John Crow Batty

Bayley Fritsch last seen moonwalking in moon boots on the moon.

At this time of the season fog of war optics are everywhere. I’ll only believe what’s happening when the ball is bounced.

Lactose intolerant like James Sicily.

After his third quarter painful tippy toe through the tulips jaunt he moved freely all over the ground. Kicked a 50 metre goal and two sublime snaps. I’ll wait for the bad news from the club if any before I panic. If the news is bad I have bottle of Rivers Royale Kill Devil to end the misery.

Shows we are a very even side with team ethos trumping individual brilliance.

Grundy kicked 3 goals last game where his AFL best has been 2 goals. Maybe has learned some forward craft?

Cox and Cameron will try to work Gawn into the ground. JVR needs to concentrate on his forward craft instead of doing disruptive cameo ruck work. One goal a game by him won’t cut it in finals. Grundy has to play. Its a new ball game now and what didn’t work in H&A has no relevance to what can or can’t work in finals.

Very sad about this. Arguably in career best form before finals. Hope Club looks after him and Dunstan going forward.

Gawn’s past two performances are not as good as in his previous months worth. Looks over worked. Hard to see him carrying our rucks with cameos with JVR for up to 3 or 4 punishing finals. Grundy can offer plenty.

I still believe the Grundy and Gawn partnership can work. Finals add different dynamics. Cox and Cameron are too tall without equality in matchup. Solo Gawn will be worked over and VDR too short to counter and unsettles his forward game.

Grundy and Tmac could play a half each forward.

Loitering with intent.

Peeking in Collingwood's Big Footy forum the big talk there is how sick many of their players were at our last meeting. Many taking us lightly.

Grundy has to come in to support Gawn. Gawn has been impressive going solo but starting to look over worked in the last couple of rounds. Another tall loitering in the forward line would also pressure Collingwood's shortish defence.

[censored] the the commentators. it’s like they are willing injures for us.

With Spargo, Pickett and Chandler why would we want Liam Henry?

For such a deadly kick for goal on the snap, tight angles and on the run it puzzles me how awkwardly he handles an easy set shot at middle distance.

Your disciples are praying your flight is delayed and hoping they might still get your trichotomous fix for the round.

He can certainly roost the ball. Saw him at Optus a couple years ago kick the ball I swear it was close to 80 metres. Shame it was a point.

Seems to make the same exciting moves every game but often it’s like his internal GPS is out of whack and he has trouble tracking the ball where it’s going even by a few inches.

We would have been better with Grundy instead of Gawn today so far. Reeves is cleaning him up.

I don’t think it’s a wise move to bring Tmac back in now. Takes him a while to get to form after an injury layoff.

Goal reviews won’t get any better until improved technology is introduced and it is clear the 4 field umpire system needs tweaking. There appears no coordination between them. The 4th umpire needs to be an experienced full time master umpire who follows the action but does not make ordinary flow of play decisions. However he needs to have the authority over the other 3 and can overturn decisions, step in when a clear infringement is missed and directs the other umpires on interpretation as the game develops. Like an orchestra conductor to keep musicians synchronised and in lockstep.

I was generally happy with our game but we lucked out. Carlton have been red hot for a while and brought out their A+ game and we matched them. Conditions did not suit us at all. Being switched off at start of games has to be addressed. Just makes it harder for us with our unsettled forward line to regain control. Hope we make a big statement early against the Hawks. Win next week and we can manage the last round depending on other results. If second spot looks unobtainable then fourth and a likely home final is ideal.

Cripps after the game was asked about the touched ball incident and he said they got lucky.