John Crow Batty

Max has looked grumpy and frustrated most of the season. Not the laconic ebullient positivity of past seasons

A few disgruntled senior players left the Bulldogs in 2014. Two seasons later dogs got the flag.

With all the [censored] going on will Houston now want to come to us?

yeah, exactly the kind of player we need to keep during hard times.

Adelaide is a limited market for value.

Tom Morris 1 - Demonland 0.

Whatever it is, it’s;

Thats a nothing statement he said. He has to come out and unequivocally kill the rumour and clearly say he is staying put and not seeking a trade. This story has created a great stink and will only cause more harm unless he really wants to go in which case the circus will go on.

Despite all the turmoil at the club it does appear the players are still having a red hot go most games. I take heart in that though everything else talked about our club is becoming exhausting. 20 pages of comments in 15 hours must near a record for DL. I can’t wait to hear if and when the great man has anything to say. We may know in a couple of weeks. And what’s all the talk of Petracca’s family not happy with the club? This rumour has surfaced a few times in the past and not just this season. I don’t know if connected or true but it was reported in the years around the time of Petracca’s drafting that a certain players family were unhappy their son was drafted by the lowly Demons. Apparently they went to the AFL to complain to why their son couldn’t go to a premium club like Collingwood.

“an extra goal per game could have seen the club still vying for a qualifying final appearance”. Misuse of our only viable key forward likely cost us a finals spot. JVR’s forward time was interrupted far too much playing second fiddle in the ruck. Gave us many stillborn goals IMO. No other club as I am aware uses their best big forward to be the regular ruck relief.

Game lost by dog**** disposal in the last quarter.

All the ugliness of this season reprised in this game.

I believe the goal face and inside 50 should be modified to something like this

If a player deliberately tried to hit a goal post they will sure miss every time.

Goodwin seems to be obsessed that the 2nd ruckman has to able to play forward as well. We had Jackson who could play the role but he was a unicorn. Tried and failed with Grundy. We recruit Schache and Fullerton who are just jack of all trade hacks. Max is a big fail tried in both roles. Even Majak Daw was recruited because he could ruck and play forward/defence but we never used him. The last decent 2nd ruck we had was Preuss. Even in the Jamar days we had a young Gawn, Fitzpatrick, Pederson and Spencer who could be reliably called up to ruck compete out a game. Now we mostly rely on VDR which I believe almost certainly costs us several goals a game from his absence from the forward line every game.

Going back to his roots.

Our defence in the Balme days was terrible The archetypical Swiss Cheese defence.

He kicked 8.7 before 3/4 time then went quiet. Game was already done and dusted by then. He gave Danny Frawley a bath and upstaged Tony Lockett. Saints fans were shocked because it was an early game for Jako and still a relatively unknown. If only he was as disciplined and committed like his brother. He could have been an all time great. Burned too many bridges with his chaotic nomad lifestyle.

The AI artwork is a little wonky but I get the gist.

I always thought the time honoured tradition at baseball games was to eat hot dogs. Times have changed.

I don’t go to the footy to eat though I may buy a pie occasionally. I still miss the Four’NTwenty Cornish Pasties from years ago which were delicious. Don’t know why they were discontinued and an Australian cultural tragedy they are no longer sold. I don’t drink the catspiss served at the ground. I smuggle in a couple of shots of over proof rum for the tense and exciting moments.

Fullerton has played 19 games for 50 hit outs. Not looking good.

It kind of works in the NFL though they are not perfect as well and would need a lot of tinkering for our game. The referee in the white hat has the final decision on all rulings. Here is a quote on Wikipedia on a NFL referees role; The referee (R) is responsible for the general supervision of the game and has the final authority on all rulings. In the NFL, the referee also has final authority on the score and the down number in case of any disagreement.[8]Although all officials on the crew may be responsible for any decision involving the application or interpretation of the rules, the referee has the final decision.[9] Thus, this position is sometimes referred to as head referee and is considered to be the crew chief

Some seriously dumb use of the Sub by Goodwin. Not just last game or the previous game, but now going back several seasons as well. I rarely if ever comment on coaching decisions but his illogical use or non use of substitutes perplexes me mightily.

If the AFL is going to keep the 4 umpire system, one should be a master umpire, preferably a full time professional. The master umpire does not need to officiate normal play unless required to intervene. Thats for the other 3 umpires to do. However the master umpire has the power to reverse bad decisions or apply decisions where clearly one has been missed. The master umpire can confer with all other umpires to determine a correct ruling where there is doubt. The master umpire also has the power to direct and advise the other umpires on how they apply decisions during the game. At this time it appears all four umpires run their own show and not as a team with little coordination and a reluctance to intervene with a clearly wrong decision by the others.