John Crow Batty

As I have said before, Hibbo is only noticed after he matches up with a big name player like Franklin, Martin or Cameron and renders them impotent. When he plays against lesser lights his efforts go under the radar because his work is usually just boringly efficient. The only decline I see is that his kicking skills are not as good as they once were but he has compensated in other ways.

I still believe 800k a season is way overs for him. More like 799k ATM.

Gardiner out is big as well. He is their second tall key defender.

Even with Gawns dominance we have been cleaned up all too often from centre clearances by the opposition. Advantage taps are an irrelevant stat. Most of the time it means giving the opposition heads up to who to tackle and target and seize initiative.

Next few games we will see if he’s worth 800k or not.

118 games for us. 259 goals and 1299 touches. 131 games for them, 224 goals and 1577 touches. Not by a big margin but he played his best footy for us.

There will be a few lower ranked clubs that will want to atone for their poor seasons. Surprise results will come.

Darcy is a genuine A grader but he is their Joel Smith in regards to injuries.

The way he performs in the next 3 games will give a clearer indication to his likely intentions and whether we remain committed to keeping him or not.

We have seen Blues, Swans and Saints lose to clubs outside the 8 this round. As we saw last season many top 8 clubs dropped games to lower sides in second half in particular to those that still have a chance of making finals. Ladder predictor will become less predictable as we enter the latter stage of season.

Dogga, now that he is not a support ruck will have tremendous pressure to perform and we will see if he is the real deal or not. As I said before, he’s been towed along nicely in Max’s slipstream all his career so far. Let’s see how he stands up. I hope he succeeds but he would also have to improve on his output so far this season.

Now reported out 3-5 weeks. No surgery required. To wear a moon boot for a week. We’ll see.

With maybe Max out with injury it will be good to see how good he is on his own. So far he’s been travelling in Max’s slipstream under little pressure.

Syndesmosis scam for Max…..Ugh! https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/syndesmosis-scan-demons-ankle-fears-for-gawn-20220614-p5atli.html

Opposition talls whether around the ground or up forward have been killing us the last three rounds. Cameron, Mihochek and Cox today. Last week Reid and McDonald. Before that Darcy, Taberner and Lobb have been killing us with goals and contested marks.

I wonder what was said at that “complacency” meeting after the North game? Seems to have sucked the life out of the players.

6.14 to 23.9 for opposition. WTF is going on after half time?

I believe he was partying with our boys in the early hours after the GF.

Not surprising really. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/bulldogs-investigating-social-media-photo-allegedly-showing-star-bailey-smith-with-bag-of-white-powder-20220611-p5aszs.html

Perhaps we should ban our players from visiting Greville St? I recall much publicised reports of an another ugly incident involving one of our former champions happening there a coupe of decades ago. Bad vibes lurk there.

A friend of mine who was a model citizen, capable, polite, always correct and popular when sober used to become a monster when he drank. Could not stop, became loud, aggressive and violent. He knew he had a problem and drank infrequently but if he relented and had one beer he had to keep drinking till he passed out or worse. Ruined his family and career and eventually topped himself. Anyone who becomes violent and unsociable because of drinking definitely has a serious problem..

or Alistair Lynch and Carl Ditterich.

What an ugly way to end a career.

I heard that May told Melksham that if he had played in the GF we wouldn’t have won and that started the fight.

No.