rumpole

If Carlton gets preferential treatment by way of a priority pick at the end of the year it will be the final proof of corruption at the top of the AFL. We've already been lied to about clubs having to earn those coveted and valuable Friday night fixtures through good performances by virtue of the fact that Carlton has been given heaps of them this year despite finishing 16th in 2017. So if you have to establish a case with the AFL to get special consideration over a number of years then how can one club be considered favourably for draft assistance in the same year that it received the honour of a swag of Friday night games?

(albeit it wasn’t his debut)

Can Tom Browne play?

Nice story about one of our big improvers in James Harmes. Melbourne fans would notice a change in James Harmes this year. The hard-at-it Demon is still as tough as they come but he’s been doing it more consistently in 2018. Following a pre-season where the 22-year-old didn’t miss a session, it’s the second pre-season in a row where he’s done everything — Harmes has dropped a bit of weight — which has seen him slide into a midfield role so far this season. READ MORE: Confidence is key for young Dee

My info is that success has gotten to Judd’s head since his retirement and he’s not all that popular. Happy for Clarrie to emulate his success but not at the expense of a balanced life.

The curse of Nick Smith. Everyone is ultimately destined to be out 4 to 6 weeks.

Do they have a practice match today?

Selwood is the unbackable favourite with my bookmaker for the most free kicks of the round, slightly ahead of that jackass for Brisbane.

One word - "Robbo"

Great quality ? Thanks ?

Perhaps this is the vital clue in the Heritier conundrum? Lumumba is a complex character who inhabits a different astral plane to the others. Could it be that his feelings were so upset that his number was usurped by someone else at training that he had to have a few week's break consulting his spiritual self and contemplating its effect on his own universe. I'm tipping that he will return one day, even if only to collect his final pay out.

You won't have too many arguments from most supporters that his decision to take the money and run was not the right thing to do from his perspective. It was in his interests to do so and nobody in their right mind would have suggested otherwise to him. Rather, it was the way the entire thing was handled by the Scully camp and the GWS (read the AFL at the time). Melbourne had no chance of matching the offer made even if that could be done and the AFL blocked off all avenues available (such as a Judd type deal). There is evidence that the lure had gone out to Scully very early in the piece and it was the lies and deception around the situation that made many of us Scully bashers.

Mr Leg please. You are, are you not, a member of the honourable profession of barristers-at-law. Surely, you know when your leg is being pulled, Leg?

A possible reason that it won't get done today is that there could be a three way trade which might help Hawks get O'Meara which might take more time to put together.

Read my lips. Rockliff to Melbourne is not happening.

A tribute to hard work and ultimately believing in himself.

Bingo.

Can anyone verify whether John Murphy has a position with the Brisbane Lions?

Those issues might well be Brisbane related but the way he has handled them are suggestive of his character. What makes it worse is the fact that he is the elected leader of the team and, as such had a responsibility towards the club to conduct himself with the proper discretion if he was frustrated with what was going on at the club. Melbourne is a club that is distancing itself from what has been a poor culture. If you like, - a losing culture, where divisive characters abound. We don't need a Rockliff now of all times. If we need someone else (after Lewis and Hibberd who seems committed), then Barlow from the Dockers would fit the bill much better.

If that was the case then the AFL would have said so. Instead, it came out with a cockamamie story about our list not being that bad, yadda, yadda, yadda which was of course a load of BS. So was the business that some suggested about punishing the club because of the tanking brouhaha because the applications for special assistance were made in 2013 and 2014, long after the alleged tanking took place in 2009. The whole thing has a bad look about it for the AFL. It looks even worse when you consider that Chris Fagan as the newly announced coach of Brisbane gains a nice kickstart to his career from the AFL's Mark Evans who worked with him previously at two other clubs. I'm not suggesting any impropriety here in any way, shape or form, only that it simply doesn't look good and compounds an already problematic issue for the AFL.

No ... balaclavas.

Very sad for the people of Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula region not to have a senior footy club representing them. Poor for the VFL to stick the knife in - but I don't think the powers that be give a fig about local footy.

Total eclipse of the moon around Spotless Stadium when the the unmentionable's old man stood up at the end of the Preliminary Final on Saturday night.

It could happen yet.

i don't believe McCartin will provide much for a Melbourne which already has Dawes and Hogan. Lever's a much better proposition.