La Dee-vina Comedia

As a matter of interest, how does this compare with the club's own selection of B&F winner? Does the theory of the wisdom or crowds apply?

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Richmond area an upset customer is still waiting for their almond latte.

Maybe the club had already realised that 2024 was "over" and we were drafting for the future. That seems consistent with the club getting games into Thosltrup, Howes, Moniz-Wakefield, Turner, etc.

Would have preferred an outright denial rather than him laughing, sighing and responding "Totally" to "it's nothing more than a rumour".

That's a bit unfair. Dangerfield is President of the AFL Players Association. It's in his remit to have opinions and state them publicly. Agree with your other comments about Dusty, though.

As a matter of interest, who would you prefer to have been at Melbourne for their careers: Buddy Franklin or Dustin Martin? There's no wrong answer, of course. I think I would prefer Martin.

Because parsnips are too expensive.

Irony much? Oliver can't remember the name of his favourite song which has the title "I Remember Everything".

Where there's smoke, there's often just smoke.

If I understand the system, it's the players who decide whether to nominate for 6 or 18 month contracts. Thinking it through, it suggests to me that those who choose the 6 months option have more confidence in their abilities and expect to be able to sign a longer contract once they've been at the club for a short time. That new contract would presumably provide them with better terms (ie, money) for the subsequent 12 months than if they had been signed on an 18 month contract from the outset.

If this is the criteria, I reckon Walking Civil War should make it on to most people's lists. Her levels of devotion more than compensate for any deficiencies in other areas.

If we can't win with this team, sack the coach! We'll be playing with five on the bench. Might seem unfair, but I like it!

Whether its a 6- or 18-month contract for these players, can both parties agree to extend the contract at any time?

I'd prefer to interpret this as meaning our kpf's will hit their straps in 2024 and 2025.

Oops. SEN needs a new atlas.

I think sons of former players are under enough pressure without having the added burden of the same jumper number.

Club's industry report suggests Petty may be in doubt for this weekend. On the other hand Turner should be available. Even if Petty is available, I think I'd prefer Turner anyway. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1566112/injury-report

St Kilda scored the last three goals in junk time when we'd parked Gawn, Salem, Petracca and Viney on the bench. With Petty already subbed out, our tallest forward was Fritsch (or McAdam - I don't know how tall he is). It's not just that four of our best were off, but also the message that would have sent to the remainder that we had switched off.

I thought he only played one game. Was it more than that?

McAdam could not run in the last quarter. He looked completely spent. I'm not sure he's fit enough, but I also know we need to get games into him. Nevertheless, I would replace him with Tholstrup for the Freo game. We should be getting games into him, too.

6. Gawn 5. Salem 4. McDonald 3. Viney 2. Tomlinson 1. Neal-Bullen It feels mighty unfair not to include Petracca, Langdon and van Rooyen in the votes, but so be it.

Final ins: van Rooyen, Hunter, Langdon, Tomlinson Outs: Lever (inj), Howes, Billings, Brown (all omitted)

Maybe he is there and you just can't see him...he's such a chameleon

Picking players as emergencies may be used as encouragement. But we have traditionally chosen an appropriate mix to cover any forced late outs. As such, we shouldn't expect the three emergencies to be the next three players in line. It's more likely to be something like the best tall forward/ruckman, the best defender and the best onballer/wingman.

Flower is clearly the best I have seen. But I didn't see either Barassi play in his prime or Norm Smith play at all.