John Crow Batty

Well he should have been on the LTIL already then. 11 rounds going to be 22?

Not hard to figure out. It would make a mockery of the system.

Theres a niggling flaw with this argument. Going by the current prognosis it means Tom is still out till at least round 12. So why hasn't he been put on the LTIL already? We have been told ad-nauseum that the club will not take and any chances with him and the club will err on the side of caution for his slow recovery. Why keep adding a couple of weeks to his absence after every couple of weeks? The club could easily have said early on he will be out for the minimum of 8 weeks to qualify for the LTIL and then been able to activate a rookie. But I don't think that will ever happen even if he plays zero games this season. Putting him on the LTIL and then activating a rookie will raise uncomfortable legal complications akin to fraud for when Tom signs with GWS for millions after being on the LTIL. It may be too late now to spruik for more membership so the club might as well come clean on this issue. It has now come to the stage where this is now a face saving situation for both parties. I imagine it goes something like this, "You pretend you are injured and we'll pretend to believe you".

Yeah he'll do too. I'd just like to see someone eyeball Green and Davey, shove them against a wall, slap them around a bit then make them to do the same to their team mates. Alas, wishful thinking.

It took Malthouse 16 years to reprise his premiership streak with the filth. And Roos hasn't backed up after 2005. What do you want, God or Clint Eastwood?

Going on recent performances we bewail their game plan more than they do.

Wel they must be ingrates then. He bloody well got them a flag. Do we need any more nice guys?

I'm one of those people who still believes the darkest hour is always before dawn. But it's been an awfully long night with Bailey. If we have to look for a new coach what about Alistair Clarkson? From what I have heard he has not extended his contract with Hawthorn for next season. The papers report rumblings that he has issues with the likes of Jeff Kennett. Over the past six years he has proved to be an innovative premiership coach. He is still young and fresh and appears to have the ability to be a front runner as far as developing game plans and players to match or keep ahead of the herd. He is also a former Melbourne player who played against stereotype. He played 40 odd mostly excellent games with us and had a tough mean streak. I think he would be a great coach for us and knows exactly what it takes to win a flag. About time we become proactive and try to poach this guy even if it costs big bucks.

Most people seemed to have forgotten 1997. A shocking season. In particular Round 9 against AFL debutants Port Adelaide. A peurile effort not seen for a long time until last weeks abomination. Neil Balme got the sack for that effort. Interesting to note the few players who flew the flag for us on that miserable day. Alistair Clarkson and Jim Stynes. Forget about the rest.

I wouldn't rate Malthouse either. Going by our results against his mob last year he's no better than Bailey.

Could be something. I mentioned that back last week. But Bailey hasn't burned his last candle yet.

Didn't we kick 9.8.62 in the first quarter against Footscray I believe in a game at the MCG sometime back in the the early 70's?

If we were playing any better I suspect we would be getting different spin from the club. They may be punting that we may improve(as we should).

A lot of poster have suggested that Watts should have a stint down back. We match him up on Hurley when we meet the Dons next.

I urge u all to be patient and not panic. He'll be fighting fit come October.

I've been accused of flaming already today. You know what I mean.

There was not enough money left in the kitty for those two,. GWS already got their man at a premium.

Hard to get too excited over this game. Much to lose but little to gain IMO. To rectify the perceived lack of hunger we have to smash them seriously. But we will have to wait a couple of weeks to see if this translates to any positive indication of genuine improvement. But still if we beat them by 80 plus points it won't dispel the the widely held "showboaters on ski's" image we have until we can back it up consistently. The percentage gain will be diminished because of the drawn game. From 50 to 80 points will be a par result. Given the current form of GC it appears every club has been gifted 4 points plus percentage for a win against GC. 30 to 50 points will indicate that we lack hunger and are not serious finals contenders. I to 30 points will be a huge psychological win for GC and confirm that we are a bad side. If we lose then the hounds of hell will be unleashed.

Well lets just all hold tight to our seats. Looks like it could be a long season for plotting and intrigue. I wonder if the club has Paul Roos's phone number?

I yearn for the good old days when we were blissfuly unaware of all the outrages committed by footballers. Now player outrage outage is yet another act for the circus that football has become. Just like the Hawthorn and Adelaide themes songs that are ear worms these stories become soul worms. And in a way the feeding frenzy of self righteousness and pompousness they generate is a moral outrage in itself considering all the genuine misery in this world.

If you want to see crazy bars, theres none worse than those I saw in Yugoslavia back in the Commie days in Eastern Croatia. Same area where they did some of the genocide killings in the 90's. All the drinkers when they finished their beers smashed the bottles on the floor or hurled them against the walls. By the end of the night there was broken glass 2 inches thick all over the floor. Anyone that fell over would have been in trouble. No one batted an eyelid or payed any attention even though bottles were flying about everywhere. Saw that in a few places.

Does anyone know if any of his team mates were also out with him to those wee hours?

He made a god fist of it. Unfortunately he's not the team.

I've see too much flag raising from us over the years. Always of the white variety.

I think the 3 wise monkey approach would be wise if a tanked Beamer was having a slash next to me at the bar.