La Dee-vina Comedia

Predicting the final line-up is pretty much guesswork. Players may still miss because they haven't fully recovered from Covid and new players, who haven't previously had Covid, may enter H&S protocols between now and Sunday. In addition, the club may not wish to bring into the side 5 players who have just had Covid in the same week, even if they test negative.

I'm also surprised* that there has been little discussion about players returning from Covid and how they play in their first match afterwards. For example, last week Viney looked fine but Lever looked out of sorts. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't return all the five who missed last week in one go. *I'm not really surprised. We're talking about footy journalists, after all.

And he plays for Collingwood. Betting odds also reflect the bookmakers' liability. Hence, because Daicos is a Collingwood player, the bookies will be holding a lot of money from Collingwood supporters, because there are just so many of them.

Doesn't Aaron Davey have about 603 sons? What ages are they now?

Given the highest since 1997 is 54,000 I reckon a 33,600 average is pretty good.

Irrespective of which side of politics you support, you can read this post and substitute "political parties" for "clubs" and it still correct.

I think the way Melbourne and St Kilda are performing this year, a crowd of 50,000 would have been achieved this weekend if it wasn't Mothers Day and a 1.10pm start. While I suspect Melbourne and St Kilda may never have had a crowd this large before, I question whether these two teams ever been genuine contenders at the same time?

Even if that happens, we'll face the argument that it was a result of St Kilda having played in Cairns the previous round.

By taking that kick, he avoided any post-match discussion about the implications for any betting on the game which was related to the winning margin. That would have distracted from the overall positive publicity. Whether we like, don't like or don't care about the betting is irrelevant. The AFL has obligations under agreements with the betting companies and the gambling regulator to ensure that it manages the integrity of the game. Playing the game to the end is one of those obligations. Finally, and on a separate point (so to speak), that after-the-siren goal gave us the greatest winning margin - by one point - in any of our 13 premiership wins.

I'm predicting 25,000 for a game that would attract 50,000 on virtually any other day and timeslot.

Does Mark Robinson actually write his own articles? Or are they ghost written? I ask because his written words are so much better - in the right order, etc - than his spoken ones. He's not Peter Roebuck, and doesn't pretend to be, but his written commentary meets the needs of his employer. That is, easily digestible and on topic.

How do the mechanics of the mid-season draft work? If we add a player in that way, do we have one fewer pick in the end-of-year draft, would we be required to delist one extra player at the end of this season or is there some other way of finessing our list numbers?

I think we'll all be happy, none more so than Harmes, if he finishes on 499 goals. Needs another 428 to get there. If we assume he plays another 150 games (he's currently played 129), that's an average of 2.85 goals a game from hereon.

Should we be taking comfort from the lack of any announcements so far this week of any other players being subject to H&S protocols? Or would we only hear about that on the day the selected team is announced?

I'm trying to imagine why your Government agency's firewall would allow Demonology and not Demonland. It's OK to study demons but not go on a holiday to visit them?

It seems to me calf injuries are very tricky when the player in question is over 30. Having said that, I suspect a fully fit Hibberd would struggle to break into this side at the moment anyway.

He also has the turning circle of the Queen Mary. He may have been concerned that he couldn't guarantee getting out of the way in time.

Good post, Praha, but I wonder what you mean by the fan experience being "worse"? I'm scared that someone from the AFL will read your post and decide that what's necessary is louder music, a kiss-cam at every break and a Wurlitzer organ being played after every goal.

I'm not sure they can. Clubs named after inner urban Melbourne suburbs, such as Collingwood, Carlton and Richmond are presumably a part of the same land as us and I imagine would also be part of Narrm. Perhaps interstate clubs and Geelong could do it should they choose. It's a great sign of how we're going that any of Collingwood, Carlton, Richmond etc could have got the jump on us and called themselves Narrm before us.

Shared between Gosch's Paddock and Casey? We won't need them any more.

Please make this happen. It would solve all our problems. A new training ground, space for admin and a social club...and get those ferals far away from us. PS: Won't happen.

Shai Bolton and Jack Higgins both on 27 votes. Hunt made Bolton disappear in the Richmond game. I expect he'll go to Higgins this weekend, hopefully producing the same result.

Now 14. Let's not get blase about this. That's 5 more than the next best.

I'm not a great fan of this particular design because I generally prefer a less cluttered look. I also prefer jumpers that are about two-thirds navy blue and one-third red. However, because it's being worn against North Melbourne, in this instance having red as the dominant colour may prove to be wise.

Given the Bulldogs and the Tigers were the substantial outliers last season as well, I'm of the belief that it is the way each plays, not the way the umpires do their job, that produces this result. Whether it's deliberate by the Bulldogs to play in a way which attracts free kicks or not, I'm not fussed.