Our Game Is In Trouble

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The main issues that need to be sorted:


50s for technical infringements: because 50s are such a massive penalty, this year there have been many ridiculous occasions where the players all stop because they assume there is a free kick, but the umpire hasn’t blown their whistle. They are petrified of giving away a 50, and so aren’t playing they whistle. Should the whistle blow as you’re kicking the ball or running past an opposition player, bad luck, 50m penalty, you were expected to predict the free kick, not play the whistle.

Ruck contests: no one knows why 90% of the free kicks happen here. The commentators don’t bother explaining them because they don’t know either. They seem random. There are too many technical rules around blocking. It needs to be rethought and deregulated.

Marking contests: See above. The blocking rules and overly complicated. When a back is wrestling a forward and a third man floats in and takes a basically uncontested mark, it is 50/50 whether it will be reversed for “blocking access to the contest”. Are players allowed to “protect the space” or not? My understanding is you are technically not, yet this is still a lauded skill. It seems dependent on where on the ground it occurs (much like chopping the arms).

Forceful contact below the knees vs too high: these are often 50/50 and “smart” players who are second to the ball now just run into the person who is first to the ball with arms flailing and get a free. It’s a farce.

And yeah, this year there have been more occasions than ever where a whistle blows and all players stare at the umpire as no one has any idea which way the freekick is going to go.
 
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Eshay187 said:
The main issues that need to be sorted:


50s for technical infringements: because 50s are such a massive penalty, this year there have been many ridiculous occasions where the players all stop because they assume there is a free kick, but the umpire hasn’t blown their whistle. They are petrified of giving away a 50, and so aren’t playing they whistle. Should the whistle blow as you’re kicking the ball, bad luck, 50m penalty, you were expected to predict the free kick, not play the whistle.

Ruck contests: no one knows why 90% of the free kicks happen here. The commentators don’t bother explaining them because they don’t know either. They seem random. There are too many technical rules around blocking. It needs to be rethought and deregulated.

Marking contests: See above. The blocking rules and overly complicated. When a back is wrestling a forward and a third man floats in and takes a basically uncontested mark, it is 50/50 whether it will be reversed for “blocking access to the contest”. Are players allowed to “protect the space” or not? My understanding is you are technically not, yet this is still a lauded skill. It seems dependent on where on the ground it occurs (much like chopping the arms).

Forceful contact below the knees vs too high: these are often 50/50 and “smart” players who are second to the ball now just run into the person who is first to the ball with arms flailing and get a free. It’s a farce.

And yeah, this year there have been more occasions than ever where a whistle blows and all players stare at the umpire as no one has any idea which way the freekick is going to go.
Click to expand...
EFC Players stopping in the ANZAC game was exceptional I thought- the umpire missed a couple of utterly textbook HTBs.

But then the rules around playing advantage are also a complicated decision for players whose team won the free- again Rugby's phase structure makes it so much simpler- get a free kick you can play to advantage, if it breaks down at any point without scoring, the ball comes all the way back and you get to start again. I don't mind this.

How about the one where you can't play advantage if a free kick is paid by a non-nearest ump...layer after layer.
 
Eshay187 said:
The main issues that need to be sorted:


50s for technical infringements: because 50s are such a massive penalty, this year there have been many ridiculous occasions where the players all stop because they assume there is a free kick, but the umpire hasn’t blown their whistle. They are petrified of giving away a 50, and so aren’t playing they whistle. Should the whistle blow as you’re kicking the ball, bad luck, 50m penalty, you were expected to predict the free kick, not play the whistle.

Ruck contests: no one knows why 90% of the free kicks happen here. The commentators don’t bother explaining them because they don’t know either. They seem random. There are too many technical rules around blocking. It needs to be rethought and deregulated.

Marking contests: See above. The blocking rules and overly complicated. When a back is wrestling a forward and a third man floats in and takes a basically uncontested mark, it is 50/50 whether it will be reversed for “blocking access to the contest”. Are players allowed to “protect the space” or not? My understanding is you are technically not, yet this is still a lauded skill. It seems dependent on where on the ground it occurs (much like chopping the arms).

Forceful contact below the knees vs too high: these are often 50/50 and “smart” players who are second to the ball now just run into the person who is first to the ball with arms flailing and get a free. It’s a farce.

And yeah, this year there have been more occasions than ever where a whistle blows and all players stare at the umpire as no one has any idea which way the freekick is going to go.
Click to expand...


Quality post, couldnt agree more.

Add to that what constitutes prior opportunity, bc in every game you will see a player receive a hospital ball get smashed in a great tackle a second later to the roars of baaaaaaaaaallllll and bc the ball spills out, its paid HTB or incorrect disposal nearly every time, Ive never understood or accepted this
 
Zoom said:
Probably since they got their shit together. Beat Melbourne and smashed Brisbane and North, then took it to the benchmark in the competition today. Probably would’ve won had the umpiring been competent.
Click to expand...
Melbourne are playing worse than us and North are a bottom four side. If anything, Geelong would be the "benchmark" about now, once the heat is turned on they crumble. It's the reason why they haven't won a final for a long, long time. Got nothing to do with "jealously", you overrate them and conveniently ignore their first two games. They have done nothing to suggest they're a high quality side, they're not even in the top four. They're 10th ffs. They can't be "high quality" when they can't stand up to finals like pressure. You can say "lolz but Carlton sucks", "you are a jealous Blues fan" etc but it doesn't change those fundamental facts.
 
Personally I don't think there are that many contentious decisions that requires full-time umpires or a royal commission. The biggest issue seems to be HTB / Incorrect Disposal. It's pretty difficult to tell whether someone disposes of it correctly.

TBH I complain about the umpiring at most games when it goes against my time - it's the normal behaviour of a footy supporter - I also groan when someone from my team kicks the ball to the opposition, or misses a simple shot at goal. But overall I think the umpires a doing a reasonable job. Sure there are some missed frees, but I think the umps make a lot less mistakes than the players.
 
adammania9 said:
Remember that umpiring is only a part-time job, so no umpire treats the job as their life or the rule book as their bible. When the rules are being changed by the dozens year after year on them when they're not even being paid full-time, it's hard for them to take their job seriously
Click to expand...
A part time job earning 6 figures isn’t bad compensation though.
 

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demondavey said:
The game is close to unwatchable these days. It isn’t football anymore, it’s this rolling maul up and down that’s over officiated and perplexing. I pretty much split my time watching League and only close AFL matches.
Click to expand...
It’s actually been more open this year. Better to watch. Didn’t you just watch geelong’s game- beaut, attractive footy especially in first quarter.
 
Blues the better team today but just couldn’t overcome the umpire’s incompetence.

The game is in serious trouble when one side is so heavily favoured throughout the whole season.

Will Whateley voice an opinion or is everything all good now that Geelong are on top and his club have been looked after?
 
I just wouldn’t mind seeing defenders get a shred of protection. I have no horse in today’s race as it were, but Plowman played a terrific game and it’s a shame he was very blatantly infringed on two of the late goals without protection.

Backmen getting brutalised when you know a forward would receive a free kick for the same incident really frustrates me, regardless of player or team or situation. Got to give them a chance.
 

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