La Dee-vina Comedia

I may have missed it, but has anyone said what it was that Burgess said to Goodwin during that discussion on the boundary line during the Grand Final?

On the other hand, the club hasn't prepared me to deal with success. I don't mean that flippantly. I enjoyed the game and I'm still thinking about it, but I'm not sure whether I'm making the most of what might be the makings of a dynasty or perhaps just a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Do Stephen Armstrong and Matthew Bishop qualify as "ship jumpers" or were they made to walk the plank? (By the way, when I first read your post I thought you were making some reference to Frawley having premiership success with a club with a sh*t jumper.)

This is Demonland? I thought it was Facebook under its new name which reflects more truthfully what everyone believes it to be.

I appreciate everyone's emotions are different and it might be very tough for some if we'd lost. However, I've become so conditioned to mediocrity as the best to hope for in the preceding 50+ years, that I think I would have been OK if we'd lost. Supporting Melbourne for all this time has conditioned me to accept disappointment. Perhaps the whole club had operated that way for so long, that the achievement by this group of players is perhaps even more special - that is, they overcame emotional hurdles that might not have been in place in the more successful clubs.

The end of lockdown brings with it the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues I haven't seen for what seems like forever. Some are footy tragics, although not Melbourne supporters. When we next catch up, probably next week for the first time in months, I'll get a chance to re-live the whole season but especially the Grand Final.

Let's not confuse science with myths, irrespective of how popular the latter are. Science deals in facts. I'm not sure what "so-called science" is intended to mean, but I would happily put my faith in science if it is used properly.

More fine work from AFL Media. Look at the date at the bottom left of the photo.

The AFLX trophy is beyond compare

Absolutely this. It was obvious how he completely changed his style when he moved from Saturday night to Friday night. On Saturdays, he was clearly being asked to impose his blokey style to suit that particular format. On Fridays, he is much more "straight" albeit without losing his essential style. I don't think he's a particularly good caller, but he's also not particularly bad and he's certainly not biased towards or against any team. The style of commentary is very much dictated by the expectations and requirements of the program's producers and always will be. And I give him credit for two things. He's very good at promoting (and sometimes critiquing) the umpires, rather than allowing them to be ignored. And he put in a surprisingly good acting performance as a fictional NT footy coach in the movie "Last Cab to Darwin".

Great article, although I have to admit I can't remember some of those games. A more challenging story might be identifying which games we lost which were also drivers leading to this year's Premiership. Surely, as much as we would like to forget it, the 186 debacle kick-started the process by shaking up standards. And there's probably a key Neeld era game which lead ultimately to his demise and the recruitment process which resulted in Roos' appointment. I'd also throw in the 2018 Preliminary Final which served as a reminder as to how much more we needed to improve to go further.

Even before this year, I've always thought that the VFL/AFL Premiership Cup is the best looking trophy in world sport. It's got just the right amount of gravitas along with dimensions that make it look weighty (literally) and worthy. The horse racing Melbourne Cup, on the other hand, has tradition on its side but always looks inferior to me, probably because of its size. It almost looks like a toy.

Impressed with the veggie patch

For years I've been travelling from the south-east to Melbourne airport along CityLink past the Toyota Melbourne HQ where they have 18 flagpoles with the team flags flying in ladder order. I've been used to us being toward the western end of the flagpoles. This year I haven't been on that road once so missed seeing us positioned most of the time as the first flag you see when travelling west. I hope our team flag is up there now and still there until at least Round 1 2022, and hopefully longer.

You're expecting him to play in another 19 premierships?

I'm somewhat disappointed that Dante and me - given the relationship of our names - aren't quite communicating. We should be like brothers in arms, rather than heading towards a Cain and Abel situation. In fact, we all should be. Let's move on from this pointless back-and-forth and be grateful that here in Melbourne at 6pm today we leave the inferno. (Did you see what I did there?)

I understand what you're saying, I'm just not sure I agree that we don't want those types of goals.

Um, yes. I'm interested in knowing what your parameters for success and failure are. For example, if Victoria is the worst State in Australia but still better than 95% of the rest of the world (and I'm not saying that it has been), is that still bad?

Isn't there an argument that taking the ball 80 metres from goal may reduce scoring? It helps the team kicking in from a behind, but the team that scored that behind has to work harder to get another scoring opportunity. I'm not convinced the rule does what's intended. I am convinced, though, that having precise kickers, such as May and Salem, can make great use of the benefits that rule gives them.

I've just remembered George On The Outer. Clubhouse leader as our most famous George (apart from George Gawn, of course).

How do you think Victoria has managed Covid compared with other non-Australian locations?

It's a given that the middle name is named after one of our modern greats. But who is George? Who is the most famous George associated with the MFC?

I'm happy to keep the rule although it makes the game seem a bit unnatural at times because the man on the mark is so static. However, I've often wondered whether it was ever really necessary. I would have rather seen a crackdown on the player who lost the marking contest or gave away a free kick (who I'll call Player B for the sake of this discussion) from impeding the player with the ball (Player A). How often do we see Player B holding on to Player A to stop them from moving? How often does Player B stand or crouch over the ball to stop it being returned quickly to Player A? Fix that with 50m penalties and the "stand" rule may not be needed.

You would have laughed at which bit? That we'd have a Premiership within 3 years or that ANB would be a part of it?

To be fair to Sky News, I think most news services would have reported it in the same way. Our media always likes to go with the most extreme version of events. Says as much about the susceptibility and gullibility of the audience as it does about those who determine what we see and hear as "news".