John Crow Batty

We should be given an extra 4 points for beating the umpires. In a bus full of dees supporters going home singing GOF.

Disgraceful effort by Freo. Stuffing up their finals chances again and boosting Essendon’s….Ugh!

Who would have thought a Collingwood Hawthorn game would be such a meaningless yawn fest. Have to go back at least to the WWII years to match the irrelevance of it all for these two.

Jake Lever thinks it’s a great idea.

The Green/Dangerfield incident is almost identical to the Fritsch incident without the damage. Player going low for the ball, tackler coming in hard and low at same time. Both were reaction incidents. To me Green should get off as incident appears accidental and unavoidable. Selwood on the other hand exhibited a classic run past the ball, chose to bump a player bending down for the ball and hit him squarely on the side of head. This is the kind of premeditated incident that has caused numerous concussions and the AFL have punished severely to stop them happening. In this case he should rightfully be suspended. He did everything wrong expect hurt Taylor but as well included the bad “optics” that sunk Viney for 2 weeks. Selwood deserves the same. For the sake of the integrity of the rules Selwood should not get away with it because he didn’t cause serious damage.

Interesting stat. Geelong have only won 4 games against top 8 sides including the umpire robbery by 1 point against Brisbane and a lucky 5 points against Bulldogs. Their resume is well padded by beating easy beats in a dream draw and a dream home ground advantage. 4 out of 5 losses are against current top 8 sides.

Toby Green, the perfect definition of a flawed genius.

It’s easy to whack a miscreant player biggly if his team is out of finals contention. Imagine the hoops the AFL would have leaped through to minimise his punishment if he played for Geelong or Bulldogs.

64

Got my second dose of AZ on Monday. Feeling a little wonky for a couple of days but fine today. I urge everyone not to waste time if you haven’t got one already. Get in quickly.

How penalties and justice is dispensed by the AFL is mostly media driven. If the media suddenly trotted out experts to highlight the very real dangers of lingering headlocks and made a strong case then the AFL would be compelled to take action.

OK, next time a player in a fight applies a headlock(strangle hold) to an opponent for about 5 seconds will we see a suspension? There are many players that almost lost consciousness in headlocks. The action can apply dangerous pressure to breathing and blood flow to the brain. Not even reportable or free kick worthy.

The media reporting and punditry of the incident ensured he would be suspended. Normally if a big name name player is reported, the facts are stated dryly, emotion is checked, seeds of doubt are planted and presumption of innocence are aired. In Viney’s case the immediate reporting was of outrage, high emotion, George Floyd comparisons and inference of unimpeachable guilt mostly because it looked bad even though nothing of consequence really happened. The AFL duly sensed the vibes and basically ensured the outcome would be a suspension never mind lack of convincing evidence and making a mockery of presumption of innocence. A classic Kangaroo Court and Viney never had much hope to make his case. In the end the AFL didn’t want to be the target of the following media wrath if they cleared him. The club were also ready to let the issue rest because they don’t the need a drawn out distraction at this stage of the season.

Yes they pumping themselves for a big show on Monday. But it’s going to be a windy and wet day which they don’t like. I predict a slog out.

Got email and my ticket today. Looks like it’s going to be another wet and wild windy game on Monday night in Perth. Good luck with getting out. Maybe you have to go via Queensland if situation improves. GF might even come to Perth. It’s day by day and anything can happen….anywhere.

Viney got suspended for the optics, not the outcome, nor the intent. That’s whats important for the AFL.

The top half of his right leg appears to be from a rhinoceros and the bottom half from a magpie.

Collins evidence will be crucial whether Viney gets the thumbs down or not. He didn’t look too affected by it. He bounced up quickly and ready to continue the fight. If he said he felt little pressure and not much else then maybe a fine. If he felt pain, struggled to breathe or faintness then a suspension for sure. The optics don’t look good but hard to tell if full force of Viney’s elbow was on the neck or lower jaw or a bit of both. Many are making comparisons with the George Floyd incident but that went on for about 8 minutes and not a few seconds. Pre Floyd days I doubt this incident would have received as much scrutiny though I agree the action is potentially dangerous but so are the numerous unpunished “make him pay” incidents that commentators love so much.

Travelling to Queensland has had a strange effect on our players. Last year after the disaster of Cairns we had an epiphany and started winning games consistently and after last weekends joy ride to Brisbane we start demolishing weaker sides. Something we could never do amongst regular victories over strong sides. Queensland appears a channel for taking out frustrations in a positive way.

We need ladder pressure to keep us sharp. If we are too comfortable we invariably muck up.

Hundreds of Hawks fans signing a petition to get rid of Jeff Kennett. Great to see them tearing themselves to pieces.

GC win/loss record at Docklands. 6 wins and 18 losses.

Typo.

They now can get a good nights sleep and a leg stretch and play them at a happy hunting ground for us.

I believe this is a blessing in disguise. Flying to GC and playing them at their home ground on the same day is the worst possible preparation for a game. They are in good form and no doubt would have exploited this. Looking forward to play them over here tomorrow or later on.