John Crow Batty

So our first game against the saints is technically a block buster?

I hope the club recognises him as a legend as well.

The AFL said last season they will crack down on players who “make them pay” with blows to the head on opposition players in marking contests. Most cases deserve a free kick but in this case there was a serious injury forcing the player off the field. It was obvious Kentfield was incapacitated before he hit the ground. The punitive laws should be applied like with a dangerous tackle causing injury. Deserves a three weeks suspension.

Good luck to him. Unfairly maligned and became the scapegoat when the first deep cracks at the club appeared and to save Goodwin’s [censored] for another season.

Like the 21 finals. Red hot in the PF and MIA in the GF.

That’s right, Walter Lindrum’s daughter ran the snooker hall. She was colourful, cheerful and dressed like a 50’s rock and roller. I’ll tell story which I haven’t told many. I nearly burned down the Herald and Weekly Times building one day. I was walking down the stairs with another copy boy circling the cage service elevator. I lit a smoke and flicked the match which bounced through the cage wire and ignited the grease and dust on the machinery in the lift well. There was a huge flame and heaps of acrid black smoke appeared which luckily rose to the top unused floor. Fortunately there were fire extinguishers nearby on the next landing and we managed to put out the fire before any serious damage happened. We then snuck away before anyone noticed us. Everyone was wondering where the thick black smoke came from but no fire alarms went off or evacuation initiated nor was there an investigation later I believe. We were silly 14 year olds and it could have been a huge disaster. Those were the days when newsrooms were full of smokers and butts were strewn everywhere. Smoking and drinking was the big culture in Newspaper offices. Just about everyone smoked and quite a few drank at work.

I reckon we are a good chance to just sneak into the 8 or be finals contenders right up to round 24. Still a long shot but I am impressed by what seems to be healthy competition for playing spots and what the new coaching broom sweeps in. We have a mix of experience, youth and traded in players all keen to make an impact.

I was too young to go to pubs but I snuck in The Phoenix occasionally with others for a sly beer. The owner Lou Richards was usually absent on game day as he was at the footy. He used to write for The Sun and worked in the Herald building on weekdays. He was quiet and serious unlike his goofy TV persona. Most of the copy boys preferred to hang out at the big seedy Lindrums snooker hall next to the Herald building.

I always wondered why Harmes left.

I have no doubt Oliver will be a good player at GWS. But he checked out in 2023 and Petracca checked out in 2024. Two 14th finishes since indicates they are no great losses for our future.

Too much opinion these days. Not much real news. Newspapers once relied on advertising, direct sales and subscriptions and were mostly neutral and balanced in reporting with stables of experienced journalists doing honest reporting. Now they just employ stenographers. Advertising and direct sales have dried up and subscriptions are relatively modest compared to the past. To keep subscriptions MSM has to pander to certain classes, demographics and their biases and eschew any semblance of neutrality. Most newspaper readers live within the information bubbles imposed on them that confirm their biases. MSM also now relies heavily on financial support from vested interests like government agencies, cashed up activist organisations, big business and billionaires who push their own agendas through MSM.

When I worked at The Herald as a copy boy in the 1970’s we used to put out 3 updated newspaper editions in one Saturday afternoon including progressive footy commentary and in game photos of matches that had not finished yet. The final edition would start rolling of the press about 2 minutes after the last footy final score came in. That was all done with no modern technology. We worked wonders within very tight time constraints

Bruise free for rest of game now.

I was at the game and we certainly had home ground advantage after acclimatising for several weeks in Perth and playing the prelim there. The crowd I estimate was 65-70% supporting us. This was the only big game in my life with a packed house that I remember crowd support was clearly in our favour. Never experienced that the MCG. I love Optus Stadium.

Must be remembered when a new coach is installed after the previous coach has been sacked after a decline in the clubs fortunes its not business as usual anymore. A new coach will identify toxic influences and remove them no matter how high in the club pecking order. Oliver has been identified as a toxic influence so be it.