John Crow Batty

OK, what if Gawn or Oliver get injured and we do get tho win the GF? No reward for all their efforts to get us there over the season?

People forget that Hibberd kept Buddy to nil scores earlier this season. Only the 5th time it’s happened to Buddy in over 300 games. He is a dependable defender against potent forwards.

Ratugolea won’t do much damage other than get the ball to ground. It’s a responsibility for small defenders to clean up at ground level.

He did the same a few games earlier and still played on with no ill effect.

Lockdowns will be a thing of the past once 80-85% vaccination rate is achieved by the end of the year.

The next 2 years at Freo rather than the remaining 2 at Brisbane are likely worth at least a half million dollars extra for Neale.

Certainly Neale going back to Freo will make a Cerra move more easily done but I would be extremely disappointed if I were a Brisbane fan. Am I being a bit cynical? Highly rated player goes to struggling unfashionable club on huge 5 year front loaded contact but wants to go back home after 3 years. Like he’s already eaten the caviar, steak and gravy for 3 seasons but now has to eat hamburger mince and beans for the next 2. Family reasons are stated with emphasis on wife pregnancy and lockdowns. Soon we will have 80% vaccine rates and lockdowns will almost certainly be a thing of the past and moot. If he reneges on final 2 years it is most likely he would earn more than a half million extra for those 2 years at another club. Reminds me of the Ablett Jnr saga.

Theirs is Rapunzal, ours is Cinderella.

They shut down our key forwards and we shut theirs down then we are likely to outscore them easily through other channels.

Just watched the replay of the last quarter of last nights game. It was like “wow”. Brought back bad memories of our Adelaide game. I’m now convinced the umpiring fraternity is throughly corrupt. Dodgy decisions for the dogs, non decisions for the lions aplenty make a inequitable 10-2 free count at the death. The worst and most blatant decisions at critical moments. I’m starting to fear the umpires as our biggest challenge going ahead.

It’s a great record but corrupted by the insane home ground advantage afforded them by only playing weak and interstate sides over there and the outlier non standard ground shape which makes it very difficult for visiting sides to adjust to especially when bad weather is present. No other side has those advantages. Virtually guarantees them a finals spot every season. It was surprising they were not required to make the ground more standard size during redevelopment.

Wasn’t even mentioned in the commentary. Three wise monkey approach.

We should get a full house next week. Optus is a fantastic stadium and a pleasure to attend games there. Still no MCG but light years ahead of Docklands for spectator ambience.

Geelong stepping training this morning to play us.

The barometer may be real. The Lions have an 8-0 record this season with him starting and not the sub.

Imperative we dominate centre clearances. At our last meeting when Geelong had centre clearance control they were able to service their potent forwards due to 6-6-6. They only hurt us when they had a 20 minutes purple patch in the middle. If we check that it will be hard for them to score consistently with their static forward movement from defence with our structure. Parfitt out is a bonus.

Looking forward to see a lot of hammies and suspensions for the winner of this game.

Good, we always need more villains to vituperate against. Selwood and Greene can’t do the job on their own. He provides an outlet every supporter needs or else they will over abuse designated whipping boys or kicking pets.

After 64 I thought we win premierships every other year. After 88, I was disappointed but I thought we will snag 89. After 2000, I thought we were going to be it in 2001. Now a lifetime wiser, its get one ASAP. There is a rare opportunity here and the wait for the next one may be decades away. I shudder to think how many supporters lived and died without ever experiencing or remembering a premiership.

Ross Lyon has bailed out from the Carlton job. Maybe Cerra had doubts with him as a future coach and Carlton went cold?

“Last week I talked about Jamarra with the scope to be able to play 100 minutes of a big final and it’s imperative anyone that is picked can do that,” Beveridge said on Thursday on why Jamarra is unlikely play in finals this season. Though Jones is a different case, the ability to play 100 minutes in a big final is applicable. Jones has only played limited time this season in every game he’s played and has demonstrated he can’t last out in final quarters where he has spent bulk of the time on the bench since the start of 2020 season. If he started as sub and needs to get on early he will be a massive liability aside from lack of leg speed and age related decline.

Whether he play or not is still undecided but the issue has become a distraction to the job at hand if we get to the GF. Will we play the best 23 or the best 22 + Jones? Personally I believe he should have retired 2 to 3 seasons ago. Sentimentality does not win premierships.

He was claiming his sons were producers for his production company though they are not listed on the company website. Eddie also apparently breached hub protocols during last years GF in Brisbane by partying at a night club for ‘research purposes” for hub management strategies.

Eddie McGuire sad he can’t attend GF. https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/perth-grand-final-former-collingwood-president-eddie-mcguire-denied-entry-to-wa--c-3838803

I get the impression at least one member of the tribunal panel was trying hard to get Greene cleared. The process to find a verdict was far too long to hand out such a modest and minimal penalty given the obviousness and gravity of the offence. In the end an unholy compromise.