La Dee-vina Comedia

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

That's still the modus operandi of our political parties. I'd like to think it doesn't happen any more at any football club, but, frankly, I wouldn't know.

The set of steak knives thrown in used to be the less valuable commodity. Have things changed, or was a St Kilda membership worth less than an SMJFL one?

I think Chairs of Boards are perfectly entitled to support the case for specific individuals. Obviously, in a contested election, this means other candidates are not supported. The Chair has a responsibility to ensure the Board is unified and has all the skills that the Board needs. I'd be disappointed if the Chair wasn't taking those matters into consideration. If members don't like the way the Chair leads, or the way the Board functions, they have every opportunity to vote that Board out. With respect to our club, members have just had the opportunity to elect who they want and decided for whatever reason to return the incumbents. Did the Chair's active support for the retiring Directors help them and hinder Lawrence? Probably, but the members who decided to return the incumbents are still capable of thinking for themselves and decided as a group that they didn't want change at this time.

Is it possible to add a head slap emoji to ones own post? Thanks for the polite correction.

Not one of ours, but nevertheless, great to see Sam Docherty was playing in the Carlton ressies.

Keep in mind we're playing Round 1 on Wednesday. It's tough on the Casey boys to be playing today, but an MFC player in this game might be required then and needs an adequate break.