La Dee-vina Comedia

It may not make him a better coach, but Mitchell has at least had assistant coaching experience at another club as well as Hawthorn.

I think you'll find Champion Data decided on review it wasn't a handball...

This implies you think Jackson won't be the number 1 ruckman. What role do you see Jackson playing after Gawn retires?

An interesting analysis of Dunstan's and Melbourne's motivations. Amusingly, towards the end, the article states, "By the end of 2022, Dunstan’s at least given himself a chance to earn being mentioned in the same sentence as Jarryd Lyons." This is the seventh time in the article that Dunstan and Lyons are mentioned by name in the same sentence.

My first recollections of Oliver, which would have been via pictures posteds on Demonland, were (1) that he was so fair that he looked like he'd turn into a lobster during pre-season training and (2) he looked like he had eaten his own body weight of said lobsters before he trimmed down.

I'll just leave this here

To be clear, if you have the Services Victoria app, you don't need to log into it. But you do have to make sure you have the latest version. You can tell if you have it because the lastest version includes a new box next to the green "check-in" button. The box has within it a graphical representation of what looks a bit like a piece of paper with three lines and a tick next to it. If you have that, click on it and it will download your digital certificate from the Medicare site. (I am unsure whether you have to have the Medicare Express Plus app downloaded first, or not. It's the Medicare Express Plus app which provides the digital certificate to the Services Victoria app, and the Apple Wallet.)

This thread should be preserved for the benefit of historians. It's a great example of two completely different lines of thought ending in the same conclusion. The first is that Hawthorn should keep Clarkson and removing him is the dumbest move a football club could make since the MFC parted ways with Norm Smith which will lead inexorably to long periods of pain for Hawthorn supporters. The second is that Hawthorn's list management in the last 5 years has been so diabolical that keeping Clarkson on as coach is the dumbest move a football club could make since the MFC parted ways with Norm Smith which will lead inexorably to long periods of pain for Hawthorn supporters.

Bing, this was very helpful and also comforting to know. But can you please explain a bit more about the bolded line? Is this the French (or EU) equivalent of a digital certificate that confirms vaccine status?

I agree. Although, if it were to be done it would stop the possible alternative of a commercial sponsorship arrangement which may have it described as the "[Insert company name here] AFL Premiership Cup". The question is: Does the AFL have the courage (or the budget flexibility) to withstand the huge financial offer which may come its way?

Was there something defamatory in the middle square you decided to delete?

Giving up a first round pick to get into this year's first round might be quite prescient. Surely there's a chance that next year's draft becomes compromised should Tasmania be granted an AFL licence. I could see all sorts of priority selections being given to Tassie when its licence is awarded which will affect at least one draft. Whether it is next year's or not remains to be seen.

PSA - you can now download your vaccine certificate to the Services Victoria app (the same app used for logging in to shops, etc) I've got an iPhone so I've already got it in my Apple wallet. If I understand correctly, though, there is no equivalent to a "wallet" in android phones, so I assume downloading to the Services Victoria app overcomes this dilemma. I don't know the mechanics, but i suspect you'll have to show this certificate to get into the MCG, along with other places, next year.

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” - Leo Tolstoy

I assume from Dustin Martin's omission that this list is of the best 50 performers in 2021 rather than 50 best players in the competition now. That's fine...but I still think Martin should have made the top 50. And I obviously missed too many Sydney games. Was Buddy really that good this year? I appreciate he made the All-Australian squad, but I didn't think he was a particularly impactful player.

He learned it first hand when he was on the receiving end pushed out of the captaincy in favour of Luke Hodge.

While I agree, he may have been saved precisely because the lack of lower level football means that clubs have less knowledge on potential replacements for fringe players. He may have had his contract renewed because any alternative is a greater risk and even less developed than ususal.

Is the trade period always this boring? Or is it just because this year we have had something far more enjoyable still in the front of our minds? This is a serious question. In previous years, because we've had little else to be enthusiastic about, trading and drafting became the highlights for us. But were other years as slow and boring as this one?

The neutrals I know (generally Collingwood, Richmond and St Kilda supporters) all loved the game. Partly it was because they liked seeing Melbourne finally break through and partly because the game was in the balance with a minute to go before three quarter time followed by the onslaught which they also loved.

Or might help lower the average age at Geelong. I actually don't see him being chosen by Geeong but assuming he's properly fit, I would have thought he could be good for Gold Coast to give the younger talent some protection.

Not sure about that. If you're relying on the year to remind you, how would you know if it was 20 goals or 21 in 2021? If we'd kicked 20 goals and 21 behinds, then I would agree.

same

I think there's been a misunderstanding. I agree it's Stevic's job to give evidence. What I was trying to say was that stating that Stevic's evidence was a bit weak is similar to blaming victim's of crimes for not speaking up about crimes perpetrated against them. I sense we're all in agreement here - that Stevic's evidence was not as "tough" as one might have expected.

Victim blaming. We don't like it in the court system and we shouldn't accept it in this instance either.

If Ratten doesn't really rate Dunstan, perhaps he got all his votes from the opposition coaches. So maybe he's twice as good as the AFLCA votes would suggest.🙂