on a similar note do posters think some handpasses are just too fast to be correct. especially those picked up of the ground and handpassed all in one movement that to the naked eye looks like a shovel pass or scoop

I think this may have started with Scott West and his lightning "handpass" out of traffic where he would launch himself into a horizontal dive as he picked up the ball and make a vaguely handpassish motion while tossing the ball to a teammate. Once the umps decided to allow this, the rest just kind of followed.

Glad others have caught on to it, players have been dropping, slinging and scooping the ball out in packs all year and rarely, rarely been caught. I've seen a mild interest on it in later rounds from umpires, but still, not often enough. I reckon it's played a part in the 'rolling maul' phenomenon, the death of the proper handball

As for the umpiring last Sunday, we definitely had the better of it for 2.5-3 quarters but there seemed to be a deliberate evening up and they started to pull out the shocking holding the ball interpretation to do so.