John Crow Batty

Been playing slow and tired footy since we beat Adelaide. The circumstances and reasons why are different but this is seeming a carbon copy of last season results wise.

Tmac played injured. Should have rested.

Swiss cheese defence on toast.

Junk time heroics.

Barely seen a tackle stick after the first 5 minutes.

Time to put Tmac down back. For evey goal he scores we are conceding 3.

Don’t worry it’s already there.

Watching the replay a few times. It was hard to work out who was on the mark. They were all very close to each other and jumping all over the place. I assume they were all behind the mark. A trigger happy, biased or all about me umpire would have difficulty resisting temptation. If that scenario was in Adelaide last week and Port were shooting for goal, then most likely a 50 metre penalty would have been found.

In the game against Port we matched and bettered their desire and intensity for two and a half quarters. When 20 points up we shut shop. We can match these better sides but we either don’t show up or get too comfortable when we have some control and lose momentum. Seriously after having a bye there were no excuses to be goaless for the last 40 minutes. I am convinced the worst of our problems are in the headspace.

Since we beat WC last season to cap off 4 straight wins, we haven’t been close in big high pressure games. The rot starting with the Swans game immediately after WC. That game exposed us and we haven’t made a yelp since. There seems to be a low limit to how hard our player will fight. Hope to be proved wrong come finals time.

Those were wins when our expectations were slightly lower. And they were both over a year ago. At this time we are more or less(will we, won’t we) at the same stage as last season. If we don’t make finals then a huge step backwards.

That’s why Garlett hasn’t been playing. Is hopeless in high pressure situations. And a puff of wind blows him out of any contests. Yes we blew it by not having a crumber. I would also suggest Spargo or Bugg instead of Petracca was a better option.

True and when they do that our inside 50 entries become panicky and unfocused. You have to get the ball inside 50 to create the bulk of the scoring options. Weak links have been players like Hogan, Petracca and Garlett who can’t handle the high pressure stuff once the ball is in there. The saving grace is that we still get the ball in there. We need forward and midfield players who can handle pressure or change the way they play.

It’s quite obvious when we are the best inside 50 side by a mile. If we don’t take advantage of them we lose like last week. Playing an all offensive game will win all the soft games but wont win finals or high pressure games. We sacrifice defence for scoring opportunities. And when we are a bit off, flood gates open. Adelaide played similar last season and we know what happened. I have been lamenting we are too close to following their unbalanced game for a while. If we don’t score more than a 100 points a game we lose. We have won all when we score a 100 plus and lost all under.

It was never about applying an appropriate penalty but all about going through hoops minimising his suspension.

With a broomstick up his arse?

At the tribunal hearing. Umpire Pannell says he gave a free to Cameron for being pushed in the back by a Brisbane player Darcy Gardiner before reversing it for the hit on Andrews. Alluding that Cameron was pushed into the collision perhaps? Looks like forces are working to go lightly on Cameron.

Three talls in the forward line doesn’t work in tight high pressure games where the opposition pack the backline. The third tall should go and leave Hogan and McDonald there with an extra crumber. Play an extra tall in defence is what we need also. Hogan and Petracca ATM are neither fish nor fowl in their current roles. Both promise a lot but lack direction.

Karma blessed Peter Caven after this. The following season Lockett was traded to the Swans. Caven was not too happy to be playing with Lockett and asked for a trade. He went to Adelaide and played in two premierships whilst Lockett never got one.

I think 8 to 10 weeks suspension is a fair penalty given precedents for similar vicious elbows. Then we can all move on, but........The ongoing concern is will this have future ramifications for Harris Andrews? Could take years to find out.

Yeah, sides that have a sniff are giving it all. We with a 9 day break and bye have played tired footy in the last quarters for the past two games. We have blown a top two position. I hope we are not penciling in a win next week against the saints. Sides dead in the water like Bulldogs, Bombers, Brisbane and Carlton played with energy this round. If the saints detect weakness they will go for us hard.

I thought it was comical when at one stage he had his arms out faking for a non existent push free in a marking situation with no oponent in direct contact with him. He realised the ball was coming straight towards him and then went for the uncontested mark.

Leaving Norths forward line open in the last minute was criminal. Should have packed the backline.

Jeremy Cameron is gonna go for at least 4-6 weeks for a shocking elbow on Brisbane’s Harris Andrews. One of the worst I’ve ever seen.

When was the last time we snagged a close one?