to manage his money for him after he's retired.

I assume he's made plenty of money as a footballer, but would it be enough to live off from hereon? He's unlikely to have significant earnings capability once he's retired. He almost certainly won't work in the media or go on the public speaking circuit (although he'll receive plenty of offers) and I'm not sure he has the personality to be or any interest in coaching.

I'm a bit nervous asking this question, but what does ED stand for? Also, what's ITC? As to ANB's role, he's been at a few centre clearances this year. I don't recall him having that role at any stage last year. That may affect some of his numbers.

Has he? At least, has he made clear he wants to play for a Sydney-based team?

I wouldn't have thought so. There's a lot of red in ours. Also, we'll be the ones with the ball. The others will be chasing.

Not even the best in his own family. (Seriously, Ablett Jr was magnificent, but his father was better. Odder, but better.)

Maybe. But if Bedford is selected, I hope that it's solely on merit and that he is told as much. It would be horrible for Bedford if he thought his selection was tokenistic.

There's been a bit come the other way, some of the ones I remember were well past their prime when they arrived. Players such as Steven Icke, Brent Croswell and Alan Jarrott come to mind. But also Brian Wilson and, of course, Ben Brown. And we also lost a player to North who I think is the footballer with the greatest combination of names ever: Peter Patrick Pius Paul Keenan.

I could see the second half of this happening, that is, Brayshaw taking Harmes's role. He can do everything Harmes does (onball, wing, marking forward etc) and probably better than any of the alternatives. But with Salem, J Smith and Hibberd all unavailable, who would take his place in the backline? Would Tomlinson make us too top heavy? So, while Brayshaw seems a perfect replacement, I can't see how the Match Committee can make it happen.

They'll also think getting Viney would solve all their problems. In reality, they're already well served with smaller bodied midfielders. Viney would give them much needed grunt...but they'd still have a very small midfield group.

Worth adding to the discussion how gracious Hardwick has been in his comments. It might be self-serving (ie, Hardwick knows Richmond has to re-build and that Martin leaving might help that process), but Hardwick is also correct in that Martin owes Richmond nothing and conversely, Richmond has to thank Martin for being the key to winning three premierships.