John Crow Batty

If we didn't tank or list manage as some prefer to call it, we would never have had the opportunity to pick Scully, Trengove, Morton, Watts et al. That's our karma. We may have chosen more pragmatically.

Except Rivers was a good solid player for us for years. Many supporters were sad to him go. Bleese done bugger all. Rivers was targeted by the cats because they could see his value. Blease is a speculative punt.

I like the story about Ernest Schackleton and his crew who were marooned in the Antatctic for over a year on the ice. In his log he said he ordered that only the barest essential supplies be taken from his stricken ship and that included tobacco rations for all hands. Of course they all survived their monumental trek to safety.

Sometimes I ponder if Jobe Watson or Lance Franklin for example were as individuals in exactly the same trouble as Ahmed Saad. I find it improbable that they would have received the same punitive action if any at all. Pub and forum rumour would have been the worst they would have to deal with.

There will be a pragmatic ending and Essendon will get a softer landing than they deserve. Hird will be gone and business will be back as usual in 2016. It is far easier to make an example for Individuals like Saad than to a powerful cornerstone club which will do more damage than good for the game. The AFL. has other worrying threats on the horizon like changing demographics and rising A League.

That's because our players are collectively sheep.

Too many here are seduced by his highlight reel. IMO he's a selfish player and lacks team discipline. The only thing this club has done well in the past decade has been getting candidates short listed for MOTY.

That's good stuff from Harry. Standing up to two of the biggest gorillas in the game. Shame he wasn't around when Pederson got clobbered by Merrett.

The productivity of his high marking has added little for our fortunes. Rarely has anything good happened after he takes one. Better as Nutbeen said he works to take lead up marks. And he is no defender. Should play forward all the time.

Those big marks look great but are momentum killers in the modern game unless taken within goal range. Most times he takes one he has few options because in the time he takes to get up the oposition have set up their defence. It would be more value if he punched the ball every time. And deep in defence his fluffed efforts have too often resulted in easy oposition goals.

Now that we have experience in observing these matters, we may see one or more of these following scenarios assuming what we have heard so far is true. 1) He is holding out contract talks to improve his currency and plays a spectacular season. A fight for his services will ensure. 2) He has already made a backdoor deal and will cruise through the season AKA Frawley. 3) If point 2 is the case, then he may be dropped(assuming Roos is true to his rhetoric). Then he may develop a mysterious injury that keeps him out for the better part of the season AKA Scully. 4) Same as point 3 but off to pasture at Casey. 5) Before the middle of next season he signs a new deal on the back of good form and then slacks off. 6) Before the middle of next season he signs a new deal on the back of good form and finally becomes the complete player we have hoped for. 7) If this rumour still persists after round 2 next season and DL achieves more than 50 pages of posts on the matter he is surely gawn! 8) He signs a deal promply and all is forgotten We will talk about something else. This sums it all up. IMO he has not been good enough to deserve a spot in the "Hold off talks category". Maybe the surprise offer from GWS has given him ideas.

Why is all this coming out now? A desperate attempt to influence the forthcoming stae election?

A bit premature. Toumpas and Hogan are still works in progress though I have doubts about Toumpas at this stage. I think Hogan will go OK once he actually starts playing.

It appears now that ruthless decisions are being made on football considerations rather than political.

This leads to the the possibility that Tird has been bewitched, hence a victim. Is that possible?

Wish him well. If he feels he's not up to it then he's made the right decision instead of wasting everyone's time and taking easy money from a struggling club.

If we look back to the period just before he became coach he was portrayed as being a reluctant saviour begged to return to restore the clubs glory. In hindsight it now looks more like he was the mastermind of a diabolical plot to engineer his takeover of the club. I'm sure he was the root cause and agitator of the player go slow revolt that ended Matty Knights career.

Was talking about Evans. Agree about Barry. Far too many players get generous 2nd time around contracts from us after a few promising games.

All these promissing types. Show something then sign a generous contract renewal then disappear. We have been plagued by them

I just hope that High Court judge Susan Kenny has not fallen in love with pretty boy just like that South African lady judge did with Oscar Pistorius.

James and Tania can't help themselves being Barbie and Ken.

All considering we are holding steady. If lucky we will have slightly more at the start of next season compared to this season. But there will be no major increases until we actually start winning games and have a rosy outlook. It's all about results and getting optimism back into the club. The pathetic finish to last season will not help as with not landing a big fish at trading as most fans were hoping for. Even Geelong at the beginning of 2011 season had lost nearly a third of its members due to Ablett leaving and the false perception that they were on the decline.

I stand to be corrected but most players who have suffered this injury and had a successful return to top flight footy had a relatively trouble free recovery period I believe. A little different with Tengove. Played far too long with a mysterious injury before first diagnosis and treatment and then had a repeat breakdown when he should have been right again. Now he has to undergo a second long recovery period.

Just goes to show how even modest success is so far in past. Those guys have all aged that I can barely recognise half. I still remembered them in their football prime. Gives me a stunned and numb feeling.

In this case its three judges on the bench plus the sub.