1 One of the most eagerly awaited dates on the 2017 schedule comes around with the otherwise innocuous Sunday fixture of Port vs Gold Coast – but of course, it’s in Shanghai. It’s the most audacious exhibition yet of the AFL’s, well, audacity, as the game’s spruikers have talked up becoming the first “big” league, beating its “peers” in the NFL, EPL, NBA or MLB, to play for premiership points in the Middle Kingdom. It’s altogether a positive commentary on our time that we can stage a footy game in China, but to keep things in perspective, the V8 Supercars were racing there more than ten years ago. And our “soccer” teams play regularly there in the Asian Champions League.

2 The Shanghai match does call to mind Aussie rules’ previous foreign forays, particularly a very active period the late 1980s and early ’90s that exported our game to Yokohama, Vancouver, Toronto and Miami (the ground there was so small, they took three players off the field and play 15 on 15). It’s kind of unique to our footy culture to take even exhibitions seriously, which is why things like this 1987 game between North Melbourne and Carlton at The Oval in London happened. Alastair Clarkson has only just lived it down. Here’s hoping Shanghai produces something memorable, if not as notorious.

3 Lock it in – following on from our discussion of the round seven rule, the Crows, Giants, Cats, Eagles, Dogs, Tigers, Power and Saints are your likely finals sides in ’17, if not in that order. But we can’t help but note the insights of some of our favoured footy analytics sites – particularly with regards to a potential back-off-the-canvas act from the Swans. It’s a big call for a side that won only its first game for the season last week, and over the last-place team at that. But Matter of Stats has Sydney at 11th in its team rating system, while The Arc’s Elo-based ratings have them at a surprise sixth. Meanwhile, John Longmire’s team is getting back to literal health, with key players returning from injury. A space to watch over the last 16 rounds.

The Swans: only just on the board against the Lions, but not out of it yet in 2017.

4 On a visit to National Sports Museum, beneath the MCG, I came across the wall devoted to the AFL Hall of Fame’s Legends circle. There’s no disputing the place of the figures named, but the weakness of the concept was exposed again this week with the death of Lou Richards. By the Legends criteria (it doesn’t recognise contribution beyond playing and coaching), Richards doesn’t qualify. But if Lou isn’t a legend of the AFL, then what does such status mean?

5 Brian Lake, in a forthcoming Inside Sport, with a plea for more civil treatment of umpires: “I’ve been playing for Caroline Springs since my retirement from the AFL and one of the things that has stood out to me while playing local footy is the importance of the umpires … I heard Jason Cloke say recently that he’s scared to bring his kids to his local games due to the amount of vitriol that comes from supporters and I understand where he’s coming from.”