iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

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.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

You don’t boo a champion!! …

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

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.

A screenshot of Damien Hardwick in at a press conference with subtitles showing him saying “Do we want to start talking about conflict in AFL?”

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Reposted by Mike Read

Crikey @crikey.com.au · 08/05/2026

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...

crikey.com.au

Gold Coast Suns team manager is co-founder of bookmaker fined $100,000 for gambling act breaches

Mark Opie is a co-founder of OkeBet, a registered bookmaker that was fined $100,000 for breaching the Victorian Gambling Regulation Act for sending direct marketing to self-excluded gamblers.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

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

A screenshot of Hawthorn’s round 7 2024 result losing by 76 points and being 17th on the ladder with one win and a percentage of 69.9, and Essendon’s round 7 2026 result losing by 77 points and being 17th on the ladder with one win and a percentage of 72.9

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Good thing The Wiz has a post footy career lined up

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

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

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Reposted by Mike Read

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 09/02/2026

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

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

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.

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Reposted by Mike Read

Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

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...

theage.com.au

Secret chats reveal $10,000 plot to kidnap PM as police raid neo-Nazi associates

Apparent threats, including a recording of a man being offered $10,000 to rent a van and kidnap Anthony Albanese, were posted in an online chat room run by March for Australia organisers.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

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

A screenshot of an article in The Advertiser with text reading:

He refuted claims made by Ms Adler in a column published Tuesday morning that there had been political pressure to remove Abdel-Fattah from the Writer’s Week program.

“I don’t speak for the board,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“Can you imagine if a far-right Zionist walked into a Sydney mosque and murdered 15 people.”

“Can you imagine that as Premier of this state, I would actively support a far-right Zionist going to Writers’ Week and speaking hateful rhetoric towards Islamic people? Of course I wouldn’t.”

“The reverse is happening in this instance, and I’m not going to support that either.

“I think it’s a reasonable position for me to have, it’s a view that I believe.

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Reposted by Mike Read

Stephanie Convery @gingerandhoney.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

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

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Reposted by Mike Read

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

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…

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

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.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

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

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

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...

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

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.

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Reposted by Mike Read

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

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...

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

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...

mikeread.com.au

A (brief) Guide to the Essendon Football Club Board – Mike Read

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

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

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

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.

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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

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

'To put it simply, the building blocks of March for Australia cannot be confined to discrete actors at the margins of Australian society – such as neo-Nazis. So too we must look at “mainstream” Australia itself.

This snaps into focus when you consider the Albanese government can openly condemn the organisers of March for Australia – by saying that multiculturalism is a key part of Australian national identity – in the same week that the government sign a secret $400m deal with Nauru to deport approximately 350 asylum seekers, de facto reopening offshore detention. There is a structural similarity between these two positions in that both are predicated on the assumed authority to decide who can come to the nation and who cannot along racial lines.

With this in mind, March for Australia cannot be blamed *solely* on so-called “extremists”. That too would be a euphemism that obscures the enabling conditions of the events we have seen play out over the weekend.'

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

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

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Uhh extended stats, where are you?

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

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

Screenshot of a headline from an article in The Guardian by Barney Ronay which reads:

The Hundred is just influencer sport and is the worst cricket thing ever invented

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Reposted by Mike Read

Jules Boykoff @julesboykoff.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

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

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Reposted by Mike Read

The End of Sport @endofsportpod.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

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...

Irish national basketball team before a match versus Israel

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

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.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

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.

Line graphs for Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, St Kilda AFL clubs showing player losses at their pokies venues since 2006. Highlighting Essendon’s Melton Country Club Venue which until 2019 had lower losses than its Windy Hill venue, but in past 3 years has losses approx $2m higher

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

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.

mikeread.com.au

Player Losses at Victorian AFL Club operated pokies venues – Mike Read

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

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.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

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

Screenshot of AFL app commentary for Hawthorn v Carlton game with text reading:

Scores were tied at 4.1.25 apiece that quarter, the first time since Round 9 that Carlton have not lost a quarter. In their Round 9 encounter against St Kilda, the Blues also drew the quarter. They have not actually won a quarter since Round 7 and have won only three third terms for the year.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

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.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

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

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Anthony Klan @anthonyklan.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

🚨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

theklaxon.com.au

Jillian Segal and husband funding far-right group "Advance" - The Klaxon

Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and her husband are among the biggest funders of far-right group "Advance”, which spreads hateful propaganda and racist tropes.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

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.

theguardian.com

Universities and artists face funding threat under antisemitism plan being considered by Australian government

Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal also urges Labor government to bolster education and seek new powers to deport visitors

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

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

A bumper sticker reading:

KEEP HONKING! I'm sitting in my car screaming along to "Venus and Bacchus" from the 1997 demo tape by SAETIA.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

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

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

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.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Gotta admit it’s a very catchy chant.

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

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

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Mike Read @mikeread.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

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

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Reposted by Mike Read

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 23/05/2025

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...

theguardian.com

Israeli attacks kill at least 16 people in Gaza as aid agencies warn of famine

Latest wave of bombings brings number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces to nearly 70 in less than 48 hours

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