If you were poor or very average as a player,,utter useless as a Coach

why not Coach the maggots and take revenge on everyone who said you were terrible.

The umpires should have someone like Roos coach them from a players viewpoint.

I still cant understand how the player making the play gets called for holding the ball when the opposition is laying into his back !

Funny how the umpiring is always worse when we get flogged, isn't it? I especially love the "the umpiring doesn't excuse the loss, but..." posts.

That said, the 50 against Rivers made me sad.

Melbourne getting belted by the umpires when we play the Bulldogs is traditional.

The umpiring was terrible, and there were some really obvious howlers that went against us, but there were also a number of bad calls against the dogs. It was a case of the umpires being consistently bad across the board.

My personal pick of the bunch was a foul on Jamar in the goalsquare that was not called. He was in prime position to take the mark readying himself to run at the two players in front of him when a Dog defender ran in fro the side and bullrushed him sideways and away from the contest. Whether you call it sheparding in a marking contest (which they got away with all night) or tackling without the ball, it was clearly a free kick.

To be fair the Trengove free was probably there. On the reply his eyes were back watching the bulldogs player and he put his arm/shoulder in the way with intent to block, but there were plenty of other decisions which were rubbish.

What a load of carp. So now there's a free for looking at the other player, is there?

Trengove stands his ground, and looks fleetingly behind him to see where Higgins is. He doesn't block him. He makes an attempt to mark, but Higgins flies over him. That is not a shepherd. Not even close.

The Rivers decision baffled me too. Was a clear push in the back, was definitely not holding the ball, and the abuse 50 seemed to come very, very quickly.

The umpiring has been very bad and one sided for a couple of years.

Sometimes when i watch a match(not just MFC matches), the umpiring makes me really wonder about how ligitimate afl actually is. It's almost like the free kicks go to the highest bidder, at the start of the year. Or the AFL deciphers who's going to win, base around the best financial out come for the AFL(collingwood premiership? very convinant considering the AFL needed a big injection of cash, for the expansion teams). It's not just the free kicks that get paid, it's also the one's that don't get paid.

It's become a blight on the game and should be stopped, but nothing will be done because our game is so tribal and we are all so happy take the BS! free kicks that they give us(like the 50 metre penalty's given to us last year agains the Bombers)they were BS, but hay i loved it....

Who knows this issue could be bigger than even i could imagin, Drugs? gambleing? were there is money tobe made, there is money being made....

The umpiring was disgraceful, but the fact is we were more disgraceful. Worry about our own game before the umpires

Took over Goldspink's old number. Pretty much sums up that he umpires for the ego.

Still not the worst in the league. Ray has the worst personality but isn't a shocking umpiring (but gee he pisses everyone off). The bald guy is actually the worst. Just plain incompetent.

That bald ump your referring to does he wear the no.15 on his back?

That guy absolutely crucifies us when we have him. To the point I think it is intentional.

After watching a fair bit of footy this weekend I think the umpires have been ordinary across the bord.

Some shocking calls and there has been allot that seem to result in goals! There the ones that get my goat the most.

Reality is there consistency is on a par with ours. Just not good enough at this level

the standard of umpiring over recent times has made me lose my joy for the game. had to turn the pies hawks game off at half time. if that's where i'm at imagine how the players feel. the umps have no understanding or feel for the real game. how many of them have had to stand their ground like trengove did in the 2nd qtr? and the 50 prior to that against garland was cr#p, gifting the dogs the first 2 goals of the qtr. as was bennell's. if they want a fast flowing game and put the advantage rule in the players hands then there's got to be some leeway. bennell kicked that ball within a second of the whistle

What a load of carp. So now there's a free for looking at the other player, is there?

Trengove stands his ground, and looks fleetingly behind him to see where Higgins is. He doesn't block him. He makes an attempt to mark, but Higgins flies over him. That is not a shepherd. Not even close.

The Rivers decision baffled me too. Was a clear push in the back, was definitely not holding the ball, and the abuse 50 seemed to come very, very quickly.

Trengove never made an attempt to mark, he put his arm out in a clear block.

What a load of carp. So now there's a free for looking at the other player, is there?

Trengove stands his ground, and looks fleetingly behind him to see where Higgins is. He doesn't block him. He makes an attempt to mark, but Higgins flies over him. That is not a shepherd. Not even close.

The Rivers decision baffled me too. Was a clear push in the back, was definitely not holding the ball, and the abuse 50 seemed to come very, very quickly.

Also incase you had not noticed, yeah they do hand out frees these days when a player in a contest is focussing on the other player and not the ball.

Also incase you had not noticed, yeah they do hand out frees these days when a player in a contest is focussing on the other player and not the ball.

Dunn got 2 weeks for almost hurting a kangaroos player this year....the same player openly punches newton in the face and got off?

Dunn got 2 weeks for almost hurting a kangaroos player this year....the same player openly punches newton in the face and got off?

Not following.. who was that??

Also incase you had not noticed, yeah they do hand out frees these days when a player in a contest is focussing on the other player and not the ball.

Correct. But the key is 'not' the ball. Trengove only briefly looks at Higgins. That happens all the time. He mainly focuses on the ball. That is allowable.

He is also allowed to put his hand out. IMO he wasn't so much blocking as he was looking for contact. That, too, happens all the time.

The thing umpires are looking for is when a player's dominant motivation is to stop another player from marking the ball, not marking the ball themselves. To me, Trengove was trying to contest the mark himself. So it shouldn't have been a free kick.

Correct. But the key is 'not' the ball. Trengove only briefly looks at Higgins. That happens all the time. He mainly focuses on the ball. That is allowable.

He is also allowed to put his hand out. IMO he wasn't so much blocking as he was looking for contact. That, too, happens all the time.

The thing umpires are looking for is when a player's dominant motivation is to stop another player from marking the ball, not marking the ball themselves. To me, Trengove was trying to contest the mark himself. So it shouldn't have been a free kick.

Clearly it's a matter of opinion re Trenners' intent and interpretation of the rules in this situation so we should agree to disagree.

Correct. But the key is 'not' the ball. Trengove only briefly looks at Higgins. That happens all the time. He mainly focuses on the ball. That is allowable.

He is also allowed to put his hand out. IMO he wasn't so much blocking as he was looking for contact. That, too, happens all the time.

The thing umpires are looking for is when a player's dominant motivation is to stop another player from marking the ball, not marking the ball themselves. To me, Trengove was trying to contest the mark himself. So it shouldn't have been a free kick.

Clearly it's a matter of opinion re Trenners' intent and interpretation of the rules in this situation so we should agree to disagree.

The umpires have been horrific the whole year.

My pet hate is guessing and they seem to do this with alarming frequency - especially with the diving on the ball and not getting it out. The amount of times the umpires are on the wrong side of the bodies to make this decision is appalling.

If you dont know umpire - DONT GUESS

Not following.. who was that??

Pratt i think?

Hi again folks,

Had to write the OP in a rush the other night, as I have some spare time now I thought I would explain what I meant.

I felt the standard of the umpiring cost us a couple of early goals from incorrect and inconsistent free kicks. I don't mind so much if they decide to adjudicate a game in a certain way, but ffs be consistent. I felt in the opening half that the game was reasonably in the balance, however some howlers from the umps were really frustrating and made me think what is the point. Fortunately it appeared the team did not take my attitude and kept fighting it out, at that stage anyway. That is what I meant when I said they showed character fighting back. Unfortunately they ran out of that in the second half, especially near the end. But when the ridicules 50 was paid against Rivers, to be honest I don't blame them. The appalling standard of umpiring this season is honestly ruining the game, it is inconsistent and at times bewildering. Someone suggesting earlier that they are in fact guessing, well that is unacceptable.

I don't know what the answer is to the umpiring fiasco but I think the first start would have to be to employ them full time, the AFL has so much money you would think they would invest some of it in making the actual game acceptable to watch. Secondly, their performance has been so dreadful throughout the year-if they were a team then the coach would be sacked-sorry Geish time to go.

I am not suggesting that the umpires cost us the game on Friday, the unfortunatly for us the dogs actually decided to play their best game of the season against us, and with their bigger bodies out muscled us. What I will say is though that I think as a young team we run on confidence. Hitting the post so many times and having umpires gifting the other side goals definitely sapped that confidence and the result shows what happens when this occurs.

Finally, can anyone explain to me why our game plan changed from chipping the ball around the forward flank (just outside 50) waiting for an option inside to open up to bombing the ball long into the forward line expecting Pettard and Jurrah to take at least 12 speckies and convert to win the game for us?! I read somewhere that we had lots of inside 50s that game, well if they are bombed in and the ball comes straight back out-I'd just as well rather not haves as many inside 50s and be much more efficient when we do go inside!

ps

On the Trengove shepherd, if that ball had been closer and the dog player had timed his run properly and Jack had tied to block him from going for the ball, then fine I have no problem with that. However in this case Jack looked to see where everyone else was. Got the mental picture. Turned around and set himself for the mark. As he was getting ready a dog ran straight into him and the umpire had blown the whistle before the ball had come into frame in the tv let alone to the marking contest! It was definitely an unrealistic attempt to mark which cost us dearly at that stage of the game. Watching it I thought, finally, a free to us-I was just glad I wasn't holding anything when the umpire put is hand up the other way as it would have gone though the TV. Even Bruce commented that the game is not heading in the right direction if that was a free. Anyway its good news I guess for all us amateurs, I know I could play AFL-its easy-just wait for someone to look at you and run staight into them, you'll get a free and kick an easy goal. Happy Days

pps Sorry for using 'I' in the first word of 3 of the paragraphs

Edited July 4, 201114 yr by Dusty_Hill

Trengrove was only having a look if any umpires were near him, cant afford any more fines. The umpiring standard is all over the place at the moment. whats a tackle, what deliberate oob etc. If the umps arnt sure what hope do the players have.

it's just an age thing, Trengove will be smarter next time when he turns his back and sell the contact as a push in the back, instead of holding his ground and let it be sold as a block

Clearly it's a matter of opinion re Trenners' intent and interpretation of the rules in this situation so we should agree to disagree.

The ball was going over Trengove's head, he looked behind him to see Higgins setting himself for a speccy, so he just changed his body position slightly to make Higgins mistime his jump. Which Higgins did, so badly that he should have been penalised for it. It was a brilliant piece of quick thinking, typical of Trengove.

The Jack Watts & Newman thing was completely different - Newman stopped Jack from getting to the drop of the ball.

So the only thing Trengove should be allowed to do in that situation is to stand still & let Higgins take the ride on him, or if possible, bend slightly so that Higgins can get a better ride. Surely you're allowed to do something to stop someone taking a ride on you.

Classic example of umpires who have no idea whatsoever what it's like to play the game.

In contrast, clearly the "hands in the back" rule is out for the rest of the season.

Edited July 5, 201114 yr by Akum

Arrrghhhh, just watched that stupid Gieschen on whats your decision. CAN NOBODY SEE HOW EARLY THE DOGS PLAYER JUMPS??-the ball is nowhere to be seen. ARE THEY THAT STUPID???? Watching multiple replays confirmed what I initially thought. I have no problem that if the ball was in the area it was a block, however the ball was no where near and the dogs player made an unrealistic attempt and drew a free kick.

GIESCHEN if you cannot see this - You are a FOOL. Time to GO.

GET RID OF GIESCHEN - It will slowly start to improvement to the standard of umpiring.

GET RID OF GIESCHEN - It will slowly start to improvement to the standard of umpiring.

GET RID OF GIESCHEN - It will slowly start to improvement to the standard of umpiring.

GET RID OF GIESCHEN - It will slowly start to improvement to the standard of umpiring.

GET RID OF GIESCHEN - It will slowly start to improvement to the standard of umpiring.

GET RID OF GIESCHEN - THE MAN IS A FOOL

Edited July 6, 201114 yr by Dusty_Hill

Melbourne getting belted by the umpires when we play the Bulldogs is traditional.

absolutely correct