John Crow Batty

That last minute of the third quarter is a blur for me. It happened so fast. All I could remember was the incredible crowd noise and I never cheered so loud in my life. After the siren I walked to the end we were kicking in the last quarter and felt total calm and surety that we got the game won. I have to watch the replays to remind me what happened.

Because he doesn’t have the machismo, buffed physique and swagger of a typical AFL footballer he was constantly undersold because he doesn’t do the Jack Viney stuff. I always thought he was a pretty good player. His marking, leading, goal kicking and balance is elite. Just don’t expect him to do what he’s not built for. Now I have to go and watch his GF highlights again.

He a slippery type. Has eel like qualities.

When do players peak? How long is a piece of string? What’s more relevant is how long does it take a team peak? in our case I would say the string is about as long as four premierships.

I was very impressed by the water carrier trainers during the finals in Perth They did a great job. The studious guy with the glasses, the perky little blond girl and the cheerful stocky guy with the Mohawk hair were memorable in their roles after every goal. They had to work extra hard to provide liquid nourishment because there was a glut of goals.

Fortunately they appear to be fighting it well. Always a worry at their age. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/ron-barassi-and-wife-cheryl-test-positive-for-covid-19-20211202-p59e92.html

As I said before, Tom reminds me of a young Travis Boak out of all current players. Very strong, hard at the ball and a superb long kick.

A whiteboard Wednesday proposal.

He has gone kind of quiet. Haven't heard anything about him since after the PF when his wife indicated some disappointment that he wasn’t included in the GF side. Then again I imagine he would be very busy and distracted with two newborns to help look after as well as contemplating life after football.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-advice-that-supercharged-melbourne-captain-max-gawn-and-the-advice-he-d-give-20211109-p59777.html

How can this book be depressing? No wurst than it’s German counterpart.

I remembered the number plate because that’s the year I was born. Must have been you.

I believe I saw a car at Whitfords shopping centre with that number plate about 18 months ago. Do you shop there?

Due to the restrictions in WA we have been having a great time here. I haven’t seen anyone wearing a mask in over a month. Venues are packed. It’s damn hard to get a restaurant table on weekends. Haven’t seen shopping centres so busy for years. All the local holiday destinations are heavily booked with prices to match. Many spring festivals at this time of year and I will be going to one today sans mask. Sadly though WA has more than its fair share of anti vax idiots and there was a big demonstration(10,000+) yesterday in the city. The premier won’t open up until there are at least 90-95% fully vaxed and the state is way behind on the Eastern States. Those die hard anti vax idiots better hurry up and get with the program if they want things to change and get their so called freedom. Theres plenty of vaccines around.

48-14 inside 50 marks during finals series. We destroyed opposition defences.

And 30.15 to 8.8 in second half of finals series games.

If you read carefully I said “then” for 2012. In 2012 Martin was doing very well as a ruckman before issues beyond his control derailed his season and career at Melbourne. He was then the logical replacement for an ageing Jamar. It took Gawn another two and half seasons before his breakout game in 2015. Martin was already showing he was an accomplished Number 1 ruckman in 2014 at Brisbane and likely one of the top 3 in the comp at the time whilst Gawn was still struggling. He was averaging over 20 touches and 30 hit outs a game. Reality is that Gawn would have had little opportunity to upstage Martin if Martin had remained. Credit to Gawn to become the superstar he is now.

Ah, now I’ve seen what you done!

Martin had to leave for awkward reasons not related to football. He had more upside as a ruckman then than Gawn.

Actually it’s Italian.

The crew of the only surviving WWI German tank Mephisto housed in the National War Museum in Canberra were obviously Melbourne supporters.

As I said previously, if we had kept Stefan Martin, Gawn would have likely been delisted or traded before he had a chance for a breakout game. At that time he was another under performing hopeful no different to Spencer or Fitzpatrick. It is what it is.

That’s true but then the club was run like a media circus. The powers that be thought they could play the media for their own ends but as we know if you don’t get it right you get pilloried from pillar to post. The media were drumming up the Watts hype way before we drafted him. He was portrayed as some sort of super man who was supreme over all other draft hopefuls bar Niknat. He was handed the poison chalice then.

Again the media being tone deaf. They are the ones that create the burden and excessive expectations by flogging the the Number 1 from both ends to generate clicks.

In an ironic way he became the player we all expected Jack Watt to become.