Why do our umpires first blow the whistle, and then call advantage?
Using soccer as an example, when a referee plays advantage for a foul, he'll produce two arms forward and allow play to continue without interruption. No whistle is used unless there is no advantage, in which event he'll whistle and bring the ball back.
In AFL the whistle is first blown, leading to most players stopping to see what's happened, and then the player with the ball runs off and gets a nice head-start on any defenders who happened to stop.
It's a massive disadvantage. It flows far better in soccer with nobody stopping when advantage is played.
Should AFL umpires be simply yelling "advantage" before blowing the whistle, and then if there is none, blowing and bringing the ball back?
I'm curious to see people's thoughts on this.
Using soccer as an example, when a referee plays advantage for a foul, he'll produce two arms forward and allow play to continue without interruption. No whistle is used unless there is no advantage, in which event he'll whistle and bring the ball back.
In AFL the whistle is first blown, leading to most players stopping to see what's happened, and then the player with the ball runs off and gets a nice head-start on any defenders who happened to stop.
It's a massive disadvantage. It flows far better in soccer with nobody stopping when advantage is played.
Should AFL umpires be simply yelling "advantage" before blowing the whistle, and then if there is none, blowing and bringing the ball back?
I'm curious to see people's thoughts on this.