1. The Brown/Fev show. Already this looks like it is going to work. Not only is Brown about the only player to whom Fevola's ego would defer in a forward line, he is a constant admonition/inspiration to him in his body language. There is no way in Brown's presence that Fevola will give the kind of body-language (sometimes vocal) putdowns he often gave Carlton team-mates who failed to deliver it laces out, on a plate. Add a handy type like Staker and a the usual cast of 50-metre arc cameo contributors like Power and Black, and Michael Voss looks to be sitting on a powerful forward set-up. TICK.

2. Collingwood shepherding the man on the mark. This sharp new tactic involves shadowing the man on the mark and being in a position to shepherd him when the umpire calls play-on. Apparently this is fully legal, but it's one of those instances where the letter and spirit of the law part company. What is offensive about this is its calculated-ness: that the man on the mark, whose attention has to be wholly on the player with the ball, is preyed upon and impeded by a player with the freedom to time his move to get the jump on the man on the mark. Let's hope the shadowers' opponents run to space and take an uncontested possession so often that this ugly tactic meets the fate it deserves. CROSS.

3. Essendon's obsession with handball. This is not a trait that arrived with Matthew Knights: Sheedy's teams were also keen on handballing to players (a) standing still, (b) not expecting it; (c) in a worse position than the handballer; (d) about to be tackled; or (e) all four. Bomber fans are also not happy at seeing in 2010 the familiar failure to understand that pace without disposal precision is meaningless; and a team that kicks to two-on-ones (of the outnumbered kind) so often, they must practise it. CROSS.

4. The fixation on Ricky Petterd's dropped mark. This was not the reason why Melbourne lost to Collingwood. The media singles out these mistakes, the fans do it; but the coaches don't. They know that in a one-point loss, the error responsible is not the last one: it's the worst one, and it could have happened in the first minute. A Petterd-style media circus absolves everyone else in the team for a mistake they made or a short cut they took over the 120-minute journey. It's a soft option. CROSS.

5. The Stawell Gift, for being run on the hallowed turf at Central Park, where it should always be run. Depending on whether you are a cynic or an idealist, Ballarat made either a low attempt to poach the pro sprinting classic or a good-neighbour, white-knight offer to guarantee the event's continuation. Victorian government support enabled the Gift to stay at Stawell, but it's up to the government now to guarantee that in perpetuity. TICK.

6. The Stawell Athletic Club, for laying a track that was 123 metres - three metres too long - for the Saturday heats. It was like something out of The Games, the ABC's Olympic Games spoof in which the 100 metres track was too short. The SAC has only had 132 years to get it right. CROSS.