La Dee-vina Comedia

5 Premierships in 6 years is a record. (Hope we break it.)

I think this thread about embarrassing records has reached its use by date. Time for something more positive. What records do we now hold that are ones we can be proud of? Jake Bowey tops the list of players who never played in a loss with 10. The next best, held be a few people is 9. Is the 12 goals in a row the best ever in a Grand Final? Has any team ever kicked three goals in less than a minute of game time? Please add to the list. Let's enjoy our true magnificence!

I like your post overall, but I don't agree that Hibberd should be considered as a "tall" defender. At 186cm, he's 1cm shorter than Hunt and 2cm shorter than Rivers.

In the pre-Covid days, the AFL required teams travelling interstate to arrive a day prior to gameday to ensure flight cancellations and delays wouldn't cause a game to be cancelled or postponed. That was changed during Covid. Are we back to the pre-Covid rules, and, if so, does that mean an individual player can't join a squad on gameday? In short, if B Brown doesn't exit his cocoon before tomorrow, will he be allowed to join the team on the day of the game? I'll add that I've just seen a tweet showing Viney arriving at Adelaide airport, so I assume that means the whole team, without Brown, is now there.

It's a nice problem to have, though, isn't it? I agree that Jordon deserves his spot. I'm less certain about Sparrow, but that's partly because it is sometimes hard to appreciate what the roles of our so-called "role players" are and therefore whether they are executing them well.

If you watch the mini-match on the AFL website, I think you'll conclude that he gave up three goals. Two from dropped marks and one when Wanganeen pushed him out of the marking contest. Having said that, though, I would persist with him. As I've said previously, Lever should come in for Brayshaw who should go back to the wing, forcing one of Jordon or Sparrow into the sub's spot.

William Shakespeare is giving his selection advice. He tweeted just now: Not looking good for Tom McDonald.

I think it's time this thread was superseded by a more positive one, such as "Records being broken by the Melbourne Football Club". There's our current membership number for a start. Also, does anyone know whether the 12 goal run in the GF was a GF record? (I assume it's been mentioned elsewhere if it was.) Of the 577 AFL players to have a 100% winning record, Bowey has played the most games. And so on.

We always play 7 defenders, with one always on the bench. So you have room for one more.

...good mate, Channel 7's Lewis Martin's pocket.

I confidently predict Weideman will remain in the side for the PA game, given he was given votes by Goodwin. Can't tell, though, whether he got 1, 2 or 3 votes.

Agreed, although I think Smith is considerably faster than Hibberd.

I've just watched the AFL mini-match (or whatever they call it) on the AFL website. It's basically a highlights package with a better name given the game itself was devoid of highlights (Langdon's goal being a notable exception). If that's the only bit of footage people see of this game they'll wonder why Smith is being praised. I think he dropped three marks all leading to goals, although perhaps it was two with the other one being when he was pushed under the ball by Wanganeen. Anyway, because highlights packages tend to be dominated by vision of goals being scored, they're often going to be tough on defenders and very forgiving of forwards. Smith suffers from this more than anyone else in this particular package. And I agree he deserves to stay in the side, at least for now. He's no longer a liability, although he hasn't quite locked down a position. He certainly shows that he's worth persevering with - something I'll admit I wouldn't have thought previously.

Everybody betting has the same information. In addition, there are many more unknowns than a player's specific injury that may affect a betting outcome. These include weather conditions, other teams' injuries, whether the player has a happy and stable private life, coaches' instructions on gameday and so much more.

Struggling to work out whether you're worried or not. I'm more worried about the data itself. Steven May ranked 3rd against Essendon? I assume that he got credit for each of the free disposals he got kicking in from Essendon's 10 behinds. But does this analysis in any way take into consideration how well his opponent played? Having said that, there might be merit in the team score, rather than for individual players. But, really, the best data about the team and how it's playing is the final score in each game.

Reading this thread, and it seems that everyone must believe that Brayshaw should continue to play as a defender instead of returning to the wing. If Lever is ready, why doesn't he come in for Brayshaw, with Brayshaw moving back to the wing? That would mean our seven defenders would be Lever, May, Tomlinson, Bowey, Rivers, Hunt and Smith. I realise Brayshaw just played an outstanding game at half-back; but it's only four games ago that he was equally outstanding on the wing. Given we train our players for specific roles, I would have thought the intention would be for Brayshaw to return to the wing as soon as possible. Brayshaw returning to the wing leaves a decision to be made about Jordon, who I think has played well so far this year. Nevertheless, either Jordon becomes the sub or he takes Sparrow's spot in the mid-field. As to B Brown, if he's ready he must play and Weideman should be given another opportunity. It wasn't just Weideman's 7 scoring shots. He also provided a great marking target. Unfortunately, Tom McDonald is wearing iron gloves, again. Hunt and Smith are playing against each other for Salem's spot when he's ready to return. So, assuming everyone who played against Essendon is available, I would pick B Brown and Lever in place of McDonald and either Jordon or Sparrow.

I was tossing up between Gawn and Weideman for my final vote. Gawn's unlucky - I might have been swayed by the idea that Weideman needed an encouragement award. To be fair to Weideman, though, he really made a difference in the forward line by being a consistent threat. Let himself down with his kicking, but seeing as his history has shown he has struggled more to take marks than convert marks into goals, it was a pleasure to see the way he played.

6. Oliver 5. Brayshaw 4. Langdon 3. Bowey 2. Rivers 1. Weideman

As a matter of interest, does the player replacing someone out due to the Covid rules have to come from the four named emergencies? I realise that M Brown has been added to the squad and could still replace Weideman (or anyone else) tonight.

Weideman coming in means this is a big test for both him and McDonald. Brown will return as soon as he's over his enforced absence, meaning only one of Weideman and McDonald will keep their spot. It's also an opportunity for Weideman to show his forward credentials without having to worry about being the back-up ruckman.

Never went to Windy Hill. Clearly it was a place that has scarred people for life. Just to be clear, I'm not critical of others and their choice of teams they hate. I just don't have the same feelings.

I'm surprised by the hate strongly negative attitude towards Essendon in this thread. There may be all sorts of reasons for it, but I wonder whether it all boils down to latent hostility following on from the result of the 2000 GF? As I've said before, I don't dislike any team but subscribe to the view that I support Melbourne and any team playing Collingwood. I've always believed that other teams are our friends in battle with the true enemy (for want of another word) being the other winter codes.

Can Mitch Brown ruck? I am in no doubt that Weideman is an emergency in case we need to replace a ruckman at the last minute. I hope Bedford is the sub again, but unless he's needed to cover injuries, I expect Melksham to get three more games as sub during the year to allow him to achieve a 200-game career before he retires. It's essentially a similar strategy to what we did with Jones last year to get him to 300 games.

Gulp! How do we know it's not Max posting the April Fools Day joke pretending to be at a cafe 20 minutes ago...?

Hard to know. Without pictures, I can't tell if you're playing a team of midgets or not.