John Crow Batty

Dermott Brereton was saying on radio that Howe is looking for big money way above his worth. Also said if he ever managed to get to a good club they would play him in the reserves for about six weeks in an effort to change his ways before getting a senior gig. There is a possibility we may be stuck with him

A problem with us is we still have about a half dozen senior players on our list with the same half arsed attitude that Frawley had the past few season with us. Peer group pressure to succeed is quite undemanding at our club. It is clear Hawthorn were losing patience with him coming to the finals. Even the TV producers were following his every move on GF day. In his only direct turnover during the game the camera was quick to switch on a cursing Clarkson in the coaches box. They knew something for sure. But he has responded and played great footy in the last few weeks. No doubt the coach and senior players there looked him in the eye hard and shamed him enough to change his ways. He must have felt very lonely over there for a while.

I have had enough. Signing off for the year. Merry Christmas

Reported that Cooper Ratten aged 16 was killed in a car crash earlier today. Sad and shocking news and my condolences to the family

At his press conference he still says he is the man despite what others at the club may think. He has had plenty of opportunities and hints to do the right thing going back a couple of years now.

Our mental application after a win is poor. We win one, we get ahead of ourselves. Improvement has been minimal if we can't put two or three wins together. What we have built so far can collapse if we don't develop mental hardness.

The scenario that we will play a Fremantle seconds team and grab an unearned 4 points in round 22 is highly possible.

Yes another possibility. I base my opinion that since the leaks were published by the Hun who throughout this saga have been all the way with Hird. And Hird appears to have a track record of leaking throughout this saga to the Hun.

Interesting to hear Brendon Goddard's savage attack on the "cowards" who leaked the transcripts. And the players are also very [censored] off that they were sledged by GWS players last game over this issue. Given that Team Tird are the prime suspects for the leaks, how will the players respond next game? It appears to me the intent of the leaks could be to drag other clubs like us and Geelong to further muddy the waters. If so it may have been an enormous miscalculation by Team Tird if he is still trying to cling to power or else a diabolical tactic to force the clubs hand. All depends on what Tird's end game plan is.

Nothing is more certain than Tird already having lined up a tell all book contract in the 6 to 7 figure mark.

I think Essendon hope the pressure will build enough so that he will resign. The involvement from Essendon notables questioning his competency could be a play for this end. Problem is, Hird still holds a significant part of the board and legions of supporters in his spell.

It is fairly clear that Dank did some work around our club but I doubt he would have started off with the standard service plus all the extras like he did at Essendon. He just got sacked for this at Essendon. He would have known by then that he was under scrutiny and would have been sure he was arse covering. Perhaps once he got well rooted in he may have tried to peddle the extra services.

It's ripe for civil war over there. While many influential supporters are [censored] off and want change, the board is dominated by Hird's evangelical groupies it appears.

But will the AFL step in to get rid of them?

Ask Joel where he was when we played them last? We just ain't good enough or strong enough to dominate better sides that want to win more than us yet. I am pleased we haven't capitulated like we used to when we get ambushed.

They were fired up and we were asleep. This was an important game for them. They know we can be an easy knockout. At least this time we got up and made a decent fight of it. It was good to see that we at least stood up to a team that had more to lose than we did for a change. Playing catch up footy finally wore us out.

Asleep in first quarter, good comeback but run out of steam getting back into the game.

Jones, Vince and Brayshaw only 16 possessions between them. Let's hope they all lift.

Vince also very quiet. I just hope we can put in strong third quarter. A major weakness all year.

I don't want Garlett and Vince.

No such thing as fair dinkum test cricket any more. Once it was an arm wrestle with ebb and flow for how long it took and battled out to the finish, win, lose or draw. Now when one team gets the upper hand the other folds in a blink. This game is now [censored].

Only applicable if he had not been circumcised in those days.

About the only thing I remember of the reseves games from then was Phil Rhoden's booming kicks. They were a highlight never to be forgotten. I don't believe there is a comparable long kicker around these days. I remember Allan Martello from Hawthorn also had an enormous roost.

Fairdinkum would anyone be comfortable renting Hird a holiday house? Might sue for slipping on a banana peel he dropped.

Off field issues delayed Jacko's AFL debut. His talent was well known in WA and SA circles. He was a bit of a nomad playing everywhere before he came to Melbourne.