John Crow Batty

Despite the club existing mostly on poverty row it is still perceived by the mainstream football community as a toffs and elitist club with the Mayfair touch hence lack of populist support. Mostly hardscrabble Alice residents would rather support any other club against us.

In Max’s first 61 games till the end of 2016 his goal kicking was positive at 34 goals to 24 behinds which was very good. In the following 176 games it’s 77-88. Career wise he is now around 50% goal accuracy. Seems like his bad goal kicking habits have developed since becoming a star and now ingrained. As much his fault as the clubs. Most supporters would note his kicking style hasn’t changed much at all for many years. Most can remember his close in miss at the death that cost us round 1 against Geelong in 2018. It’s exactly the same kicking action as his miss this week against the saints.

Collingwood are primed for a record number of out the back and Joe the goose goals.

Despite our strong effort last week it was concerning the number of cheap easy goals we conceded out the back to the swans. Against the saints it was much the same.

The 2009 AFL draft for us was considered a disaster after our 4 first round picks were duds but then turned out we got a GOAT and currently our most effective forward as well.

Not sure how the flat punt can be replicated with slim and light weight modern boots and I suspect the shape of the football is also different these days.

Those fat arsed full forwards never ventured far from the goal square, never chased and suffered from claustrophobia. It would be an affront to them to actually have a teammate within 10 metres of the goal square where they lurked.

I take all this “Mental Health issues” labelling with a pinch of salt. Just a shopping cart of footballers with a variety of uncomfortable truths that mess with form and private lives. None of our business to know or speculate anyway. Of course we all wish for Oliver to recapture his past glories but if he was just a spud no one would give a rats [censored] about any mental health issues.

THE Melksham/McGovern incident was an unfortunate tetralogy and purely accidental. Melksham never too his eyes off the ball. What Ginbey did could arguably be considered worse because he shoved Petty into McGoverns path and didn’t even go for the ball.

Because we suck, WC suck so we get the umpires that suck. This selection along with Eleni was highly predictable.

Freo have a lot of journeymen playing for them. OMac, Narkle, O’Meara, Aish and Wagner are all at their third club.

Viney has a fatal attraction for opposition defenders

Tmac was always an elite defender before he went to play as a forward. Issue was we were a terrible side then and his efforts were never properly recognised.

Starting to think Greg Stafford was made a scapegoat. Our forward craft was much better with him in charge despite well known deficiencies but now our forward line has been confirmed as being populated with donkeys.

The gutsy move would have been to drop Viney. Once our pressure engine, this season his tackle count per game is less than half his career average.

Demons selections are just as confusing as Trumps flip flopping tariff wars.

One thing I noticed is that he slowed down a bit with his lightening quick disposals in the packs which used negate instantaneous pressure on him. That’s where the loss of impact comes from IMO. And also a slight decline in his pace. I saw him give up on several chases on Saturday where he could have done better.

Many were hoping that Goodwin would give JVR some relief this season to concentrate exclusively on his forward craft. Does not appear to be the case.

Actually Treacy and JVR’s contested marks stats in their first 3 seasons are very similar. JVR 45 games for 40 contested marks. Treacy 36 games for 32 contested marks. Both have had long periods of regular stinkers whilst developing. Tracey now is not the player he was a couple of seasons ago. All we can hope is JVR to track the same path.

I take some heart in Josh Treacy coming of age at Freo and hope for JVR. Virtually a carbon copy for JVR in the way he plays. It took him until his 4th season to become a regular player. The difference is Freo had the luxury of playing him in the WAFL during his first three seasons when his form was inconsistent. JVR is getting regular games without performing because we have no other option.

I always believed it was a big mistake hiring Jones as midfield coach. If he has any coaching ability he should have learned his coaching chops elsewhere.

Oliver back in jogging mode.

Looked nice a nice young supremely talented kid when he first started. Now swaggers around like a gangsta rapper. Looking for a Hogan like redemption is a big gamble. We need some stability to balance out the unwise heads still at the club.

Our defence used to pride itself in keeping opposition scores under 60 points. Now we can’t even score near that low number.