La Dee-vina Comedia

I thought the consensus in the footy media was the opposite to this.

With thanks to the statistician Swamp, Melksham is the first Melbourne player since David Neitz in 2006 to kick 4+ goals in three straight games. That's a long time!

Petracca 5. Gawn 4. Langford 3. Salem 2. Melksham 1. Fritsch Gawn wasn't as dominant as he has been against lesser opponents. But his nullification of Xerri in a fascinating battle was a significant win for the team. It's nice to be able to give votes to a couple of the forwards, too. And Langford - wow!

So close!

My brain hurts. Demonland is in a muddle. Do we want to "play the kids" or not? If we do, then playing Jefferson, Windsor, Tholstrop, Langford, Lindsay, van Rooyen and Henderson (if he plays, which I doubt) makes sense. Yet Demonland is full of mixed messages about this week's team

State of Origin is NRL's biggest...problem. Why? because (1) it disenfranchises every supporter of NRL who is not from NSW or Queensland and (2) it has turned the NRL Premiership season into a second-tier competition. NRL is about to establish a team in Perth. How can there be proper engagement with the people of WA when the competition will continue to promote State of Origin between Qld and NSW as its premier event leaving Western Australians to be "second class citizens"? And relying on State of Origin so much is like Cricket Australia promoting Ashes Cricket and leaving every other form of test cricket withering on the vine. The AFL Commission would be wise to consider the negatives of NRL's State of Origin as well as the positives. I happen to think the long-term effects of the negative outweigh the positives.

Is that official?

For a moment there I thought Clarrie had three hands - his right hand free, his left one holding the ball, and another one holding a phone!

Presumably the 12-day concussion protocol also prevents players from participating in any form of physical training. Petty and Howe were concussed on 28 June, so are still within that 12 day timeline.

Should we play Petty and van Rooyen in the same forward line, I'd rather see Petty undertake the relief ruck role. I don't think he'll be any better than van Rooyen - he may even be worse - but I'd just like to see van Rooyen playing all his game time permanently as a forward.

Cricket and boxing immediately come to mind!

Bowey 5. May 4. Viney 3. Pickett 2. Turner 1. Langdon Was also really pleased with the games of Langford and Lindsay. And Melksham. Once again, though, too much was left to too few.

He was also a cartoonist drawing the "Ben Bowyang" comic strip for the Melbourne Herald for many years.

Final teams are in. As I suspect most expected, it's Lever and van Rooyen in for Petty and Howes. Billings, McDonald and Adams are the emergencies.

Like Shakespeare you've invented a new word: "stragedy" defined as a tragedy caused by a failure in strategy!

In 1916, Fitzroy won the Premiership from last place on the ladder. 1916 VFL season - Wikipedia

Too old. But I've got a great memory!

If my memory is correct, about 100+ years ago Fitzroy was both bottom of the ladder and Premier in the same season. I think that it was during World War I when there were only 4 teams in the competition.

If the wildcard round idea comes in (and I truly hope it does not), it won't take long for someone to suggest a pre-wild card round to allow teams in positions 10 through to 13 to play each other to see which one gets to be the 10th placed team to then play in the wildcard round.

The model was different way back then, but essentially this is how Jim Stynes and Sean Wight started. Just based on the success of those two alone, I would say we have a fantastic record in this space.

I assume Champion Data.

If kicking efficiency stats are "locked away", I suspect it's not about making commentators look like experts* but keeping the best stuff for customers who are prepared to pay. *Like so many other things, you can put lipstick on a pig, etc.

Petracca and Lever will both be 30 years old by this time next year. Irrespective of anything else, I would have thought our next captain should have a longer playing career ahead of them. The only players I can see on our list who are in the right age group (say 23-27 years old now) and who might be suitable are Rivers (currently 23), Chandler (25) and Sparrow (25). The captain doesn't have to be the best player in the team, but does need to be good enough not to have people questioning whether their position in the team is secure. Also, there's much more to being a captain than being a great footballer. Most importantly (in my view) is whether other players are prepared to follow them. You can't be a leader without followers.

Gold Coast burned us for pace last time we played. I expect that's partly the reason behind Sharp's recall ahead of Laurie. (However, my own argument fails to explain why Windsor has been dropped.)

Plaudits to the medical, training and conditioning staff. That's an amazingly short list for this time of year.