John Crow Batty

In our losses it’s been -132 in last quarters. We get hammered bad in last quarters by good sides.

Should have played when we took him to Perth as an emergency and against Norf. Most clubs blood several or more new debutants every season for regeneration purposes. We have only debuted Daniel Turner for one game. Dunstan doesn’t count and Chandler also deserved at least a full game somewhere. Out of form players or injured are not being dropped or are being replaced with fringe players that have been around a while. It’s not ideal particularly since we have been going stale for most of the second half of the season.

We got a heads up on Saturday of what was going to happen when Gil and Stokes were filmed seated together at Saturday’s Freo Bulldogs final.

Melksham on the run, snap, around the corner and banana is deadly but hopeless on regulation set shots.

First swans loss we concede 3-4 goals to soft frees. Ditto second loss to Collingwood. QF against swans concede 3 50 metre penalties. All made a big difference.

50 metre penalty goals conceded are momentum killers. Do more damage than just 6 points a pop especially in tightly contested games.

Its not a losing strategy. Its when we fail preventing the opposition to clear out from the pocket that’s the problem. Poor forward pressure is when it breaks down. When we lock it in and deny the opposition to clear defence we do well. This strategy won us a flag and and got us top two this season.

We have our backs to the wall now. Do or die. Let’s see if this makes a change to the dynamics to the way we play. Due to early wins banked we have been in a comfort zone with most losses having little effect on our standing. We have let other sides pressure us with too much reciprocating.

Collingwood coach sooking and criticising his players for looking “defeatist” after the hard fought game as well as complaining about umpires letting the game flow. Another sore loser coach in the making.

Freo play 2nd gamer Amiss and he did very well in the absence of Taberner. Perhaps a reminder to Goodwin that it might be time to debut VDR next game.

Ginnivan useless but unlucky with that push in the back but as is his signature style, he put too much mayo on it and put the umpires off.

Not like that anally umpired game last night.

If any women are in the Richmond area, please stay off the streets for a couple of hours. The toothless horde will be on the rampage.

Poor second half’s against quality opposition. In our 7 losses we average 24 points per second half’s against their 52 points. Our average losing margin is 20 points. Third quarter averages are 15.6 points for and 24.7 against. Our last quarters have been shocking averaging with us averaging 8.4 points to theirs 27.3 points. We fold easily in second half’s under serious opposition pressure. I doubt that we are unfit. The headspace to finish off games is not right.

14 of those for the Swans in last quarter.

I only watched on TV. Thats what the commentators said. Petty was on the mark and Reid was back and ready to take his kick as Pickett moved downfield already moving past Petty to his right when the penalty was called.

Next week will be the first game since last seasons preliminary final that we have a do or die game. This season we have been in a comfort zone for most games knowing a loss would not significantly damage us. Only when our top four spot was at risk have we pulled all stops out and played our best. Maybe wishful thinking on my part but the plethora of injuries being carried by our players is certainly a concern.

Problem with Max as a forward is that he has to take a contested mark against two or three defenders who invariably make him pay for it. He’s got to move and lead into space or seperate from our other forwards. It’s so predictable to where he positions himself and defenders are always ready.

I haven’t attended this final but I swear that last seasons GF was the loudest support for us I have ever experienced in a game and sadly most were neutral or WC and Freo supporters. I have been to 90% of Melbourne finals since 1987. In 87 we got a lot of support from neutrals that bumped up the volume as well but nothing compared to the 2021 GF.

It was but generally focused on the general lack of discipline(not just May) but was very happy with Mays overall game.

Pickett wandered into protected area(marginal).

No matter how well we are playing when good sides start challenging and apply manic pressure we wilt. Been a pattern all year, we just fade away. All our losses to Freo, Pies, Bulldogs, Cats, Swans we were in the game and in winnable positions. We lose our shape and let them roll over us.

Evenly matched sides. Both games 1 point wins and same scores. 85-84 and 84-85.

One of Pickets worst games for us. Out tackled badly. 5 of the 6 best trackers were swans.

We don’t have a home. Like Roma or travellers. At our best on the road. The MCG has become like a cage for us.