John Crow Batty

Being named Oliver is a good sign

I have always believed the Brownlow has been thoroughly corrupted by gambling and criminal activity for a very long time. Now I am more convinced. Without going into the dark side we have openly witnessed mental gymnastics worthy of a cross between Gary Kasparov, Olga Korbut and Einstein to get Cripps off his damning tribunal charges.

Ditch that Selwyn/Burgess fitness regime and we will be there. Flogging a horse to run hard only works for so long. No wonder Burgess only hangs around for a couple of seasons before moving on. He doesn’t want to be around when everything collapses. Like when Lyon coached the Dockers and Saints. Performed like a powerhouse for a couple of seasons before flaming out due to the players being pushed over the limit. He was unlucky not to get a flag like Goodwin did but we cant repeat the debacle of our second half of the season in 2023. We won’t build a dynasty with broken bodies. The penny dropped for Geelong and so should it for us.

Hope he divulges some hot tips on how to beat those [censored]

Unlike Max he had a fair bit of agro.

Sad that wanted to go but I can’t get the thought out of my mind with the similarity to the Scully situation. Both suffered chronic mild dicky knee syndrome that took the edge from their performances in their last season with us before curiously signing whopper interstate contracts. What’s the bet that like Scully he has a full recovery to his knee next season?

With Ablett’s issues at the time every other club would have let him go if they had him.

IMO our worst trades were when we got Kelvin Templeton and Peter Moore. Two stupendously highly paid superstars for the time who gave us absolutely nothing. Tellingly we only improved more or less immediately after they left. Templeton never really recovered from a serious knee injury sustained before he came to us and Moore just basically played for Brownlow votes.

Gawn is no where near as dominant contested marking as he was because players kick to him far too often especially in predictable set play scenarios. Opposition are aware and make sure there are at least two players around to make the spoil, make him pay for it, create a stoppage or ready to pinch the crumbs His numbers and averages are inflated because whilst still clunking them to keep up his average he drops a hell of a lot more or is effectively spoiled. His percentage is very low. What was once his major weapon has been more or less neutralised.

Confucius said that laws should be broadly based on ethics to make them enforceable. Narrowly defined and precise laws have too many loopholes. Would this philosophy apply to contracts?

The beginning of our downfall was when we started to choose to manage and absorb opposition pressure over applying our own in games

I switched off the TV at half time and took the dog for a long walk. Glad this season is over.

Why all the outrage? This and worse has been happening to ordinary First Nation peoples for centuries and nothing has changed for the better. However when the same discrimination happens to sportsman or celebrity First Nations person then mob mentality outrage becomes palpable. Many now want to care or pretend to so as to get their fix of conscious cleansing. Remember the Jurrah incident when he got celebrity justice and the best lawyers to get him off serious charges whilst his nobody co accused had to plead guilty to the same charges because no one would defend them. They got traditional First Nations justice. If most Australians really cared, these kind of outrages would have been extinct decades ago.

I observe that Collingwood play crap and wait for the opposition to tire or take the foot off the pedal before they make their surges and rely heavily on luck to go their way. But as is the case on putting too much faith in Lady Luck is that she gets bored eventually and declines to show up.

Jeremy Howe go and suck eggs.

If we only did not have the most banged up team because of playing injured players and the fewest game to game rotations as well as least injury subs used we could have mugged both of these sides.

As I recall Scully carried a knee injury for most of the season before he took off which healed quite nicely in the Sydney weather. Made sure it was bandaged so everyone could see. Not saying Jackson faked it but the thought of aggravating it may have played on his mind with a future big ticket return to Perth planned.

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Henry averages 9 disposals, 0.4 goals and 1 tackle a game in 3 seasons. Poor man’s Spargo or Pickett. We don’t need another small forward whilst Chandler has more upside to discover. Best to pass on him if offered in trade.

Gawn apologises to fans. Calling the MCG “our fortress” is a bit of a sick joke since they haven’t all season. “but on Saturday were lamenting they had failed to protect their “fortress”, that being the MCG, in both games.”

More time for pre season preparing.

Joel Smith says hi. Almost like for like.

Losing every game in almost identical fashion indicates to me that the opposition are not better teams but is because of our inflexible game plan and tactics. The better opposition clubs as well as lesser clubs despite their differing game styles and talent bespoke tailored their game to implement virtually identical strategy and tactics. It’s like there is a handbook out there on how to beat Melbourne. Just tick off the boxes. Our coaching staff paralysed by their own over confidence and hubris.

It has been frustrating to watch him in his past few games. In great position to mark but drops them all.

I am worrying that Goodwin is going the way of Ross Lyon. Lyon unlucky not to get a flag but burned out both Saints and Freo quickly due to his inflexible game style and playing same favourite players with no regeneration.