John Crow Batty

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

Do they post here?

The crap this sides serves up with monotonous regularity and with new humiliations served up every other week is not a recipe for rational behaviour. It's an environmental thing for us at the moment. Perhaps once we reach the middle ground of acceptable performance if itt ever happens we may collectively think differently.

I believe a lot of blown leads has to do with not playing out a full quarter. Against Port we blew the last half of the first three quarters with varying severity. Did the same against GWS in the first half. The Richmond game was tight in the first half with a few lead changes. The Bulldogs only did damage in the first 10 minutes. We have been fast starters and only blown away early by Freo. Co-incidentally that was the only game where we gave a yelp when trailing and soldiered on well for most of the game. Only got blown away for good half way through the last quarter.

Interesting watching the North/Collingwood game. North fell apart in the same style we did, but they did manage a fightback before the situation became hopeless. The game only swung back into Collingwood's favour after the rain came tumbling down. There just is no fight in our game, only collective [censored] of pants and no one seem to know where the answers lie.

True but he has got a lot of mileage in his career from just taking only speccies.

I don't think so. I hope he gets back on the park and delivers. But he was a coin toss for number one pick. These top picks are given an enormous amount of patience and latitude by the football gods. Many budding careers have been ruined by injury but because they were lower draft picks they get labeled as duds anyway and no one cares. If Fyfe had Trengove's injury a few seasons ago, he would be just another dud in the big picture.

No, our best chance was in 1990. We were flag favourites for many in a relatively even finals race. The draw between Collingwood and WC mucked up the whole final series and we lost in an upset against WC at Waverley. We had beat Hawthorn easily and had to wait an extra week to take on WC which took the wind out of our sails.

So using your criteria you wouldn't put Tapscott in the dud category too? He had some serious injuries that ruined his pace and kicking.As for Scully, there are many 3rd rounders and above plus rookies that are doing a better job than him at the moment. If it wasn't for the his No 1 status, big contract and general loss of face he would have been delisted already. Similar reasons Watts is still getting a regular game.

Jones has been our best player for years but he had little or no influence on our game win or lose. He does the same things every game usually to the same high personal standard. He does not need to be led to get the best out of him but he can't lead others to his standards either. Just soldiers along with the flow. Seriously we should look for another captain who can move things along for his teamates.

You can add Scully as a clear dud for productivity Vs hype generated and salary. Rohan and Talia look like solid 10 year players with more improvement likely. Shame our skinny dark horse was Gysberts and not Fyfe. I read that Fyfe was rated as a third round pick. And if Trengove can't get back with a vengeance he sadly has to be labeled as a dud also.

Nik Nat gets 10/10 for style points but gets a technical deduction for losing the ball when hitting the ground. Howe usually hangs on to the ball after landing.

Howe's market value is slipping. He didn't take a speccie this week.

At that price expect a Melbourne like letdown soon.

I am starting to think about the second half of the season. I am fearing the same gutless, dispirited winding down of the season as last year.

Same here. Even going to games seems like a chore. Staying home and doing nothing feels more relaxing.

I am starting to mellow a bit. I don't feel like kicking the cat or smashing something after a bad loss these days.

Front runners who can't handle pressure. Fall a couple of goals behind and its game over.

We tire really bad at the end of quarters.