John Crow Batty

Honourable Confucius says; Bottom 4 side? Chinese unlucky number 4 for us? Will 4 Horsemen of Apocalypse appear if lose to GC in round 4? Dis one unlucky 4th year for Dean?

To win in the next five in a row? What odds would the bookies put on that? I'd go 50 to 1 on current form. The seasons still early and some of these teams are looking hungrier than us at the moment. History has shown we always trip up when we crystal ball easy opposition on the road ahead.

A 4 letter word would suffice. That is the TEAM.

I just hope last week was the wake up call we need. If we lose the embarrassment will be unbearable.

I think he had six touches after he came on. Putting an opportunist forward on the ground when we re being routed like rarely ever seen before was like feeding children to the lions.

I agree give Maric a few more games. Needs more intensity but he'll still never be an effective player if we don't keep the ball in the forward line more often.

Thank you Bimma for your informative insight as always. Not much more that could be said on our forward play. But I am of the school that believes most of our attacking problems start with the midfield. I don't think our midfielders are as bad or callow as many think. They are not the best in the comp but they should be able to take more advantage of Jamar's ruck dominance and compete better. Problem is IMO is that Jamar's too predictable. Every centre tap out he gets seems to be a replay of the previous one. Starts with the wrestle then a short soft tap out close into congestion. Time after time the ball gets sharked or if our players get first touch they are suffocated and cannot get a clean handle and disposal. The reaction time of our players seems to be slow because the opposition is pouncing even before we touch the ball. When Hawthorn started kicking serial goals it was the same thing again and again at the centre bounces. Consequently the defence transition game was our only option because thats where ball was coming from most of the time. Under that kind of pressure its going to break down. A power forward is useless if we can't get the ball down forward with pressure creating regularity and speed. Something needs to be done to change the dynamics at stoppage play. Jamar's dominance seems to have turned into a poison chalice for us. He's got to start being more creative, longer tap outs, taps out the back, fisting the ball forward and structure the midfield setup for these options.

Sylvia had the option to go deep to the square and pressure the Hawk backline to the goal face soon after a steadying goal from us. An opportunity to put them on the back foot and release the pressure on us. He worked his way free and it looked to me that his instinct was to bomb the ball long into the square but he took the risky wide option. The kick was slightly backwards off target and busted us wide open. Don't know if he kicked to plan but I thought with his penetrating kicking the goal square option was the most suitable IMO. It was all one way traffic from then on. An opportunity to change the momentum of the game lost.

This was a game of momentum swings. Problem was we only got one piece of it and we were never going to romp away from the Hawks without a serious challenge. I felt if we hung in tough and maintained the two goal advantage for another 5 minutes or so after Pettard goaled in the 3rd quarter we could have got on top again. I don't think slowing the game down before half time as a major issue. One critical error by an experienced player changed everything. I think we have the ability to resist sustained pressure but our game is still plagued by errors from too many players compounded with general poor disposal which is the straw that breaks the camels back.

As the end of last season and contrary to popular opinion I argued that we should go for more midfielders in the draft. I even suggested we go for Robert Eddy as a bargain basement cheapie because he's got genuine St Kilda hardness pedigree that may infect the others. And the game plan smacks of arrogance to me and lacks respect for opposition strengths. Only seems to work when the opposition is off the boil.

I agree with what you say about Sylvia. But as I said in another thread I think he made the critical mistake that caused us to completely unravel against the Hawks. Perhaps that is why we free fell into a bottomless pit. When our die hard type players also make critical errors it becomes a true nightmare.

We usually play our best footy against them as tradition dictates. This time they may humiliate us by 2 points.

I can't believe some of the lame excuses here. Jamar is becoming so predictable. Nearly every tap out he got went within a 2 metre arc of him. Hawk players read it perfectly every time to shark the ball or suffocate our players with close pressure. Why not once in a while just set up different with perhaps a good old fashioned fisting of the ball forward? No variety in clearance play at all. For that I blame the coaching staff.

For his beloved Richmond?

I thought we played pretty well until just after the Pettard goal. The Hawks were applying severe pressure but we were still standing up. At that stage the game was being played out with each team having dominant periods. The real crack in our game IMO happened when Sylvia had the ball on members half forward not long after Pettard goaled. He wheeled around to his right and it appeared he was going to bomb it long to the square. But instead he goes risky, long and wide to the other flank on a one on one. He kicks the ball slightly backwards thus bringing another Hawk into play. The Hawks take the ball and move unchallenged to goal. Then we just fell apart. A real bad mistake by a senior player.

Can just see the headline. SCULLY HOUNDED OUT OF MELBOURNE BY IRATE FANS. MONEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Maybe he's taking more than a casual interest in us.

We need one or two of our guys to make a sacrifice. Been clean skins for too long.

In Newton, MacDonald, Gysberts. Out Jetta, Watts and Garland if injured. Maric needs another go. Pump the ball down forward like we should and he will deliver.

Well if he has injury issues(which have never been satisfactorily explained) and have now been also reported as of long standing and possibly chronic, how does this explain his continued unwillingness to make a commitment to us? Next thing we will be hearing is that he's not signing because he wants to do the club a favour to not waste their money on a crock. Get real everyone he's lost for good.

Yes, with Dicky Knee.

How about Tatslukie or Tatsluko. Looks like we finally found a real winner from the draft. BTW, whats his contract status?

WTF is all this "Development year" bull. This should be a FORWARD PROGRESS year. Still getting excuses for all the dross thats been served up for the better part of most peoples lifetimes. It took Northey only one season to get back some respectability after decades of misery. Bailey get these guys razzed up or get on your bike. And it's starting to look like the Dons and Tigers might end up better than us this season.

I don't think he is anywhere near year zero yet as an indicator he's ready to rehabilitate. Going to LA could not be a worse choice at this stage. Perhaps the most fake, soulless and sleezy destination he could pick. While he's there he should get out and meet some of the unwashed street people found on most street corners. Because he will see a mirror image of his likely destiny.

I also suspect there may be some of this happening though I did not see the Brisbane game. If so then this raises a more disturbing question. How are the players jelling as a team? Haven't seen much TEAM ELAN so far in the practice games and for most of last season BTW. IMO appears a team of individuals who need some extra challenge to play with any cohesion.