La Dee-vina Comedia

No idea. If they did, it's not the answer I'm looking for.

What is the common thread that ties all these champion players together? (There's a reason for putting this team together which we can discuss after someone provides the answer. Which shouldn't take long.) FB: Nathan Burke Paul Roos Brad Hardie HB: Robert Murphy David Neitz Kevin Murray C: Robert Flower Robert Harvey Lenny Hayes HF: Nathan Buckley Matthew Pavlich Matthew Richardson FF: Gary Ablett Sr Tony Lockett Nick Reiwoldt Foll: Len Thomson Nathan Fyfe Bob Skilton Inter: Jim Stynes Phil Carman Patrick Dangerfield Brad Johnson Sub: Garry Lyon

The knee bone's connected to the... something. The something's connected to the red thing. The red thing's connected to my wristwatch!... Uh oh.

It's the year that brought us more Covid, climate change problems, Trump and the protests in Washington, Putin's continuing belligerence, Xi's continuing belligerence, working and learning from home, Craig Kelly and Clive Palmer, protests and a Melbourne Premiership. So, all in all, a pretty good year*. Happy New Year to all. Let 2022 be a repeat of the Year of the Demons *Note: I appreciate that this has been a hard year for many. Please appreciate the tongue in cheek nature of this post.

Stress fracture in the hip? I've never heard of this condition before, for anyone. It sounds like it might be very painful, given the amount of force that goes through the hips just for everyday activities, let alone football.

I don't know if it's just the military grade haircut, but to my eyes he looks to have significantly bulked up, particularly in the upper body. Am I imagining that?

I imagine England cricket will now try and get Peter Jackson to be CEO and Paul Roos to become coach.

I struggle with this. I'm never sure whether (1) I want to crush Collingwood from the opening bounce, or, (2) just remain a goal or so ahead of them for the whole game just to keep their hopes alive only to have them crushed at the end, or, (3) be something like 7 goals down at three-quarter time only to overpower them at the end.

Brought to you by the same artists who draw Adam and Eve with navels.

For anyone out there still unvaccinated, here's a graph which might give you cause to reconsider. It's from Britain but I imagine it's the same situation everywhere.

Did I hear someone (maybe Jimmy Bartel, perhaps) say that our scoring rate in the last quarter and a half of the GF was greater than Geelong's in the 186 match? I'm not gloating, but it gives me some idea of how bad we were then and how far we have come.

Further to Diamond Jim's comment above, I believe Pfizer* is the recommended 3rd dose if you've previously had AZ. *And possibly Moderna, too.

Has it happened anywhere? Neither of the junior Abletts had their father's #5, Jobe Watson was different from his father, as was Dustin Fletcher. If it has happened, I can't think of any. And that may be for good reason as it increases pressure on the son. So, I'd rather sons not take their father's number. The only consideration I see that might possibly be relevant with allocation of numbers (apart from not allocating a son his father's number) is who's locker they might be near. For example, it might be a good idea to give the #2 to someone who might benefit from being near May and/or Salem in the changing room.

Isn't this rule already in place?

It's reported in today's Age newspaper (possibly paywalled) that there will be a stricter interpretation of head high contact in season 2022. Most significantly, "the potential to cause injury in certain circumstances must be factored into the determination of the impact, rather than “strong consideration” being given to it...The result of this change will be that, where there is careless conduct that is high contact and has the potential to cause injury, a medium impact classification will usually apply, and a one-match suspension will be the minimum sanction applied.” At last it appears that the risk of the incident causing injury will become relevant rather than just the outcome. In other words, if you bump a player and there is a head knock, expect a penalty whether or not the player bumped was injured.

Martin Chuzzlewit. (I assume we're just posting random names of Charles Dickens books?)

That was my experience of the third shot. My first two injections were with AZ and the third was Pfizer. Sore arm on the day of the Pfizer injection and some lethargy on the day after. Then I was fine.

I don't agree with this. Players have a market value as evidenced by the trading system and compensation granted for the loss of free agents. As an example, Hogan's departure netted us a valuable draft pick. The alternative, if players are not commoditised, is that Hogan would have left for nothing in return. We can argue forever as to whether the value clubs get for various players is appropriate, but every player is assessed against a market rate whenever movement occurs (or, perhaps, doesn't occur, because of the rate.)

Do we know when our players received their 1st and 2nd vaccinations? If both were after the Grand Final, then I presume that means the booster shot (under current guidelines) won't be available to them until well into the 2022 season. I'd much prefer them to receive their 3rd shot prior to the season commencing only because there may be some arm soreness and other effects, such as tiredness for a day or two. Nevertheless, if it has to be during the season, so be it.

Great report, thanks. Is training open to the public or are you mixing it with the wildlife?

I hope you mean a recent ex-Captain and not the one who captained them from 2008 to 2010.

Is the Lars (or is it LARS) procedure still done? Or has it fallen out of favour?

Not funny and possibly a breach of the Geneva Convention on Human Rights.

It would be strange indeed if Borat was one of the pop-culture tattoos that Libba has adorned himself with. It would be like looking in a mirror.

Whenever I meet a person I know is an Australian football fan but not a Melbourne or Dogs supporter, I ask them whether they thought it was a good Grand Final. We all think it was great, but does a final margin of 74 points mean it was good game to watch for everyone else? Everyone I have asked has said it was great because it was close for three quarters and then just extraordinary to watch from the last minute of the 3rd quarter onwards. Some of them, have even watched it more than once purely for the enjoyment of watching such entertaining football.