John Crow Batty

Jefferson kind of fits in somewhere between Lucas Cook and Weid.

Despite Max getting infringed in just about every marking contest he still is second for highest contested mark averages per game for players with 500 or more contested marks. Truly a superstar.

I recall Kolts first possession in his first game against Brisbane. Too slow to react under pressure and caught holding the ball. Seen the same just about every other game including the last one. He has very slow reaction time, lacks instinctive play and fumbles under pressure more than most. Don’t know how that can be fixed. If no improvement by mid season next year he is a bust.

His stats look excellent for a 5 game player. What is remarkable for such an average height player is his 7 contested marks in his first 3 games. That is elite level. Must have some off field issues that are holding him back. For context Nathan Jones only took 28 contested marks in his 300 game career.

Looking at the Sparrow incident it was clear Xerri was administering a cheap shot and not going for the ball. Sparrow was holding the ball below his waist when he got hit.

Failed to chase 3 times in the second quarter that I can see. Looks really lazy and slow.

Looking further, it looks like Greg Stafford was made a scapegoat. He was our premiership forward coach after all as well as ruck coach and since his departure our forward line woes are a lot worse than they have ever been. I also agree hiring Jones with no experience was a mistake. Jobs for mates.

As predicted Ed Richards not cited for his elbow fend off that concussed Norths LDV on Thursday night and now free to play. Not even a fine. The advantages of being in the mix for the Brownlow and a “good bloke”. Imagine if Kozzie Pickett did this. 4 weeks easily.

Lots of season over punishment still to come

The psychologist has left the building a long time ago. Was going to see his own psychologist.

Jayden Hunt has lost his most formidable weapon which was his explosive run. Been slowing down for a couple of seasons. Now just an average plodder.

Been a lot of junk time football this year. I can’t be bothered watching most games to the end including some of ours. Even in most of the really tight games, sides leading now appear to bottle up the last few minutes with negative play quite easily. So far a very boring season for exciting games.

What was interesting was the commentators tried to avoid discussing the incident. No “he could be in trouble” or “the hit will be looked at” comments as we usually hear. They were trying to paint the hit as nothing to worry about. Will be interesting to see if this becomes another Cripps or Maynard ending.

LDU concussed by an Ed Richards elbow fend off. Commentators see nothing. Machinations to get Ed off in full swing already.

Melksham goes around another year. There is no one to keep him out of the side whether performance or leadership wise. Ironic for a player who was washed up in our premiership years now holding up what’s left of our forward line albeit he’s only a bandaid solution.

Captain Hindsignt always makes a decision when it too late but then again Captain Obvious hasn’t stepped up with the goods.

I could be wrong but I believe Grundy asked not to be not selected. Checked out already with all his baggage.

I don’t recall Ben Brown ever missing a clutch goal in his career at Melbourne and TMac not many.

Telling snapshots though there are many other bad games that caused our downfall. We lost those 12 games by an average of just under 8 points and we kicked more behinds than the opposition in 11 of those games. 110-152 versus 136-86. 262 scoring shots to 222. As we have starkly seen this season it’s the serial ball butchers that led to our demise. No more arguments about that.

The only reason he made that epic goal after the siren against Geelong in 2021 was because he was forced to walk in straight and kick over the mark. The ball sailed elegantly straight through the middle of the goals.

Petty must have the same magnetic polarity as the ball. Every time he gets near the near the ball it repels away from him.

I guess we started it when we poached Jeff White from them. It’s just normal every day football shenanigans and the exploitation and uncertainties of the go home factor.

At this stage the game for various reasons full time umpiring for all umpires is not a viable option IMO. I still like to see the master umpire model which entails a full time professional umpire who oversees the other part time umpires. The master umpire directs and advises his/her underlings on application and interpreting of laws before and during games, watches from a distance but will not be burdened to make routine decisions in a game unless a bad umpiring clanger occurs and then he/she can intervene. The master umpire can spend the rest of the week being part of the senior off field umpiring panel, review games, study better ways to interpret decisions and scrutinise developing playing trends, liaise with other masters and help in training junior umpires. They could even become the AFL tribunal to adjudicate reported offences. They would be much better than the current shady lot.

Never looked like winning at the death, just a comedy of errors and no finesse.

Neil Compton BOG in dying stages of the match. Kicks match winning goal, big contested interception mark in final minute to push Demons forward and strong tackle in dying seconds to thwart desperate final charge by Collingwood. Stuff of heroics. A couple of irrelevant observations of the game were ticker tape to celebrate goals, smoking on the coaches bench.