rumpole

I can’t for the life of me understand why this is not part of the conversation given it might be difficult to prize a midfielder out of the Suns or the Giants.

My hypothetical - Heath, Steele and Humphrey to Melbourne Flanders to St Kilda Petracca to Gold Coast Swapsies with draft picks to satisfy all parties

Irrelevant as long as he brings Bailey Humphrey back on the return flight.

With a name like Flanders and the fact that Melbourne has such a rich history of players who fought for the country in war, it’s a perfect fit. In Flanders Fields (Poem from WWI) In Flanders fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Checked the results and note that Coburg cannot now displace Casey from the top ten. The only way they miss is if North will all three of their remaining games including tomorrow vs Sandringham, Williamstown win one of their remaining two and Casey lose both. On the other side of the ledger, Casey could still finish in the top six if they win both games. Fingers crossed.

On behalf of your loyal Demonland podcast listeners, we humbly petition you to produce two Demonland podcasts this week. If a 6 point loss is the catalyst for a week’s cancellation then surely an 83 point victory deserves two shows!!!

6. Max Gawn 5. Jack Viney 4. Kysaiah Pickett 3. Christian Petracca 2. Clayton Oliver 1. Bailey Fritsch

6. Kysaiah Pickett 5. Clayton Oliver 4. Christian Petracca 3. Christian Salem 2. Max Gawn 1. Trent Rivers

Hard work 6 Langdon 5 Langford 4 Bowey 3 Oliver 2 Gawn 1 Rivers

Don’t panic - it’s only a question as to whether he trained at this point. Any word on Harry Petty?

Can’t go past the favourites in this Round. Sydney and Collingwood by a clear margin in each of the two games. Hawks did well last year coming off an easy fixture in the last half of the season before they beat the Doggies dealing with some internal issues in the elimination final. They limped out against Port Adelaide in the semi. Giants have been playing below par in the practice matches and while I usually take no notice of practice matches, I can’t see them beating the Pies who have a point to prove. The AFL can slot Brisbane vs Geelong into Round 3 where they both currently have byes. The Gold Coast vs Essendon game will be hard to fit in but who cares?

Does anyone know Tim Lamb?

In any event, it's not hard to disguise an "under the table" transaction by use of payments at discounted rates of property titles to third party trusts or related parties. If you can beat the price of your opponents by say $250k then it's a hell of an advantage from a price perspective, let alone reducing your TPP salary cap figures. Not suggesting that any particular club would be inclined to do such a thing ... but ... meow.

There’s a direct connection between the about to be meteoric rise of the Melbourne Football Club and the forthcoming demise of the Sydney Swans who have been appalling in two of the last three grand finals. Their midfield is about to fall apart with their champion midfielder Chad Warner about to return to WA. Chad has purchased a new residence in Perth and will be off to Fremantle next season as a free agent. I can reveal that today he went haywire at training and got involved in a fight with his brother. With an expensive contract heading Chad’s way, the Dockers won’t be able to offer our Kozzy enough $s to entice him away from home - unless they cough up a couple of players in return like Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong. So it’s looking more and more like we keep Kozzy and the Swans rely on Gulden in their midfield going forward.

Sportsbet Odds 18/1/2025 (chances are you’re about to lose) 7.00 Jagga Smith (Carlton), Levi Ashcroft (Brisbane Lions) 10.00 Finn O'Sullivan (North Melbourne), Josh Smillie (Richmond), Samuel Lalor (Richmond) 13.00 Harvey Langford (Melbourne) 15.00 Sid Draper (Adelaide) 18.00 Nate Caddy (Essendon) 21.00 Bo Allan (West Coast Eagles), Daniel Curtin (Adelaide) 26.00 Isaac Kako (Essendon), Leonardo Lombard (Gold Coast Suns), Tobie Travaglia (St Kilda) 34.00 Xavier Lindsay (Melbourne) 41.00 Archie Roberts (Essendon), Cooper Hynes (Western Bulldogs), Hugo Garcia (St Kilda), Kane McAuliffe (Richmond) 51.00 Alix Tauru (St Kilda), Christian Moraes (Port Adelaide), Harry Armstrong (Richmond), Hugh Boxshall (St Kilda), Jake Rogers (Gold Coast Suns), Joe Berry (Port Adelaide), Koltyn Tholstrup (Melbourne), Murphy Reid (Fremantle), Taj Hotton (Richmond)