Meltdown The Western Bulldog's success is built on a lie (Trigger Warning)...

[Reality Check!]

If you were a GWS or Sydney fan watching the finals against the Bulldogs, you would probably have been tearing your hair out seeing the players in red white and blue be brought down, only to slap it out or deftly drop it to a running teammate. It reminds me of Kevin Bartlett's running bounces when he knew he was about to be tackled. I'm not doubting the talent on the Bulldog's team, and the rebuild under Beveridge has been incredible. But I can't help but think their success last year was built on exploiting the grey areas of disposals by hand. Ironically Hawthorn cops a lot of bashing for having a good go from the umpires, but their premierships were built on precision passing with elite foot skills. I won't deny that at times a few of their disposals by hand have been dubious, but that goes for every team. The Bulldogs are simply capitalising on this, and you can't deny it when you go back and watch their games last season.

So what is to be done? Well we need to more broadly define what an illegal disposal actually is, because let's face it, this is currently the only sport where commentators will say 'WOW what a great fumble!' Here are my suggestions...


- Knocking the ball with an open palm is always illegal, if not in a ruck contest OR if the ball cannot be marked. If a player is uncontested and slaps the ball instead of marking it, play on. The only exception is if you manage to recover the ball yourself. A player is a allowed to slap the ball to get it to sit up better for him, but if a teammate recovers it first then a free kick is awarded to the opposition.

- Placing the ball on the ground and leaving it there, even when not being tackled is dropping the ball.

- If a player has possession for at least ONE second and loses the ball in a tackle it is considered dropped, regardless whether the defending player slapped it out of him or not. If the ball didn't come out straight away in the tackle and the player is immobile the umpire goes red hot on a ball up.


I know any mention of rule changes is going to be open with heavy resistance and criticism, and I'm open to the fact that these changes might make the game worse instead of better. I'm just of the opinion that the grey is overshadowing the black and white of this particular rule, and I won't be surprised if the Bulldogs once again exploit this to meme themselves into another premiership.

 

[Quivorir]

If you don't handball or kick it, its an illegal disposal. Pretty black and white imo.

 

[ApplecrossWC]

The amount of throws and dropping the balls the dogs get away with is staggering

 

[Heaps of fun]

Swans fans tearing their hair out? The Dogs stole that idea from the Swans's playbook.

 

[Komrade_Tiger]

 

[compact72]

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

If the speed limit is 60 and i drive 59, i'm not exploiting the the rules, i'm following the rules. we don't need to bring it down to 58 to stop people from exploiting it.

If the bulldogs can capitalize on it then anyone else can too, and if they thought of it before everyone else did then they deserve whatever they won out of it.

 

[Igloo]

 

[DroopStDanny]

 

[JayJ20]

To be honest, Bulldog's contested work is what won them the premiership. Wouldn't have had the opportunity if they weren't first to the ball.

 

[Golden_6]

The way some people talk, it's like we played to a different set of rules compared to everyone else.

 

[jdz101]

I would have been a little bit more willing to read the substance of what you actually wrote without the ridiculous hyperbolic thread title.

You kind of half make it to a legitimate gripe but how you've written it just seems like an umpire whinge.

The thread title belongs on the bay to be honest.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

Show me on the doll where the bad man touched you.

 

[Mutt]

All of my life I have waited for the Bullies to win a Premiership and for supporters of other teams to resent and attempt to belittle my club because they can't come to terms with its success. Mission accomplished...

 

[jdz101]

- Knocking the ball with an open palm is always illegal, if not in a ruck contest OR if the ball cannot be marked. If a player is uncontested and slaps the ball instead of marking it, play on. The only exception is if you manage to recover the ball yourself. A player is a allowed to slap the ball to get it to sit up better for him, but if a teammate recovers it first then a free kick is awarded to the opposition.

So with all the rules completely open to interpretation either way that the umpires already have to navigate, you're asking them to outrule taps to teammates, but only in very specific split second cases?

 

[Reality Check!]

If the speed limit is 60 and i drive 59, i'm not exploiting the the rules, i'm following the rules. we don't need to bring it down to 58 to stop people from exploiting it.

If the bulldogs can capitalize on it then anyone else can too, and if they thought of it before everyone else did then they deserve whatever they won out of it.

"literally" What does this have to do with football? Also I'm pointing out they are technically not following the rules, as stated by this poster:

If you don't handball or kick it, its an illegal disposal. Pretty black and white imo.

All I'm suggesting is some changes to make it easier for umpires to adjudicate this. So often we see the Bulldogs get away with scooping it out, dropping the ball behind them, and in a lot of cases simply throwing it. But it all happens at such a fast pace that it creates such doubt in the umpire's mind whether the ball was knocked out by the defender, or if the throw was technically a slap (like that Liam Picken scoop in the last quarter of the Grand Final). I remember Commetti or McAvaney asking Carey what he thought that was OK, and he kind of just held his breath before uttering a quick 'yup'. I really think everyone got caught up in the emotion of the Bulldog's fairytale run, and the overwhelming support they got at the grounds put a lot of pressure on the umpires to call the games without bias. Because let's be honest, if this were Hawthorn or Geelong winning in similar fashion the whole board would have had a complete meltdown.

Good on the Bulldogs for such an incredible achievement, but it was the ugliest premiership I've seen since 2005.

 

[Colonial]

Its 2017. Move on.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Reality Check!]

So with all the rules completely open to interpretation either way that the umpires already have to navigate, you're asking them to outrule taps to teammates, but only in very specific split second cases?

These 'specific' cases are ruck contests or if the ball is there to be marked or spoiling a mark. The problem we have now is that the Bulldogs are slapping/scooping to teammates off the ground. Might as well make throwing legal.

 

[The 747]

These 'specific' cases are ruck contests or if the ball is there to be marked or spoiling a mark. The problem we have now is that the Bulldogs are slapping/scooping to teammates off the ground. Might as well make throwing legal.

My team, the Swans and the Hawks have been throwing it around for years, it's an interpretation that good teams have been exploiting for many years.

 

[jdz101]

These 'specific' cases are ruck contests or if the ball is there to be marked or spoiling a mark. The problem we have now is that the Bulldogs are slapping/scooping to teammates off the ground. Might as well make throwing legal.

A lot of inside mids do that to get a clearance.

Its not like those devilish fiends in red white and blue are the only inside mids that scoop a ball out of a pack and don't legitimately "punch" the handpass to their teammate with force every single time. The fact that you're implying that's the case is absolute nonsense.

Grow up.

 

[TiAn_]

You're upset about the Bulldogs winning the flag?

 

[Reality Check!]

All of my life I have waited for the Bullies to win a Premiership and for supporters of other teams to resent and attempt to belittle my club because they can't come to terms with its success. Mission accomplished...

No one resents the Bulldogs, except maybe Sydney and GWS fans. A second premiership in nearly 100 years by exploiting the rules is nothing to be proud of, it's kind of cute actually. Now if a team like Carlton won like this I would be seething, but I really care little for the Bulldog's success even if they create a mini dynasty.

I would have been a little bit more willing to read the substance of what you actually wrote without the ridiculous hyperbolic thread title.

You kind of half make it to a legitimate gripe but how you've written it just seems like an umpire whinge.

The thread title belongs on the bay to be honest.

No complaint about the umpires at all. I just pointed out that the way the rules are it's so difficult for them to officiate. I actually feel sorry for them, because if they start paying against these illegal disposals, the abuse from fans would be merciless because they've become accustomed to getting away with it. The umpires are now put in a difficult position where they have to be consistent with every game. The result? Holding or dropping the ball is rarely paid across all the games and the rolling mauls have become worse.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Loved the fact the Dogs never gave in. That's what won them the flag.

 

[SlimShaddy]

Harder for longer not only produces success in the bedroom but also during the finals series.

Life can be fairly simple at times.

 

[LightTower4]