I thought we got the worst of the umpiring on Sunday but part of it is what was said about Hawthorn being smart and coached to push every rule to the limit, or beyond to the point they can get away with.

In regard to tackles, I think their greater overall strength helped them. When they get tackled, they are strong enough to spin and hold their feet, giving time to get a handball away to a team-mate. We invariably go to ground and it looks awful. Hence we get pinged for holding the ball much more against Hawthorn.

There's something else. Every time we play Hawthorn, they run right to the mark then crib a metre or so over it, often jumping in a circle with their arms flailing (Bateman's the worst) and it annoys heck out of me. By going in a circle, the umpire doesn't know exactly where the mark was, so they can get away with cribbing over it. As the game went on, it became clear that the umpires weren't policing that rule on Sunday so it got more blatant. A couple of times the Hawthorn player was several metres over the mark and Melb supporters were yelling "pull him back" but they never did. There were several that should have been 50 metre penalties, then Hawthorn would have stopped doing it. As it was, they do it every week because they are getting away with it.

We need to improve our smarts in these areas so we can play the percentages in our favour.

editing

I thought we got the worst of the umpiring on Sunday but part of it is what was said about Hawthorn being smart and coached to push every rule to the limit, or beyond to the point they can get away with.

HBT, absolutely spot on.

The Hawks, like their 1980s predecessors (and Essendon), are dead set past-masters at gamesmanship. Both are the reason the 50 metre rule was introduced.

It looks like the umpires have gone soft and need to revisit Hawthorn's "unsociable football", which is merely a euphemism for cheating.

The Giesh could start with the three instances mentioned above: constantly cribbing the mark; pushing over players who have just marked; and interfering with the opposition ruckmen.

As for the push in the back rule... you cannot tell me that Roughead's push in the first quarter, with the umpire perfectly placed to make the call, wouldn't have been pinged three weeks ago. That the interpretation and application of the rule can change so flagrantly through the season is an utter fiasco. I flatly refuse to buy the umpires' line that "the players have gotten used to the rule and have adjusted accordingly". Rubbish, and a bare faced lie.

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but by far the worst umpiring mistake happened at the start of the game and resulted in Franklin's first goal.

The ball was kicked to a contest on Hawthorn's HFF and the umpire blew his whistle and signalled a Melbourne free kick for holding off the ball by pointing towards the Hawthorn end of the ground.

Two Melbourne players then ran to he bench to interchange (thinking that it was a Melbourne free kick) but the umpire had pointed in the wrong direction and gave the ball to Hawthorn instead. By this stage Melbourne were now two players down who had run to the bench, there was now no one to stand the mark and the Hawthorn player then had all the time in the world to hit Franklin on the chest who was able to kick the goal.

Those kind of mistakes are inexcusable and something you wouldn't expect from junior umpires, let alone at an AFL level.

The umpire pointed the wrong way later in the game too, think it was the 3rd qtr. It was clearly a Melb free but he pointed as if he was giving it to Hawthorn. Confusion reigned for a few moments, and we were about to lynch him when he corrected himself. Not sure if it was the same umpire.

the real problem with umpires... they arent consistant from week to week....

im sick of the "can do one thing one week

cant do it the following week" [censored]

and i dont think it is the umpires fault .. more so the people behind them

Those kind of mistakes are inexcusable and something you wouldn't expect from junior umpires, let alone at an AFL level.

I agree, that's an embarrassingly amateur mistake, and worse than any missed- or soft- free kick IMO.

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but by far the worst umpiring mistake happened at the start of the game and resulted in Franklin's first goal.

The ball was kicked to a contest on Hawthorn's HFF and the umpire blew his whistle and signalled a Melbourne free kick for holding off the ball by pointing towards the Hawthorn end of the ground.

Two Melbourne players then ran to he bench to interchange (thinking that it was a Melbourne free kick) but the umpire had pointed in the wrong direction and gave the ball to Hawthorn instead. By this stage Melbourne were now two players down who had run to the bench, there was now no one to stand the mark and the Hawthorn player then had all the time in the world to hit Franklin on the chest who was able to kick the goal.

Those kind of mistakes are inexcusable and something you wouldn't expect from junior umpires, let alone at an AFL level.

Yes. Yes. Yes. It was so frustrating.

The hands in the back rule is almost non-existant having watched a replay of the game, too.

By the way, was the Hawthorn bloke (Muston I think), cited for his hit on Sylvia after Sylvia marked before the final siren? Or was it looked at at least? That was reckless.

What about Robbos's brain fade. He didn't cross the mark. Moss came in from the side and grabbed the ball away before it hit Robbos foot. Should have been 50m penalty.

If a player takes a mark, fakes a handball and then gets it knocked out of his hand its 50m. same deal here.

Doesn't excuse Robbo but the maggots got it wrong.

What about Robbos's brain fade. He didn't cross the mark. Moss came in from the side and grabbed the ball away before it hit Robbos foot. Should have been 50m penalty.

If a player takes a mark, fakes a handball and then gets it knocked out of his hand its 50m. same deal here.

Doesn't excuse Robbo but the maggots got it wrong.

Is that right? If it is, it would take a pretty strong umpire to make that decision. But if you're right, then you expect the umpires to know and act. Like you say, Robbo should never have let the situation arise.