Roast Statement on Umpires

[Squizz]

I just felt that in the context of some noises about the Pittard 50 that the Riewoldt one was a good example of a 50 going the other way resulting in a goal (which I consider to have been a much worse decision .... bias aside).

What are these noises you speak of?

Almost every post I've seen on this board by St Kilda people were disappointed with Dal's actions.

One thing I dislike immensely is people coming onto the board with a generalisation of an opinion that doesn't exist (either in the overwhelming majority or - in this case - pretty much everyone).

 

[Malibu#27]

What are these noises you speak of?

Almost every post I've seen on this board by St Kilda people were disappointed with Dal's actions.

One thing I dislike immensely is people coming onto the board with a generalisation of an opinion that doesn't exist (either in the overwhelming majority or - in this case - pretty much everyone).

Not so much on this board mate, rather the wider bigfooty.

 

[Squizz]

Noting we are 14th in disposals, 11th in contested marks, 15th in tackles, and 16th in 1%'ers here is the ladder:

West Coast 61
North Melbourne 59
Geelong 31
Adelaide 14
Essendon 10
Melbourne 9
Collingwood 8
Richmond 6
Hawthorn 5
Gold Coast -6
Port Adelaide -7
Western Bulldogs -8
Fremantle -11
Sydney -15
GWS -25
Carlton -30
Brisbane -42
St Kilda -59

 

[Squizz]

Not so much on this board mate, rather the wider bigfooty.

Take it there then.

 

[SaintLex]

What did they say about the 50 Riewoldt recieved? Thought that was very generous.

I don't think it's a conscious decisions by umpires to attempt to liven the contest, but it's certainly there. The way teams seem to get a string of free kicks, some soft some not, is extremely irritating. I can't explain why we seem to give so many away and get so few ourselves, maybe it has something to do with other teams tactics and preparation re free kicks vs. ours? Maybe it's the nervousness of our defenders giving away height or experience who resort to grabbing and holding. Maybe the umps are conspiring to get us pick 3?

We are very undisciplined in the way we play, mainly in defence where our undersized defenders result to scragging to try beat their opponents, but also small things like tackles slipping high etc. I noticed it more at the start of the year, which either means we've started paying attention to our undisciplined efforts and have tried to correct them or i've just gotten so used to it, i'm not even frustrated anymore (hopefully the former).

Yes, we've had some howlers paid against us, no doubt. But an umpiring conspiracy is something i'm just not going to buy into. I'd be willing to concede that factors like Collingwood/West Coast's crowd vs our poor little cheer squad might have bearing on the umpiring at the time, but I don't believe in conspiracies.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Noting we are 14th in disposals, 11th in contested marks, 15th in tackles, and 16th in 1%'ers here is the ladder:

West Coast 61
North Melbourne 59
Geelong 31
Adelaide 14
Essendon 10
Melbourne 9
Collingwood 8
Richmond 6
Hawthorn 5
Gold Coast -6
Port Adelaide -7
Western Bulldogs -8
Fremantle -11
Sydney -15
GWS -25
Carlton -30
Brisbane -42
St Kilda -59

This week's going to be a bit painful, one fears...

 

[Persevering Saint]

We are very undisciplined in the way we play, mainly in defence where our undersized defenders result to scragging to try beat their opponents, but also small things like tackles slipping high etc. I noticed it more at the start of the year, which either means we've started paying attention to our undisciplined efforts and have tried to correct them or i've just gotten so used to it, i'm not even frustrated anymore (hopefully the former).

Yes, we've had some howlers paid against us, no doubt. But an umpiring conspiracy is something i'm just not going to buy into. I'd be willing to concede that factors like Collingwood/West Coast's crowd vs our poor little cheer squad might have bearing on the umpiring at the time, but I don't believe in conspiracies.

The problem is that a lot of the time, 50/50 decisions in tackles go the other way, and it's like a 200% turnaround. It's not just that we don't get the free, it's that THEY get the free.

You saw that on the weekend with the two dePLORable "tripping" frees. That second one was particularly heartbreaking: Stanley leaves his man to do the hard work, runs the player down, and JUST gives the lightest brush of his legs at the end, slowing him down enough for Dal to finish the tackle. That should SO have been a holding-the-ball awarded to us. Just think how that would have helped Stanley's confidence, not to mention the outcome of the game. Instead, it goes the other way, and that damages Stanley's confidence in tackling later ("gee, I thought it was a good work, how am I meant to tackle next time...?"). Add the 50 from there, and yikes.

 

[sauce_head]

Tripping and 'in danger' must have been the rules of the week.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Exactly, Saucey. Of course Stanley's trip was "there". The problem is, it wasn't there a hundred other times this year. I hate it when they pull out a rule they haven't enforced in aeons.

 

[Noidenous]

Exactly, Saucey. Of course Stanley's trip was "there". The problem is, it wasn't there a hundred other times this year. I hate it when they pull out a rule they haven't enforced in aeons.

I'm sure it's been pinged at least once in the last billion years.

 

[sauce_head]

Exactly, Saucey. Of course Stanley's trip was "there". The problem is, it wasn't there a hundred other times this year. I hate it when they pull out a rule they haven't enforced in aeons.

Just like a jointly contributed 50m penalty between the saints and power was a new one to me. A tap and drop!

 

[Sir Skid]

Probably more for the MRP but remember Frazer Gherig getting a week for the tummy fist tap that wouldn't have squashed a butterfly?
Just thinking how that compared to Pods running forward and thrusting the elbow forward into Jack Stevens chest.
Both worth a week for sure eh. Gotta love the lucky dip!

 

[tbarker]

Just got up the courage to watch the last 2 quarters of Sat nights game. Some moron told me the score at a party so I knew that we didn't score in the second half. What I witnessed was the Geelong of old. Get caught in a tackle and hold it long enough to chuck, throw, flick, push, cut-out pass or any other form of dropping the ball to a teammate. No reward by the filth. In fact I don't recall seeing a single holding the ball paid to us. The rules have not changed. Incorrect disposal is still incorrect disposal!!!! The problem we will unfortunately face is crap umpires for the next few years because we are 16th on the ladder. The A grade umps were not travelling down the Princess Highway to run around in the arctic conditions at Kardinia to watch 3rd v 16th!

 

[Rors]

Probably more for the MRP but remember Frazer Gherig getting a week for the tummy fist tap that wouldn't have squashed a butterfly?
Just thinking how that compared to Pods running forward and thrusting the elbow forward into Jack Stevens chest.
Both worth a week for sure eh. Gotta love the lucky dip!

That Fraser one still makes the jaw drop when you think about Barry Hall giving Goose Maguire the short right jab to the solar plexus in the Prelim final 2005.... If Baz was still wearing the StKilda jumper & he'd punched the Swans player, you could guarantee a minimum of 3 weeks!

 

[Plugger35]

I'd love to see Watters do this after one of our games where we get screwed by the umpires.



I'm a Manly supporter and they got shafted by the refs last night against the Bunnies.

 

[Ducky Tie]

I wouldn't. It would send a poor message to the players. I want to support a club that doesn't give a stuff what the umpires do. Who are accountable for their own performances. If fans want to rant about umps, fine, I do it myself. But the club has to be better than that.

 

[Squizz]

Is it too cynical for me to suggest we've had a better run since Watters approached Gieschen?

 

[Plugger35]

I wouldn't. It would send a poor message to the players. I want to support a club that doesn't give a stuff what the umpires do. Who are accountable for their own performances. If fans want to rant about umps, fine, I do it myself. But the club has to be better than that.

The umpires deserve to cop a bake but it probably wouldn't do us much good, we're still paying the price for Grant Thomas bagging the umpires.

Don't know about sending a poor message to the players, I reckon it's great to see a coach fire up and instil that hate to lose, us against them mentality like Toovey did. It would make me want to play even harder for him.

 

[Plugger35]

Is it too cynical for me to suggest we've had a better run since Watters approached Gieschen?

The softly softly polite approach hasn't done us much good has it? They couldn't treat us much worse if Watters ripped into them like Toovey did.

 

[Rors]

I'd love to see Watters do this after one of our games where we get screwed by the umpires.



I'm a Manly supporter and they got shafted by the refs last night against the Bunnies.

That's the problem with Rugby League, the coaches never put it down to periods of poor performance by their team in the game, they just point the fingers at the referees! I watched the game last night & yes there were some questionable calls, but the refs did not lose that game for Manly, Manly lost when they decided to try & play defensively for the last 20mins. They had it in the bag, then the Rabbitohs got a run on & the momentum, & ran over the top of Manly.

Manly shot themselves in the foot by utterly dominating the first 60 minutes, but failing to capitalise & extend their 10-6 lead...

 

[Plugger35]

That's the problem with Rugby League, the coaches never put it down to periods of poor performance by their team in the game, they just point the fingers at the referees! I watched the game last night & yes there were some questionable calls, but the refs did not lose that game for Manly, Manly lost when they decided to try & play defensively for the last 20mins. They had it in the bag, then the Rabbitohs got a run on & the momentum, & ran over the top of Manly.

Manly shot themselves in the foot by utterly dominating the first 60 minutes, but failing to capitalise & extend their 10-6 lead...

You sound like you know your league mate, who do you support?

Better not be the Rabbitohs.

 

[goodie23]

Said it many many times, get a current or former umpire down to training to tell us how we keep infringing. Every week if necessary (which it very well could be). Hell, get the boys to have chats to Leigh Fisher. As we learnt from Thomas, bitching and whining will only prove counter-productive

 

[Rors]

You sound like you know your league mate, who do you support?

Better not be the Rabbitohs.

Storm, but don't mind dropping in to see any team play. Only been up here in Sydney for 5 years, so you could say other than following Melbourne, if I get invited to a game I'm not really fussed as long as there is beer, some banter & a good time

 

[Plugger35]

Said it many many times, get a current or former umpire down to training to tell us how we keep infringing. Every week if necessary (which it very well could be). Hell, get the boys to have chats to Leigh Fisher. As we learnt from Thomas, bitching and whining will only prove counter-productive

I'm not sure if that will help, I don't think we're infringing more than other teams I just think they're biased or incompetent with their decisions.

We could maybe win more frees by ducking and diving but I don't want to see us go down that path.

Wouldn't hurt to get Leigh Fisher down to training though to give us some inside info on interpretations.

Leigh's already one of the better umpires despite all the nuffies complaining that he's biased towards St Kilda, which he isn't but even if he was he's just evening it up for all the umpires that are biased against us.

Storm, but don't mind dropping in to see any team play. Only been up here in Sydney for 5 years, so you could say other than following Melbourne, if I get invited to a game I'm not really fussed as long as there is beer, some banter & a good time

I like the Storm too, my 2nd favourite team behind Manly.

Craig Bellamy is a hell of a coach, just keeps churning out great teams no matter how many star players he loses. I don't know if Bellamy knows anything about AFL but I'd love to get him on board at St Kilda even if it's just as an assistant tackling coach or just to give us some insight about building a successful team. He knows all about that.

I'm a big fan of Billy Slater too

You just knew he'd be a star after seeing this try as a youngster.

 

[goodie23]

I'm not sure if that will help, I don't think we're infringing more than other teams I just think they're biased or incompetent with their decisions.

We could maybe win more frees by ducking and diving but I don't want to see us go down that path.

Wouldn't hurt to get Leigh Fisher down to training though to give us some inside info on interpretations.

Leigh's already one of the better umpires despite all the nuffies complaining that he's biased towards St Kilda, which he isn't but even if he was he's just evening it up for all the umpires that are biased against us.

"The first time someone calls you a horse you punch him on the nose, the second time someone calls you a horse you call him a jerk but the third time someone calls you a horse, well then perhaps it's time to go shopping for a saddle."

We give away a lot of dumb free kicks, our under-sized backmen in defence, Rhys due to his inexperience back there, Armo's also given up 29 frees this season. We can't control any prejudices the umpires have, we can work on our own technique.