John Crow Batty

Or tiring in the last quarter.

I say, invest in current favourites at reasonable prices. They will be old, rare and expensive by then.

Perhaps four of those top 8 sides were not well fancied as top 8 sides at the beginning of the season. Injuries, every team has them. We played relatively well first half of last season and comparable so far to this season. What worries me is how we play out the rest of this season. I don't want to go through the second half of last season again. Finishing off strong is the line in the sand for us.

When a guy like Cloke kicks four in the first quarter, we were locked in to play a spare man in defence for the rest of the game. No one can beat him when he is firing. Oxley's impact was fairly neutral until the last quarter when we visibly tired. Up to then we maintained scoreboard pressure. One of our best scoring runs for the season. Old bugbears like poor delivery and lack of forward pressure undid a lot of improvements elsewhere. I do not think it was a coaching mistake to play that way. Their better ball movement would have killed us going the other way if we did not play a spare.

It is clear to see why Mr Selfless is now using the blame WADA strategy. He knows he has support of the rabid Essendon supporters but for how long and under what circumstances? If he can get away with his strategy of blame shifting, he may be able to position himself indispensable as the future saviour in the minds of the mob.

If drugs were allowed in sports and given the competative nature of sport to win, I can imagine what sort of freaks will be playing sports at all levels in 20 years time. Frankensteins all over the place.

I thought Watts was really trying hard and attempting to respond to criticisms. That he is applying himself is a positive. Still needs a VVS Laxman moment to finally turn his career.

Overall, the game was a step in the right direction and hope it was not because it was QB week. I just hope we can build on it next game.

Loose men only take uncontested marks because the ball is kicked to them. Poor hard leading and attack on the ball by the forwards aside from poor delivery.

We tired badly in the last quarter. Going wide from half back when we had many loose players down the middle resulted in poor forward line entry and not enough hard leads by forwards. Again missed set shots when it counted in the last quarter. Turnovers hurt us. Some improvemnent in a few areas like clearances and general competitiveness.

That's part of the the problem, as soon as something goes against us we go into a melt.down.

Come on everybody, let's hold hands and hug each other. Let's help lift this dark cloud hanging over Essendon. It's WADA fault and not mine that we are in this unholy mess. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/black-cloud-back-over-essendon-coach-james-hird-20150607

That will be Neeld and Craig.

Same story every year. There is at least one other side that are doing it tough. Problem is they move on after a season or two. They don't like our company.

Not up to it or just $oftcock$? Even ordinary players can put up a contest. See Carlton today.

Can't expect us to beat Carlton on the effort they put up today. Come to think of it we can't beat any club that has a crack.

Good win by the tigers last night but obvious Freo didn't come to play.

I have given up commenting on the ins and outs and who plays where. No matter what combination we put on the park, they are all capable of playing like crap and usually do especially on a big occasion. A regulation 8 to 10 goal loss would be a par result for us on Monday.

Early In his career as a half forward during the last days of the Barassi era he reminded me of a cross between Watts and Howe for skills. Similar build though a little shorter. Had Watts's measured kicking style and Howe's aptitude for a screamer. He could be undisciplined, loose and drifted in and out of games and often with somewhat mistimed aggression ala Tapscott. When Northey came along and shifted to defence his change in attitude was dramatic. Has been crticised for his hardness on man by many but his attack of the ball was just as hard. As I have said before he was one of our most influential players since the sixties and we always seemed to play better when he was on the park. When he missed games we were a much less switched on team.

Like Leigh Matthews, he was brutal and could also take the biggest hits in his stride. Never seen him go down for the count and plenty tried to nail him. Met him a few times in his playing days at the Harp Of Erin pub in East Kew. Always polite and affable and was often seen running around the local streets keeping fit. His hands were huge like grizzly bear paws and just as dangerous.

I am pleased with him so far. Not his fault we are absolute shite. When we are more competative he is the kind of player that will give us an edge in tight games.

And book ending WC's win against us were 10 goal losses. I have bitter memories from that game. We were asleep at the start and played catch up footy after half time and never got close.

Rubbing it in after beating WC at their dung heap in round 20, 1990 did not help. We gave them far too much ammunition for revenge and the unexpected 2' week layoff did not help. Since then we have been their bitchez..

Yes, list management needs to be done to right a slowly sinking ship