John Crow Batty

I believe Stefan Matin left on bad terms. No fault of the club but because of Mitch Clark.

I have always said than an adult who changes his/her sporting allegiance without a bloody good reason indicates bad character. And we know there are quite a few people around with bad character. Implies untrustworthiness, opportunism, disloyalty, shallowness and unfaithfulness.

Some of the lame criticisms against Sparrow could easily be applied to Petracca. As far as I am concerned a player with sublime penetrating kicking skills should exploit them rather than lowering themselves to expected standards of lesser skilled players. The coach and bench went crazy with joy after Sparrow posted our 11th goal. That says it all.

The look on Bonts face after Olivers goal says it all. He looks at the scoreboard replay, shakes his head, curses and almost cries. The other players in a state of shock.They gave up then. Not even a a semblance of a challenge in the last. Beveridge confirms this when he says in the blink of an eye the game was gone for them.

I do notice it seems a tactic to kick the ball deep to the pockets. That makes it harder to score accurately from marks, stoppages or open play. On the other hand it keeps the ball locked in more often and difficult for the opposition defences to cleanly exit when they get the ball. We do lead the completion for both number of inside 50’s, efficiency for inside 50’s as well as tackles. So we are doing very well. We sacrifice accuracy for weight of entries and scoring pressure. Of course sometimes it works better than others. It’s been about playing the percentages for us.

The best 10 in any combination of 10 you wish equal the 22+1 premiership players.

Charlie Cameron moderated the loss for Brisbane somewhat with his superb solo effort of 5 goals. Still they never had a realistic chance of overtaking us.

He is the kind of forward that is better in a potent forward line contesting and kicking 2-3 goals a game rather than a solo focal point in a poor side kicking 4-5 a game. He demands a dedicated opponent which stretches defences and opens up other goal avenues.

Groom was a good player but as was the case in those amateur days had better career options than being a footballer. Injury stuffed up Templeton's career. Ditto Jack Grimes. Pail Wheatley whilst no superstar was a very good consistent footballer with a super boot. Phil Carman too damn crazy to realise potential. Scully, overhyped, overpayed and underwhelming. All the others not much to say. Just ex players. Fritsch wins hands down.

His long accurate boot is a rare weapon whether taking pot shots for goal or searching out a teammate at distance or closer. Creates uncertainty and un-predictability to opposition defensive structures. Very few players have that ability.

Achieving success is susceptible to inflation. If we don’t improve 10% next season we will be back to the pack and overtaken. Cant rest on our laurels and expect the same results next season.

As Leigh Matthews once said, to win a premiership everything at the club has to be in lockstep right down to who cooks the sausage sizzle or something like that. So we must keep the BBQ in good shape, source the best sausages, bread, sauce and onions plus make sure our sausage turner’s contract is extended so not poached by other clubs.

Many Perth pubs and nightclubs are a throwback to what Melbourne entertainment venues were like in the 1970’s. Anyone living in the 1970’s would remember those big suburban beer barn blood houses. Perth still has them. Respectable people make sure they get out of suburbs like Northbridge quickly before 11pm after the restaurants close. I don’t go to these venues but one only needs to drive past them to see brawls spilling out late at night. Seen a few in the past couple of years.

He was running towards goal at a slightly wrong angle for a right footer. He checksided the ball a bit to get it on target. If he kicked it straight it would have gone for a behind.

My great grandpa reckoned Vin Coutie, Basil Onyons and Jack Leith were gun forwards and George Margitich was better than Norm Smith.

Pointless comparison. No way to compare what was a local amateur suburban competition to a nationwide professional one. Like comparing a T Model Ford to a Tesla. Best to honour great players in context of their own era.

His elite disposal, coolness and decision making pushed Hunt out. Bowey and Salem across half back makes our transition play rock solid on either side of the ground.

Absolutely amazing fitness and running power. It was like he was subbed on in the last quarter the way he moved so freshly. He was making his opponents eat dust with his running.

Bontempelli was the only one having a go in the last quarter. His teammates to a man had all given up.

Embrace the challenge.

We have had a dream season but we still don’t beat teams we are certain to beat often enough. Better a tough game with players fired up by the occasion and opposition.

Pickett also tackled and dispossessed Weightman to enable Bowey to get the turnover and pass it to Brayshaw for his lead changing goal. He also harassed the Bulldog players to force a turnover for Spargo’s goal.Three very important efforts that directly turned into goals. Never got much ball himself but was always in the thick of the forward line action.

That means we also have to take in Nathan Buckley.

Yep, he’s a specialist lock down player. May be superfluous to play on an average player but is high value against big guns.