John Crow Batty

He has a wicked boot from long range. Rarely misses.

Pedro needs to be worked hard. Mix him up in the ruck, forward and a little defence and he thrives. Great game from him.

phew!

Without a doubt our biggest game of the year so far. And another two to go.

Sort of confirms my impression that we started going downhill after the Bulldogs game. By the time we played the Swans the players heads(and fans) were so high in the clouds that they started to suffer oxygen deprivation. The way the Swans out muscled and pressured us must have been a shock and other clubs have taken note.

Yeah it was also a bonus North were tanking on the end of 8 consecutive losses and GWS in the doldrums with their entire forward line injured. Now Nemises Nick is out. What Joy!

If we miss out on finals the public perception will be that we blew it and confirms our mediocrity. It was only a few weeks ago we were being touted as strong deep finals candidates. We can spin all we like that next season will be bigger and better. OH wait, that was said last season also. That won't fool the AFL fixture planners, the media, sponsors and many current and potential members. Incremental improvement as seen in the past four seasons only takes us closer to the window of success closing.

I thought a fine at worst. He was lucky the GWS didn't flinch or react and played on as if nothing happened. Looked worse than what it was.

Take the opportunity when it arises. Not wait for next season.

Telling also is the fact that we started to play better or at least break even straight after they kicked the first two goals of the third quarter. Effectively the door was slammed shut then and the pressure was off so we played a little more freely.

Success in football is all about taking opportunities when they arise because they may not come back again soon in a tough and unforgiving competition. This season we are chasing the relatively modest expectation of just making finals after our near miss last season. In our quest we looked at one stage of making top four but now we are in danger of blowing even a token finals appearance. Whilst we are a stronger and a better side on paper losing games we should be winning on a regular basis has undone all the good work. This has been a consistent flaw and shows a lack of mental toughness and character and puts us at risk of backsliding next season.

Just what we need at this stage. Another slow inside mid fighting his teammates for the ball. Won't give any more than Maynard has given in his first game.

Shame we didn't come to play to at least give a contest. GWS has been bog standard ordinary for 2 months and with North being pathetic for the same time. Says more about us than them. First we fall for the tanking hype and then the lacklustre form/injury hype. We switched off in both games.

On the replay it looked worse than what it is. May even have missed or just a scraping blow. No reaction from the GWS player.

I think Melksham might get off with a fine. It was low impact and the GWS player didn't flinch and continued on as if nothing happened.

Things may only get worse for us http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/snowy-retreat-climate-change-puts-australias-ski-industry-on-a-downhill-slope-20170804-gxp74h.html

We are the only side other than perhaps GC or North that are not having a real crack at this late stage of the season. And they have little to gain. We have lost a strong ladder position and shown ourselves up as a shallow team. The next few weeks will be huge and we have set up a hard task to win 3 in a row and regain respectability or else confirm our position as the perennial inept laughing stock irrelevance of the competition. If we don't get back into the 8 we can kiss goodbye yet again to hope of a favourable fixture and premium games next season. This will cost the club plenty and members will drop off.

North are finally tanking.

We are now reduced to the proverbial mathematical.

Somehow the result was predictable given our results again against out of form clubs. They were plagued with poor form, injuries and overall inertia for a couple of months until they played us with zest and hardness just like North did last week.

Remember we had a strong wind for two of those quarters.

Our midfield needs to lift. Very inefficient. Jones - rusty Oliver - predictable Viney - subdued Tyson - wasteful Maynard - encourging

MFC- Watts Gawn wrong?

We have won the inside 50's last two weeks. Scoring efficiency once in 26% today and 39% last week versus opposition 55% and 59%. Forward smarts have disappeared and defence leaks worse than the White House.

Two weeks in a row we crumble to pressure. All the players drinking out of the bathtub after port win. A deflating end of the season is on the cards as per last year.