John Crow Batty

Our midfield would have to to be the worst combined for disposal efficiency. Brayshaw, Oliver, Viney, Jones are all sub par. Harmes is somewhat better but not elite. One or two have to go. Looking at you captains. Viney, get fit, better and smarter or go. Jones now becoming dead wood. Best to move on and make room for someone new. Our future has better chances with the other three and fresh blood.

Best round of the season so far. We can’t lose this weekend.

I am all for father/son players as long as they not pumped up to be better players than they actually are, nor touted as captain material and fast tracked to be the next captain and the fathers recuse themselves from positions that lead to potential conflicts of interest between family and club. That’s the way it is ...is it not?

Still waiting to crack my bottle of Malmsey Madeira 1900 vintage reserved for our next flag. As old as our first ever VFL premiership 119 years ago. Was primed to be cracked open in 2000 so after that shellacking it has remained in the cellar waiting for our next flag ever since. I was getting the corkscrew and decanter ready last year but now it looks like it will be gathering copious dust all over again.

Jones has a secret weapon to keep him playing for the next few seasons.

One of about a dozen players that could not be any worse than the current incumbents I guess. But would anyone else want the job?

I would be shocked if Viney Senior or Nathan Jones would put the interests of the club first.

Why is it allowed for Grundy to pull the back of Gawn’s jumper everytime at ball ups? Blatant holding. Same thing happened numerous times last game.

Another thing I noticed but not mentioned was that Gawn was being held in ruck duels around the the ground. I saw at least 4 times his opponent grabbing and stretching Gawns jumper in an attempt to stopping him getting upward movement to ball. These were blatant actions right in front of the umpire.

I reckon we could make more money by selling our home games to Optus Oval in Perth and Adelaide Oval. Guaranteed 40,000 plus fans every game. Interstate fans will pay good money to boo and laugh us.

The leadership has been the common denominator to our inconsistency over the past few seasons. Jones might have been suitable for captaincy 5-6 seasons ago but now he is long past it. Seems everything at the club is revolving around keeping these two co-captains in their positions irrespective of the greater needs of the club. Jones shuffled around all over the ground to make him fit in somewhere to the detriment of other players and structures. Viney I suspect would never have been captain if his father was not at the club. Good B grader at best. Both very poor in last quarter when it counted. What is his fathers important job at the club exactly? Several generations of players have had stunted development. Too many new players start off promising then decline to journeymen status. I get the feeling nothing much is going to change whilst those two remain captains and certain “old boys” still remain at the club. We may rise again to be a threat but certainly to come crashing down again when success is near our grasp.

Two of the last three game we squander a solid lead in the last quarter to lose. Other game we kick seven in the last quarter when game is already lost. Absolutely faaarked in the head team.

McDonald brothers - back to the farm.

Won’t happen. He won’t get past the second.

Dees top injury list ladder. Last round was the injury list grand final between us and GWS. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-afl-injury-ladder-just-how-healthy-is-your-team-20190527-p51rpl.html

Time to retire the elephant in the room just like all the circuses have done with theirs.

Add Hogan 8 possessions, all handballs.

Oliver ranked 43 out of the 44 players for disposal efficiency. Only Josh Wagner plumbed lower depths.

I thank my mother in law for saving me from this experience and perhaps also saved me from buying a new phone.

I had to go to my mother in laws birthday lunch today and was mildly peeved I had to miss watching the game. However after seeing the final scores I was happy I went to the lunch. Now time for an investigation, royal commission, Spanish Inquisition, trial by ordeal, witch dunking, waterboarding or whatever to get to the bottom of WTF has happened.

Mumford should be retired, suspended or both permanently before he kills someone.

Despite the one eyed parochialism of the crowd I heard at least two “he threw it” comments from WC fans behind me when Darling threw it and they got the goal that buried us. We were 150 metres away and I saw it and all the WC supporters saw it. But no umpires did and there were three of them a lot closer.

Since Smith was just standing there and not attempting to play on it was unnecessary to brutally drive him into the ground. All that was required was Jetta to hug him and whisper “let’s dance” into his ear. Jetta should have got two weeks for his cheap shot.

Like its weird watching footy here. Just moved over. All games start two hours earlier on TV. Strange watching a game starting at 11.10 am in the morning. Friday night games are rare here I believe. Has to suit the East Coast TV market I guess. I will sadly miss my regular 20 minute walk to the MCG from now on. Looking forward to see us do well at this new venue.

For fans going to the game be aware that there will be none of the usual special direct bus services to the game. One has to use the regular convoluted public transport system and there is no parking at Optus Stadium. Because the game clashes with peak hour there will be no special bus services from the suburbs according to Transperth. Cancellation was very sudden. Luckily I read the local paper this morning or else I would have been stuck high and dry waiting for a non existent bus to the game. I expect many fans will be caught out and may affect attendance. Hopefully the feral mob won’t be as big and loud as usual.