La Dee-vina Comedia

Welcome back Joeboy

What was his role last night? That's not being flippant, but he seemed to be doing more than just playing "small forward" but wasn't really on-ball either. He doesn't seem to have a strong enough body to be anything than a small forward. As to team selections for next week, if Lever doesn't play, does Tom McDonald remain in defence (where I thought he was more than serviceable) and Weideman play forward? There were time last night when Brown was off the ground that we had no talls in the forward line.

6. Petracca 5. Oliver 4. Neal-Bullen 3. Brayshaw 2. Langdon 1. Brown It was the best game I've seen Smith* play, but am surprised to see how many people gave him votes. I would have a few others not in my votes (Gawn, May, Jackson) ahead of him, too. *Best game I've seen Bailey Smith play, too.

Just looking at that photo, did Max have to pay extra for excess baggage?

It's a little thing, but what's going on with the font changes in the article? Old-fashioned typesetters certainly earning their money.

His bright red hair might help him stand out. And expect media commentators to refer consistently to him as having "won a Premiership in only his seventh game".

How quickly time passes. I couldn't believe it when I read he was 27 years old.

Gawn, Pendlebury and Martin are automatic AA selections until they're not. That is, until they're past it. My prediction is that neither Pendlebury or Martin will be AA this year.

For reasons I don't understand pre-season tips for Rising Star winners invariably seems to be one of the best credentialled first-year players. I'd choose an eligible second year player every time. More likely to get consistent game time and will be significantly fitter and stronger than first-year players. Luke Jackson is a perfect example.

Your reports always have bite. (And, seriously, they're much appreciated).

Drove past Gosch's paddock over the weekend. I know it's meant to have some similarity to Marvel Stadium, but I think they've taken it too far with the sandy surface very similar to Colonial Stadium circa 2001.

Pterodactyls on the wings, surely.

The way West Coast is going, they may be dipping into the top up players earlier than anyone anticipated. They're having a wretched run with injuries.

Fair enough. I wasn't aware of that

I'm just disappointed the paper didn't describe his action as having done a 360 degree backflip so we could then add a couple more pages to this thread on the incorrect use of "360".

I thought that was the Junction Oval? Although maybe we shared our facilities with rats there.

Only two? You're so pessimistic!

My guess is that he's been vaccinated with Novavax. It appears to be the vaccine of choice for people who painted themselves into a philosophical corner by being anti-(Covid)-vaxxers. It's amazing how many understand the science enough to argue why Novavax is better and safer than the earlier options they declined. I wonder if it's too late for Liam Jones?

Classic practice match analysis...if we win, the match meant something, if we lost, the match was meaningless.

Also worth mentioning, along with his playing career, his off-field service. Winner of the Jim Stynes Community Leadership award in 2018 "selected for his work supporting indigenous youth through various school-based programs" and also an ambassador for the Red Cross and Headspace. The full package is what makes him a champion. Source: https://www.jimstynesfoundation.com.au/about/jscl-award/

But if everyone is equally rusty come round 1, does it matter?

I suspect it's all part of the plan to include a 19th team from Tassie. It would allow every team to play every other team once and have five double-up games as there are now. I've always believed practice matches and pre-season games are both a waste of time and enthusiasm dampeners. I'd ban all practice and pre-season matches between AFL teams altogether. Everyone then goes into Round 1 with supporters not having their enthusiasm quashed by apparent poor practice match and pre-season form. If it were up to me, I'd do this, even if the season is kept at the current 22 matches spread over 23 rounds.

I'm of a different opinion. We're not the only club with talented players, but what was our point of difference in 2021? I think it was the selfless approach which the players talked about. Given the follow the leader mentality in the AFL, I expect to see those teams that get the selflessness approach right to be the ones who challenge us. A club that has just made Toby Greene its co-captain hasn't understood anything about selflessness. Greene is the poster boy for selfish behaviour.

I don't want Collingwood, Essendon or Carlton winning. Why? Because they're the only ones ahead of us on the ladder of "Total Premierships Won". Not that I need a reason to include Collingwood on that list. My soft spot is St Kilda.

Along with the obligatory hyphenated names, I'm delighted to see the ethnic diversity with Italian, Germanic, Polish, Chinese, Arabic and Dutch names, among many others. Surprisingly, no-one with the surname Nguyen, though. I feel for this family though. Unless it is truly a very unusual spelling of O'Connor