Autopsy 2nd Elimination Final, 2020: St.Kilda v Western Bulldogs

[Joffaboy]

Agree that it is a very difficult game to adjudicate. The thing that struck me about yesterday’s game was not the 50/50 decisions that can go either way that may be affected by the umpires vision but the willingness to give 50/50s in front of goal when you need to be absolutely 100% sure. I think the umpires are trying to be too technical and don’t watch the play with any feel for it. There also appeared to be massive gaps in consistency between the main umpires.
Yes it’s true you get the rub some days not others and it generally balances itself out but consistency in close finals is a non negotiable. Yesterday was below standard from our officials.

There was a decision where Liberatore is caught with the ball, drops it and Saints get pinged for holding the man.

1 minute late Sinclair is tackled drops it, gets slung without the ball and it is HTB.

We were the better team all night but they get the frees 15-7.
The free that Wallace got for his goal was appallingly bad.

 

[dougal_]

That you, Gears, with a new account? Should still be in bed dreaming of your great game.
(Remember, no swearing in front of the Bub.)

I'm the skipper of the saints I'll swear all I want

 

[Red White Black]

Was at the game

Our defence was IMMENSE the entire game. Incredible how far they have come

The game style change in the last was entirely us, we slowed it riiiight down and it worked for the first 10-12 mins of that quarter we just couldn't maintain the composure.

Umps nearly killed us

Gutted for Paddy, but, giving The Prospect sole rucking duties against the Tiges in an elim final will be massive for his development. We've seen already he can play this role

The King

The work rate of Hill is underrated, he's still getting burned quite a few times when he's worked himself into a good position. Hopefully another preseason with the group will help that connection

Our contested marking saved our arse quite a few times

Geary in the fwd 50 just works, hope we keep him there

Sign The Ratt up for another 10 years please

 

[PoppedCorn]

 

[Sully111]

My opinion of Sinclair has changed this year. Had a good game.

 

[Circus]

When Marshall marked with a few seconds to go I let out a strange loud sigh-roary kind of noise and learned two things. That its quite possible to drink beer and not breathe for an entire quarter of footy!!

 

[Hayes4PM]

 

[gringo2011]

It’s a free or it’s not a free. Maybe some frees were mistakes. I’m not sure you can say on one hand they let it go in finals then say they pay technical frees. ITs like watching certain players and only looking for errors and then thinking they are crap well the same thing will happen if you do the same with umpires. Each to their own.

How many cheapies did they call in the last quarter when it was changing the game in favour of the Dogs? They did their best to give it to them after favouring them most of the game. They train milking frees you can see they have strategy to do it but they fall for it every time. Then on top of that soft frees on goal were just offensively biased.

 

[gringo2011]

According to AFL website Dogs won by 40-odd points.

The umpires were trying to get that fix in.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Anyone notice what appears to be Paddy giving Lones a sneaky kiss on the top of his head in the celebrations after Paddy slotting the goal from a centering kick from Lonie?

 

[Magnifisaints]

I’ve been too lazy to reset my big footy password all year. It’s linked to an ancient email, but it was worth going through a million clicking of the squares with traffic lights in them to post...
Feck Yehhh Saintersss !!!

 

[CursingFijian]

Yep corrupt makes sense. Not. When will people realise the game is nearly impossible to umpire and they make mistakes. Some weeks one side is on the end of them and some weeks you aren’t. I couldn’t be bothered watching the game again but if I did and knowing the result the last thing I’d care about is the umpires.

I accept that the game is hard to umpire.

But I genuinely, really, honest to god believe that individual umpires rate some players (and teams) above others. And they tend to give the benefit of the doubt in 50/50 calls to the player/team they think is better.

They should pay what they clearly see. If they don’t see it, no matter what the motion looks like they should just keep the whistle in the pocket. Simples.

I took a shower after the dogs kicked their last with two minutes to go in the fourth. Because I knew the whistle was going to get put away and the better side was going to win.

 

[TassieSaint]

Don't like to whinge about it usually but umpiring is the only reason the game was close in the end, we thoroughly outplayed them when it mattered.

 

[Heavensent]

How quick do they do the MRP these days?

I think long will get a fine but if he gets rubbed out I think savage will come in for him.

 

[plugger66]

I accept that the game is hard to umpire.

But I genuinely, really, honest to god believe that individual umpires rate some players (and teams) above others. And they tend to give the benefit of the doubt in 50/50 calls to the player/team they think is better.

They should pay what they clearly see. If they don’t see it, no matter what the motion looks like they should just keep the whistle in the pocket. Simples.

I took a shower after the dogs kicked their last with two minutes to go in the fourth. Because I knew the whistle was going to get put away and the better side was going to win.

The problem With thinking that is they get rated on errors so if the free wasn’t there it’s an error and if it continued they would eventually be delisted

 

[Parkysp]

The only one that really annoyed me in the last quarter was actually one not paid which the ball then fell to Caleb Daniel for his too high.
Josh Bruce put his hand on Jack Steele's shoulder in the marking contest, leapt for the ball intending to mark it and got nowhere near it. Unrealistic attempt so free should have been paid for that before the ball got to Daniel. Anyhoo we won so not hung up on it now.

 

[Geary Is GOAT]

The fresh air as I walked along the beach this morning never tasted so good.

What a night for the club.

 

[Plugger35]

How many cheapies did they call in the last quarter when it was changing the game in favour of the Dogs? They did their best to give it to them after favouring them most of the game. They train milking frees you can see they have strategy to do it but they fall for it every time. Then on top of that soft frees on goal were just offensively biased.

It's like the umpires were trying to make it a close exciting finish with some of the ridiculous frees they paid to the Dogs in the last quarter, thankfully it didn't cost us the win but I would have been ropeable if we had lost. The fact that the Dogs had almost twice as many frees as us when we were the better team says it all, if it wasn't for that lopsided free kick count we would have won that game comfortably.

That being said we still went too defensive in that last quarter, trying to hold on to our lead rather than keep on attacking to put the game out of their reach.

 

[dct66]

In the space of a season Paddy Ryder has gone from - at least he didn't cost us much, hopefully he doesn't affect Marshall's development - to BOG in an Elimination Final, make him a life member!

Thanks for 2020 Paddy. You are a big part of what we have done this year hopefully you have a few more years still to play for us.

 

[sasaint]

I dont want to be negative but I think we've seen that steele is not ready to be captain. I know its only one game but today he really struggled, but he also hung his head at times.

Hes a young big mid whos had a fantastic season so hes got time but I feel hes not ready yet.

Big shoes to fill with gearys performance and leadership today

Steely will learn from this and Ratts will use it to teach him for the Tigers game. How good that we won effectively with Steele not contributing. He will not repeat this on Friday. Guaranteed.

 

[sasaint]

Imagine replacing Kent with a fit Gresh.

As a replacement I really am hoping that Parker has shown some form in training. His highlight reel shows what a game winner he can be. Maybe too long out of the team to step back in?

 

[Browny2Carlisle]

So devastated for Paddy. I hope it turns out not to be serious at all and he can get back.
Has been a star all season and was a Goliath again last night. Having someone like him around the club must be amazing. You can see the love everyone has for him.

As far as I am concerned he has always been a Saint and always will be

 

[St Neil]

I think Ross may have found his niche as tagging/run with player. His tackling and endurance is very good. I’ve really like his game in recent weeks.

Carlisle must be re-signed. Same with Lonie. Both are keepers and important players.

Hopefully we never go defensive again. We played the Bulldogs back into the game in the 4Q. Against the Tigers we need keep our foot on the pedal. Run, run, run and move the ball quickly. That’s the only way we’ll beat them, an exhausting style but one which will trouble the Tigers.

 

[gringo2011]

In the space of a season Paddy Ryder has gone from - at least he didn't cost us much, hopefully he doesn't affect Marshall's development - to BOG in an Elimination Final, make him a life member!

Thanks for 2020 Paddy. You are a big part of what we have done this year hopefully you have a few more years still to play for us.

He's got a really nice calming presence too. He's a really calm older head who seems almost zen when he plays. He's got a gentle giant feel but it covers for a really strong competitive instinct as well. So many times this year Paddy has carried us when things were looking shaky. He went from me canning the club for getting him to being my favourite player. My heart breaks for him.

 

[PoppedCorn]

Any goss on how bad the injury is?
Im guessing scans are tomorrow?
Ghost, stav??

Was he walking normal, limping bad???

Anything?