I know this isn’t a good reason but after a week of seeing opposition fans quote events from the saga, I’ve gone from being against Hird returning to nearly all in. It’s a trend among other Essendon friends too, as if we’d become so numb to results that we’re just happy to feel something again.

You don’t boo a champion!! …

Fucking yes, Dimma, we do!! There’s a real prevalent idea within AFL spaces that we shouldn’t talk about any conflicts of interest & hypocrisy re: gambling unless we’re talking about *THE* conflict of interest, which just acts to avoid the conversations which could make that relationship untenable.

Exclusive: A team manager at the Gold Coast Suns is a cofounder of licensed bookmaker OkeBet, which was previously fined $100,000 for breaching the Victorian gambling act. Daanyal Saeed reports. www.crikey.com.au/2026/05/08/g...

According to this timeline, come September 2027 Zach Merrett will be itching to play for Essendon

Good thing The Wiz has a post footy career lined up

hooked a bunch of stats up to the scoreworm mostly so I can just scroll along like this and mindlessly watch things change.

The footage of Australian police acting like ICE agents is pretty shocking, but the media broadly stepping up to downplay, deny and mis-describe their violence in ambiguous terms is completely unsurprising. It's an industry fundamentally incapable of ever assigning any blame to the police: ever

I was planning a series of graphs about AFL club boards over time against various types of ABS data but it’s been killed by ASIC’s sudden decision to remove director’s address details from company extracts.

Advance -- recipient of $50,000 from Australia's Special Envoy To Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal & her husband John Roth -- is helping to promote this mob Reclaim Australia Day from Indigenous protesters. www.theage.com.au/national/sec...

Peter Malinauskas making an election commitment to guarantee more jobs for defamation lawyers.

The details in this piece from @instanterudite.bsky.social are quite something theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

Louise Adler nails it: one doesn’t have to be a student of history to know that art in the service of “social cohesion” is propaganda. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Where’s Tony Burke? It’s times like these you realise that arts ministers have no interest in defending the arts, and that govts are willing to burn millions of $ for political reasons. Adelaide’s board has just squandered millions of $ and months of work and countless opportunities for writers…

Calling for a royal commission into just how much of an idiot you’d have to be to think that having Sam Newman, Wayne Carey or Nova Peris on your side would help your cause.

Imagine looking for more than a year before deciding that Andrew Dillon was the best person for the job.

22 authors in a new OA peer-reviewed article in Soc of Sport Journal: Israel is committing *athleticide* in Gaza, "an indispensable component of the overall genocidal campaign enforced by the Israeli settler colonial regime and bankrolled by the US." journals.humankinetics.com/view/journal...

Georgia!!!

It’s not for nefarious reasons, but it’s disappointing that 3 out of the 4 directors to be elected to Essendon’s board by members over the past 2 years have all resigned less than 12 months into their 3 year terms, creating casual vacancies for the club to fill.

If you didn't have the chance to join us, please take a look at the recording of this amazing event on why Israel must be banned from UEFA, FIFA, and global sport. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV0I...

The text is old but I have plenty of detail around Essendon’s board here, for those who are interested in the current state of play. With Muir reaching his term limit at this year’s AGM, even without any challenge the board would continue its renewal. mikeread.com.au/essendon_foo...

They ought to do studies on what makes heritage listed buildings owned by developers more prone to spontaneous combustion.

Haven't seen it reported - probably as it doesn't get people as emotional as trade rumours, but last month Orizontas, a 'boutique corporate advisory consultancy' featuring a bunch of former politicians and political advisers, filed a trademark objection to the Gold Coast Suns' refreshed 2025 logo.

'Whoever is not willing to talk about capitalism should also keep quiet about fascism.' ~ Unkle Max Horkheimer (1939)

Made a few charts & bits last week that prove what we know - Collingwood is old. mikeread.com.au/lineups2025....

Uhh extended stats, where are you?

Read this by Amy McQuire and Matt Chun, then contact Tony Burke’s office. amymcquire.substack.com/p/complicity...

This assertion in this headline once and for all proves that Barney Ronay was not on my family road trip to Tathra in 1996, where my selection for our new car’s CD stacker was the We Want A Wicket single by Greg Champion & The Music Men that came with a copy of Inside Edge magazine

This is what *athleticide* looks like, a term scholars like @nkalamb.bsky.social & others are increasingly using

Ep. 163: Gaza and Global Sport We return from our too-long hiatus to discuss athletic boycott in the context of genocide with former Ireland basketball captain Rebecca O'Keeffe, as well as our views on some of the atrocities over the last seven months. open.spotify.com/episode/3Odh...

Third time in the past week I’ve heard commentators on fox footy refer to a big win as an assassination and surely they mean annihilation.

Also interesting to note that losses at Essendon’s Melton Country Club (90 EGMs), which until 2019 had been lower than Windy Hill (100 EGMs), are now about $2m higher in recent years.

VGCCC's FY25 player loss data for pokies venues was recently published. I've put some data here of the 8 venues run by AFL clubs: mikeread.com.au/afl_pokies_d... First impressions: - $40.3m lost, almost unchanged from prev FY. - $1.5b lost at AFL club venues in Vic since 2006.

It should never be forgotten that Albanese, Wong & the rest of the ALP were active participants in the unwarranted discrediting of UNRWA, helping lay the groundwork for israel's policy of deliberate mass starvation.

Makes Carlton’s win last week all the more remarkable given they apparently haven’t won a quarter since round 7…

Since coming to Essendon, 74% of Liam McMahon’s kicks in the VFL have been scores, with 4 goals for every 1 behind. If we can just get him to have about 30 kicks tonight, we’re a chance.

Can’t wait for the AFL to bring in this in-season competition, so Essendon or Richmond can snare a finals spot.

🚨Antisemitism boss Jillian Segal and her husband are the second biggest funders of far-right group "Advance". The extremist lobby group spreads online racism and xenophobia, including directly targeting Palestinians... theklaxon.com.au/hrgd

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... This is fucked. As it is I know of too many artists who have lost exhibitions or been ruled out of consideration for them, and academics who have had complaints against them, simply for reposting anti-genocide content on social media.

Having finally discovered the perfect bumper sticker, I am now ready to get a driver’s license.

Living my best sicko life with 32k rows of data from archived versions of the AFL injury report webpage.

Had a dream that I was like a mulligrubs version of a stump at the non-strikers end and Beau Webster hit the cleanest straight drive right past me. Fucking glorious.

Gotta admit it’s a very catchy chant.

I've worked on making papier-mache heads of sporting figures for a year and the pope just tweeted it out....

The disrespect of Geelong to not feel the need to make a late change against Essendon.

Israel is using starvation as a weapon - not just genocide and mass murder of civilians, but torture. It is evil beyond belief, and it is evil that the world isn't rising collectively to stop this country. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Not done, done, but give this a go and feel free to provide any feedback (such as “…why?”) www.mikeread.com.au/games_played...