Umpiring Blicavs blocking in the ruck

[Generalissimo]

Maybe Meek is just interrupted as he is intending to jump for the tap?

Ball's still ages away. Meek has enough time to knee Blicavs in the stomach, take three steps backwards, and then jump to get the hitout. Watch the video linked in the OP, you'll see what I mean. He's run a fair way under the ball to put an illegal block on Blicavs, and to make it worse went right in with the knee. Should have got weeks for that, lucky to get away with just a fine.

 

[kidkenobi]

It's an obvious block, and therefore a free kick to Hawthorn, Meek did nothing wrong.

Then why did Meek have to both backtrack AND reach back over his head after kneeing Blicavs to try and get his hand on the ball? Blicavs was the only one blocked from getting to the ball here

 

[kidkenobi]

‘What’s the point?’ Cox weighs in on ruck controversy as footy world left divided

Mason Cox saying what a lot of people are thinking here.

Yeah let's all listen to this guy about how guys should be rucking

 

[Hawkforce]

Nathan Buckley tried to explain this to Gary Lyon on On the Couch but Gary's too stupid to understand.

Buckley eventually gave up and suggested the answer is to get rid of the bounce and remove the jump altogether.

What Geelong are doing is illegal and a ruse to mitigate their lack of actual Ruck men. And they are being rewarded for it. Needs to be called out.

 

[Hawkforce]

Maybe Meek is just interrupted as he is intending to jump for the tap? He's on his toes as it impacts.

View attachment 1657915

In this incident it's quite clear that Meek throws up a knee when he suddenly sees Bliclavs charging at him OVER THE CENTRE LINE with no eyes for the ball.

It's staggering that Chris Scott has got the football world believing Geelong are the victims here.

 

[kidkenobi]

In this incident it's quite clear that Meek throws up a knee when he suddenly sees Bliclavs charging at him OVER THE CENTRE LINE with no eyes for the ball.

It's staggering that Chris Scott has got the football world believing Geelong are the victims here.

You're allowed to cross the centre line once the ball is bounced. And Meek was the one who ran under the ball. You're not allowed to knee someone while you're on the ground.

 

[Hawkforce]

You're allowed to cross the centre line once the ball is bounced. And Meek was the one who ran under the ball. You're not allowed to knee someone while you're on the ground.

You are not allowed to charge across the square with no eyes for the ball.

Meek's action is dangerous but it is being caused by a previous illegal action. Either stop the Geelong "rucks" from doing this or get rid of the bounce altogether as Buckley suggested.

 

[cryptor]

 

[kidkenobi]

You are not allowed to charge across the square with no eyes for the ball.

Meek's action is dangerous but it is being caused by a previous illegal action. Either stop the Geelong "rucks" from doing this or get rid of the bounce altogether as Buckley suggested.

Yes you are, unless it becomes a block, which it could never have in this instance because the ball was always travelling away from Blicavs and over Meek's head.

You're allowed to make body contact as long as you're not blocking your opponent from getting to the ball, so Blicavs is doing nothing wrong. Every ruckman switches between eyes on the ball and eyes on their opponent so they establish these positions and can adjust accordingly. By the time Meek puts his knee into Blicavs both have already looked at each other and the ball, but by the time the knee makes contact only Blicavs is watching where the ball is actually going

 

[OnTheRocks]

Strange Cat in this thread

 

[Hawkforce]

Yes you are, unless it becomes a block, which it could never have in this instance because the ball was always travelling away from Blicavs and over Meek's head.

You're allowed to make body contact as long as you're not blocking your opponent from getting to the ball, so Blicavs is doing nothing wrong. Every ruckman switches between eyes on the ball and eyes on their opponent so they establish these positions and can adjust accordingly. By the time Meek puts his knee into Blicavs both have already looked at each other and the ball, but by the time the knee makes contact only Blicavs is watching where the ball is actually going

18.4 RUCK CONTESTS 18.4.1 Spirit and Intention The Ruck whose sole objective is to contest the football shall be permitted to do so. 18.4.2 Number of Rucks Each Team must have no more than one Ruck contesting any centre bounce, throw-up or boundary throw-in. 18.4.3 Free Kicks - Ruck Contests A field Umpire shall award a Free Kick in a Ruck contest against a Player where the Player: (a) who is not a Ruck, contests a throw-up or boundary throw-in; (b) unduly pushes or bumps an opposition Ruck; (c) blocks an opposition Ruck; (d) makes contact with an opposition Ruck prior to the football leaving the field or boundary Umpire’s hand; (e) who is a Ruck, enters their attacking half or steps outside the Centre Circle prior to the field Umpire bouncing or throwing up the football; or (f) hits the football Out of Bounds On the Full from a throw-up by a field Umpire or a throw-in by a boundary Umpire


Bliclavs never once has his eyes on the ball. He is cheating and getting away with it. Chris Scott is cheating and casting himself as the victim.

Time for the AFL to put a stop to it.

 

[grumbleguts]

More than that.
It's happened to us 3 games out of 4.
Cox was doing it so much round 1 Dangerfield had to comment on it to the umpires.

So... let me get this straight, it's happened to Geelong 3 games out of four, and ... now i'm trying to put this together so I can understand it... so let me just stoop a little... it hasn't happened to any other team ... and you think the other teams are the problem. So Geelong ruck man ignores the ball runs straight at the opposing ruck man in at least three games out of four, gets kneed and you're bewildered why it's only happening to Geelong. Get your adult carer to explain it more slowly.

 

[tropicaltiger]

So it might be a Geelong problem, rather than a League problem?

Geelong always cheat in ruck contests and boundary throw ins..... perfect example, look at Hawkins. he waits til the other ruckman leaps/is off balance then goes the double handed shove, he does it in marking contests too every chance he gets, ivan soldo says hi after missing 2 years with an ACL.

 

[kidkenobi]

So... let me get this straight, it's happened to Geelong 3 games out of four, and ... now i'm trying to put this together so I can understand it... so let me just stoop a little... it hasn't happened to any other team ... and you think the other teams are the problem. So Geelong ruck man ignores the ball runs straight at the opposing ruck man in at least three games out of four, gets kneed and you're bewildered why it's only happening to Geelong. Get your adult carer to explain it more slowly.

Particularly lazy take considering you probably haven’t even seen the other examples and they’re not even the same as the Blicavs one. When TDK did it to Stanley, no one was commenting on the technique of the Geelong rucks because it was a completely normal ruck contest except that TDK decided to put his knee into Stanley’s ribs for some reason.

Now it happens again to a different guy in different circumstances and all of a sudden it’s a Geelong endemic. I get it’s very easy to draw your own conclusions based on the minimum amount of information but it’s also a good way to be totally wrong a lot of the time.

 

[Alite]

Brilliant.
I've been saying since the DeKoning incident that the problem is with the Geelong rucks.
Now, this is a generalisation and doesn't happen every time, so don't bother trying to counter by showing examples of them contesting the ruck correctly.

They seem to try and treat the centre bounce as a stoppage contest. They don't run and jump like the other rucks do. They look to put a body on the oppo ruck and then wrestle/grapple on the ground. This blocks the run and jump of the oppo ruck and should be a block most of the time. The other ruck is looking to do their usual run and jump and are quickly met by the Cats ruck, who prevents them from running and jumping and forces them to adjust their approach at the last second.

This top video showing the wide angle is a perfect example of how the tactic is intended.

Cats ruck starts at the edge of the inner circle, while Hawks starts at the far edge of the outer circle.
View attachment 1657571

Cats ruck immediately runs past the drop of the ball, without even looking where the ball is going, to put a body on the Hawks player. Ball is still above the centre line. Hawks player trying to run and jump, with the ball still in front of him, but Cats player has taken 1m of space past the ball drop area.
View attachment 1657574

Hawks player has still managed to move forward to the ball drop area and gets the tap. Cats player has now come back the other way to the centre line.
View attachment 1657582

Then you see the Hawks ruck clearly expecting to get a blocking free, which he should have.
View attachment 1657592

Brilliant post.

IMO Reeves was intent on jumping at the ball but knew Blitz would instead engaged him. He felt that he was blocked from going at the ball.

That said, as far as I know, Blitz is allowed to do what he did. Further, he must be allowed to cross the line as not all bounces are up and down. Blitz just made the centre bounce into something that he is better at = a boundary throw in.

One way to stop rucks engaging and making them jump is to throw the ball up instead of bounce it… which will take out one of the much loved uncertainties of the game… the variable centre bounce.

For mine I’d do nothing other than stop the intentional kneeing… none of which happened with Reeves but looked bloody suspicious with Meek.

If Reeves is to become a better ruckman then he needs to watch the oppo ruckman as well as the ball …And then modify his actions accordingly. In this situation Goldy would have let Blitz push him off the drop of the ball and gotten a free kick.
Ruckwork, for all the bash and crash, is done best by those who know how to play within the rules.

Again I say great analysis.

 

[pz5151]

The league should start paying a free kick for when a player overruns the ball to engage early in the ruck contest a la Nankervis and every Geelong ruck. That should eliminate most players doing it since it’s never enforced at present. At the same time, they can make it very clear if you knee someone in the midriff you will get a fine or a week depending on force YOU apply (not how hard the player is running at you).

 

[Mitchell Madness]

The league should start paying a free kick for when a player overruns the ball to engage early in the ruck contest a la Nankervis and every Geelong ruck. That should eliminate most players doing it since it’s never enforced at present. At the same time, they can make it very clear if you knee someone in the midriff you will get a fine or a week depending on force YOU apply (not how hard the player is running at you).

Ceglar used to get penalised every game at the hawks for doing it. That's how the hawks fans know it isn't allowed.
Mind you veglar actually got the hit-out when he "blocked" his opponent

 

[Romeoh1]

Particularly lazy take considering you probably haven’t even seen the other examples and they’re not even the same as the Blicavs one. When TDK did it to Stanley, no one was commenting on the technique of the Geelong rucks because it was a completely normal ruck contest except that TDK decided to put his knee into Stanley’s ribs for some reason.

Now it happens again to a different guy in different circumstances and all of a sudden it’s a Geelong endemic. I get it’s very easy to draw your own conclusions based on the minimum amount of information but it’s also a good way to be totally wrong a lot of the time.

And it’s so weird how all these threads about Geelong have popped up this week!

 

[STPer18]

And it’s so weird how all these threads about Geelong have popped up this week!

What do you mean? Jeremy Cameron deserves life in prison without parole for assaulting an umpire, Rohan deserves 6 weeks for his super rough tackle on a poor defenseless Hawthorn player and to top it all off Geelong's premiership ruckmen are breaking the rules and forcing these absolute nobody journeyman who've been executing flawless 'ruck craft' their entire unremarkable careers to deliver running knees.

 

[lordbob]

Except there are a lot of people myself included saying rohan shouldnt have gotten a week. Most are saying that the rohan tackle was more dangerous than the Day tackle, which it was, not that he deserved a week.

Cameron's was an accident so nothing to see move on.

But Blicavs is illegally blocking in the ruck.

How does that fit into your narrative ?

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Poor victims

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Poor victims

They remind me of South Park when Cartman fights the midget.

 

[Wojcinski]

They remind me of South Park when Cartman fights the midget.

he is referring to your team FYI

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Amusing the number of people posting who have no idea about ruck work. The ruckman has always been allowed by the rules to protect his body by raising the knee. It is a natural jumping technique, knee up to propel you into the air. The other ruckman should be doing the same. If you enter into a ruck contest without protecting yourself, you deserve what you get.

 

[STPer18]

Amusing the number of people posting who have no idea about ruck work. The ruckman has always been allowed by the rules to protect his body by raising the knee. It is a natural jumping technique, knee up to propel you into the air. The other ruckman should be doing the same. If you enter into a ruck contest without protecting yourself, you deserve what you get.

That's the thing, the new wave of Mason Cox imitators aren't jumping but still throwing out knees. Hawthorn accepted the fine so I assume they're teaching their rucks how to properly contest from now on.