John Crow Batty

Add Alan Jeans, Mick Malthouse, Tony Jewell and Alan Joyce. All good ordinary players who became premiership coaches.

I know of one particular legend who driving when drunk lost control and ran over a 5 year old boy playing on the footpath in the early 60's. The boy died recently after lingering in an institution for over 50 years. He ended up a profoundly retarded quadriplegic with half his head missing . The issue was covered up and no meaningful action was taken by the authorities, VFL or his club. The player was a club captain, B&F winner and member of their team of the century. I only know this because I was told the story by the boys mother whom I know well.

There was an unwritten pact between the media and VFL then. No outrage by a star player would have been reported. All issues would have been handled in house. Martin, Fevola, Cousins etc would not have faced public scrutiny for their behaviour as they do today. There would be a few legends from the old days that would have truncated careers if they played today due to their behaviour.

I felt the Daniher years were not much different from the Balme years. We were both good and bad then and never had any decent luck. It was a long time ago and my most persistent recollection of the Balme era was our poor defensive game. Can remember we used to concede far to many easy goals against the run of play. I always said Balme invented the Swiss Cheese defence.

Yeah, he was trying to do the right thing. Desperately seeking to escape the non stop 72 hour party lifestyle. He took the sleeping pills so that he could be in bed by 10pm and get a good nights sleep after the games. Wasn't used to taking one pill and not a dozen at a time and camomile tea wasn't working for him.

I have been using Freo as a benchmark for us to aspire to for over a year now. I tipped them to be the big team this year. If Roos is the coach we expect him to be then I can see no reason why we should not be to their level within three years. Freo for most of their history have been comparable to the Balme, Daniher sides. Sure to let you down after showing promise and never serious premiership contenders. Lyon changed the culture and mindset. More than half their best 22 come from lower draft picks, trash draft and rookies. If Roos is just as capable a coach I don't really care if we miss out on the priority pick because we will not need it.

Wasn't there a guy called Fevola around recently and a Cousins? Shining examples of wayward talents that rehabilitated themselves at other clubs.

Nah, it was the Jerusalem Jackals.

Well it looks like a deal may be made just like with us. Goes to show it is pointless fighting the empire. The only difference is they made a lot more noise pretending to fight than we did. To be fair their position was from significantly more strength than us. The biggest loser out of this will be Hird. He made himself look so bad. It will take a lot to get his respect back. We await the next moves by ASADA and WADA.

if Roos is still in the running I suspect the biggest obstacle remaining is for him to have the rigth support team assembled. His style of coaching is more presidential style and depends on able assistants IMO. It has been widely discussed that his previous success had a lot to do with the wealth of talent at his disposal like Lyon, Longmire et al to support him.

It appears Hird has given himself an exit strategy to give himself a soft landing and walk away without blame if he is forced out. In his writ he claims this course of action will affect his abilty to coach. I suggest he does not waste anymore time and just do it.

There is a big game in Damascus this weekend and I swear not AFL. Just don't forget your gas mask.

As I have said before, What will most likely destroy Hird is how the players are going to react to him. Legal machinations may become irrelevant. Four substantial losses in a row and could get uglier. If they have turned on him he's dead meat just like Neeld was. At the moment we are hearing things like "stress is taking its toll" to excuse the recent bad performances. But I believe it is no co-incidence the drop off had started around the time Evans resigned. He was looking for the least harm option and protecting the players. Before that they were playing like super heroes. I question the support he has amongst the players. If they get thrashed this week his demise may be quick. I doubt the players have the will or stamina to fight it out to the bitter end just to save his skin.

He is not gullible. He has his own interests(Jobe) to protect. He is a fellow traveller and doing his bit by putting out disinformation. Just like the ex Iraqi propaganda minister he is.

The players signed consents for being administed KFC's 11 secret mix of herbs and spices.

All this makes me reflect back to when Knights was coaching them and Hird was OTC every week playing Mr Innocent observer whilst plotting his takeover, white anting Knights and also the club in the process. He talked to Knights regulary to give him support and advice he used to say. The players became divided, performances were insipid, membership was dropping thus forming ideal conditions for him to takeover. It was a well orchestrated plot and fait accompli. This time he is prepared to bring down the club again and also the AFL for his own selfish needs. "Whatever it takes" is his own personal mantra. He is as ruthless and Machivellian as they come.

Will interfere with productivity and deadlines.

Don't buy that line, he was just putting up a media bluff on behalf of the Hird Reich. Part of their aggresive strategy to try to get the AFL to blink. I seriously doubt he believed the bluff would get called but it did.

Flash was one of my favourite players though I did flail at him in 2011 perhaps unjustly. WTFWGO then tore this club apart and he copped a lot. This season he tried hard but decline from chronic injury finally defeated him. Hope he sticks around. If we were a better run club he may have been a superstar.

At this stage I would not like to see him back. But if he went to Casey and played out a full season with no dramas then he deserves consideration. It is up to him to bend over backwards this time around.

True, it was a player revolt brewing from around the time before McLean left. Same old denialists keeping their heads in the sand, papering up the cracks and dishing out disinformaton etc. Those we trusted to make our club great again [censored] up big time. Now we are at trash time of this pathetic saga. Everyone at the club is making time for new world order to begin. Things will improve.

if he is trying to reduce his value then may have to accept less pay. Unless he has already made a deal with another club.

Aarons biggest strengths was his pace and nimbleness which compensated for his lack of AFL standard minimum physicality. Those strengths are now gone. His physical strength is far below what is required for an AFL footballer. Is a skinny runt who gets brushed aside in contests with ridiculous ease. His kicking is still sublime but without his pace and nimbleness he is only of value when receiving the ball out in the open. When he has to battle with an oponent he looks like a boy against men. His brother who was an inferior player to him still has his pace, is far stronger and has beefed up.(Essendon suplements?) Would be a great gesture if he retired.

Yes, this is trash time of our worst ever season. We can thank Neeld for that. Don't go around spruiking for medals to decorate your chest.

Seems to have been disinterested for most of the season. Lots of negative body language and even the hangers he is famous for have disappeared. I would put him in a more accountable role for a while looking after an opponent to see if it helps him regain focus.