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The Rioli decision is the latest disgrace in what is an ongoing disgrace: the state of the AFL's MRO/Tribunal system. I can't use the word broken enough.

That makes it easy: Rivers for Salem.

Draper should have got 1 week. Rioli should have 2 weeks. Mitch Robinson should have been cleared. The Sloane one, I'm comfortable with a fine I think. What a horrible way to start the year for the AFL and tribunal.

Hawkins regularly recklessly clobbers opponents with forearm or elbow. Is every time an accident?

There's an Essendon supporter I work with who's somewhere in his mid to late 20's. He remembers vaguely a flag while at primary school but as far as he's concerned they've been no good for most of his life. This is their young generation of supporters. Love his pessimism. Long may it continue. As for Hawthorn they were bottom dwellers for a fair while before Clarkeson took over. Remember Shane Crawford hanging on till his last game before he got his flag (That's what I'm talking about!). They were 'lucky' enough to hit the drafting jackpot with some strategic tanking landing Hodge, Lewis, Franklin, Roughy, Mitchell and Rioli in consecutive years. Hawthorn (and Geelongs) time at the top was also aided by the introduction of GC and GWS which hobbled the rest of the competition while they got their priority picks. Meanwhile they filled holes in their lists by cherry picking players from struggling clubs looking for success. Can they turn it around that quickly again .... I doubt it.

Tehehehe

well for one thing they could umpire 2 games every week......there's 2 days work out of 5 then there is obviously fitness training, rule and interpretation training and last and importantly extensive reviews of the previous weeks games additionally running training clinics for junior umpires plenty to do......at least as much as current players

If someone can see a relationship between free kicks and results, then they're doing better than me.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Taj Woewodin develop for the Casey Demons in the VFL. The great thing is that he won't get thrown to the wolves and will get plenty of time to mature and develop in the VFL. Fingers crossed he earns a senior debut in the AFL later this season, but there is absolutely no pressure and it's such a huge asset that we have (my favourite) Mark "Choco" Williams as our development coach!

I'm not surprised that they haven't appealed. The AFL have set up the MRO and Tribunal to be Outcome Based, not Intent Based. This was always bound to happen when the player that was hit didn't receive any "immediate" and evident damage. I say immediate because even though he wasn't concussed, the effect of minor knocks can build up under the surface. The AFL needs to completely overhaul the MRO and Tribunal to reduce the Outcome Based Factor and Increase the Intent Based Factor. After Rioli knew he would be second to the ball, he showed no intent to protect the oncoming player. Instead he only cared about his own safety. Rowell be damned!

Ta. No surprise at all. The silver lining with injury is that it provides opportunities for players banging on the door. And taking a super conservative approach with say a lever and/or hibbi means not having to consider dropping a player (at least for a week) like tomlinson or hunt, who both played ok and were dead unlucky last year. Another factor is being by being conservative and using a bigger pool of players, they mitigate a bit of the impact of a shorter off season (our shortest in 57 years!)

Professional doesn't necessarily equate to full time, like a 40 hour week. But it would mean more/better training sessions, instead of one or two after-work sessions a week, followed by game day. (It's been a long time since players did that.) Professional umps would have the time to watch all matches, perform peer reviews, attend club practice sessions. They would be able to practice things like judging how far 15 metres is when you're at ground level. How far 50m is. A professional umps dept would (I hope) have the resources to retain a number of players, perhaps recent retirees, or VFL players, say 12 or so, who could war-game scenarios that the umps have trouble with, or practice (eg) holding the ball scenarios over and over again. And if they do all those things and still have time to go down the beach, play X box til they're blue in the face, work on their model aircraft collection, or whatever, great.

While the concept of full-time professional umpires has some attraction, I struggle to see what umpires would do every day during the week and during the off-season. There's only a certain amount of fitness required (and they already seem to have that). Perhaps if being full-time involved a secondary role, such as mentoring junior umpires or working with clubs so everyone fully understands the rules, might help. There might not be enough work for all the field umpires to become full-time, but perhaps we can end up with a mix of full- and part-time umpires with every match having at least one full-time field umpire. I still think, by the way, that the low hanging fruit which would improve umpiring more than making them full-time, is an overhaul of the rules to eliminate as much as possible the subjective assessments wherever possible.

Welcome to the circus that is the AFL.

How the f*&k do Footscray get away with it? They've been throwing the ball for six years.

There was a time when I would have accepted 0.7 of a premiership. Now only a 4-peat will do.

"Oh, Riewoldt? Great player." "Yeah, great player." "Did you ever play against him?" "Yeah, tore me new one. Great guy, but." "Me too." "Yeah, great guy." "You can't penalise Riewoldt." "Nah, he doesn't deserve it." "I remember he kicked 6 against us one day. What a player." "Yeah, he took a mark like that against us once. So gutsy. You can't penalise guys like him." "Penalise Riewoldt? No way." "I call for a vote." "Not guilty." "Not guilty. "Not guilty." "It's unanimous. Riewoldt not guilty. Send out the press release."

I assume our prep for this game will involve 6 hours of flying and sitting on the tarmac for 8 hours. Don't change a winning formula...

Here is a previously unreleased image of Jake Lever sustaining his plantar fascia injury. Hope to see you back out there next week, Rick!

Never thought the day would come where I was defending Mitch Robinson but I feel for the poor bloke. He could have gone full Michael Long / Troy Simmonds and caused some serious damage but instead he stopped and braced for oncoming contact. To my eye he displayed & exercised his duty of care. His only other option, given the speed of the incident, was to "flop". Had he done so, yes, contact would have been avoided but he'd have been mocked for the rest of his career and there'd be a conga line of former players / commentators going "soft" and "that's not good enough". The game remains a 360 degree contact sport. At speed. Despite all best efforts from players & administrators, accidents will still happen. Not every incident needs a scapegoat.

i emailed the Club to ask them to tell Dogga that his lack of a signature is causing me considerable stress so I would appreciate him putting pen to paper ASAP.

Agree with everything you say, deespicable me. I’ve bored myself silly complaining about the standard of umpiring in our great game. There is no question it’s the biggest blight, and it’s just frankly bizarre that umps aren’t full time pros. The simple truth is that too many games every season are ruined by poor umpiring. Win-loss results plainly changed. Our loss to Adelaide last year a perfect case in point. And Geelong vs Swans twice! Acknowledged as such by the AFL observer crowd, admitted to by the AFL, then……..nothing. And what do we get this year? Not an effort to improve standards, just an effort to limit dissent. The question is, why aren’t they trying to improve it? It’s naive I think to just blame the pace of the game as an obstacle. At least try. Maybe figure out what natural skills (decision making, reaction times) the best umps have, and screen for those qualities. Like the players with biometric testing. Make them full time and bump salaries massively to make it attractive for those with the requisite skills. Something’s gotta change, cos it’s a woeful scar on Australian Football.

The funny thing about those that are defending Rioli is that they will be the same people screaming "Why didn't the AFL do something!" in about 10 years when all the lawsuits make the AFL bankrupt. It's coming, and cases like this will only make it harder for the AFL to defend itself.

arghhhh! Facts, facts facts! I want cognitive biases!

His hip flushed him in the head. He did not have eyes for the ball. He crunched a bloke with eyes for the ball and then his team got a goal 15 seconds later. message for players - leave the ground, smash blokes and you’ll be right

So you've never said anything in front of, or behind the back, of someone that you regret?

Rehearsing "Freed From Desire" maybe?

Lord Nev is. Pure as the driven snow. Or so he'll have you believe.

There is no way Beveridge knew anything about Tom Morris’ other indiscretions before the Press Conference of last Wednesday night. He just doesn’t want to add anymore to it

Don't they realise that Riewoldt took the mark; didn't spoil it.

Generally speaking, you've come to the right place.

Unfortunately WCW we as a people are still in transition most of us have gradually been re-educated by our more enlightened children and reading and listening to those that have suffered but there are still a lot of people in society that have a long way to go.😪😢

I also have been a doubter, but lately l can see he does give us added dimensions down back: quicker than the others except Hunt; better mark than any of them except Lever; and taller than all of them except Lever and May. What is there not to like…?

At times, you've got to wonder what goes on behind the scenes. So the head isn't sacrosanct. Good for the lawyers to know re duty of care..

Good point. Bevo has got off basically without any penalty, other than having to read a statement that someone else probably wrote for him. To me he gave the appearance of somebody reluctantly reading an apology, that he didn't really believe in. The club has donated $20000.00 to one of it's own charities, big deal. This bloke bullied a journo on national TV, without giving him any chance of reply. It was disgusting. For the AFL to not punish Bevo, seemingly condoning extreme bullying, at its own media conference, is just more hypocritical behaviour by this organization, yet again. The Morris incident the next day is irrelevant, unless Bevo knew of the Morris comments when he made his and then played a part in their distribution, which seems very unlikely. If someone employed by the Dogs or AFL, or wherever, is behind the release of the Morris audio, that person probably deserves the same fate as Morris, as distributing it to the public and hurting an innocent person, is a worse crime than Morris's, which was making some drunken, repulsive comments, in a private setting.

Spotted by a friend

Interestingly he was for a long time the AFL's preferred advocate for Tribunal hearings. This year he was appointed by the AFL to sit as its sole chairperson for Tribunal hearings. So they took their advocate, planted him into the Tribunal seat, and then on their first real test he found against them. It's kinda funny in a way, but not because I think he's got this one very wrong.

OK. 2017 - 11 2018 - 14 2019 - 13 2020 - 4 Total = 42, but to be fair it was 38 in three years prior to 2020 being wrecked by COVID. We had 35 in 2017-19. So only a gap of three. How does that reflect a lack of integrity? And I know you think Hawthorn's three flags were significantly harder won than Richmond's. So compare with Hawthorn 2012-15: 2012 - 13 (plus 4 at UTAS Stadium) 2013 - 9 (plus 4 at UTAS Stadium) 2014 - 11 (plus 4 at UTAS Stadium) 2015 - 9 (plus 4 at UTAS Stadium) Total = 42, but 58 games at the G and UTAS Stadium.

If Rioli kept his feet he may have been able to make a last minute decision to turn out of the way as he was second to the ball. He left the ground, and he turned his hip into a weapon. We are trying to stop that behaviour.

Your summary of the Taylor/Lamb "genius" is both selective and simplistic. All you have summarised are two examples of the high selections in the draft and passed both Trac's and Angus as almost leftovers after Paddy McCartins No 1 selection by the Saints. If you consider the situation of a year or two earlier and the resulting constant criticism of non selection of high draft pick Josh Kelly we have had thrown at us when we selected Christian Salem ( and Roos next in line insistence that Billing's was the next pick in line and not Kelly ) then we have made excellent choices with Trac and Gus. Finally of course this has disappeared since Salo has developed into an A grader in the last two years and of course was a key factor ( in the top 3/4) in the GF. Salo a great choice after all. ( not by Taylor at that stage) Clarry in 2015 was a vary late high selection ( no 4) coming from back in the pack due to limited football in the last half of the season ( winning the Morrish Medal) and he was selected instead of the long rated No 3 Darcy Parish virtually in the last days by Taylor after enthusing Roos of his credentials. A "genius " move most of us would consider. But others such as the 2019 Draft of the big 3 Dogga Kossie and Riv plus 2020 and Bowey have sustained his recently recorded high status in the AFL as a recruiting guru. In addition trade selections such as Lever May Langdon Hibberd Melksham and of course BBB have enhanced the Taylor/Lamb dynasty.and our FD acumen along with our confirmation in Flag no 13. Plenty of runs on this board Sydney Demon and Jason is not finished yet and Roos always understood he would not be here when that Flag was hoisted last Wednesday.snd your summary there is very realistic and true of both Goody and Roosy's role in our 2021 triumph. Long May Taylor/ Lamb keep the recruits coming!

Not to the extent he went no. I guess l was brought up by a very strong willed and smart woman, similarly my ex wife both of whom educated me about the wonders of womanhood and led me to have huge respect and love for women in general and them in particular. But like everyone, some of women are complete [censored] as a lot of men are bastards. I suggest you read closely what Morris said to his mates on that tape. It reminded me of the worst sorts of male chauvinism which l occasionally came across at Melbourne Grammar from which l think Morris gets his attitudes. Although it has been tempting at times, no l have not uttered those attitudes. There are plenty of other things l can get angry about.

exactly making them professional and - as such - accountable would damage the bottom line as you'd have to treat them professionally, have proper standards, training, development, and that all involves a financial commitment that the afl have proved unwilling to make

I agree with most of what you say, especially the inconsistency around the subjective question of intent. But I don't agree that the umpiring standard is pretty good. I believe it is poor and with good coaching and getting a more consistent interpretation of rules it would improve markedly. The problem is demanding too much time of umpires off field in teaching them properly when they are not full - time employees. If they were full -time they could be held more accountable, we could have more analysis of their decision-making process and stop with the constant re-affirmation of some of their hopelessly poor decisions. In many ways they are responsible for the look of the game. 47 frees on Wednesday night were paid. That's a big stat. And its total control of the ball for 10 seconds before play on is called. A good team like the dogs can take that scenario and before the opposition gets a chance to intercept or bring the ball back into a disputed situation again they have scored. That was exactly what happened on Wednesday night when Petracca was called for holding the ball in the first quarter. Now your mate with his twitter account might say that was a technically correct decision, but theres no way that rule was interpreted as harshly on any dogs player for the rest of the night or practically any player across the weekend. Good teams overcome bad umpiring, and Melbourne are a good team so I shouldn't get too annoyed, we are in a position to create our own destiny, but I am struggling to watch other games because of the random nature of umpiring. We underestimate the impact bad decisions can have on a game. The AFL need to publicly acknowledge there is a problem and take steps to improve the standard.

Yeah it's possible, but unlikely when there are 17 other teams trying to climb that same summit. There have also been 5 different premiers since 2013, so statistically a little over a quarter of teams in the comp won a flag in that same period. It's not like the Hawks have totally bottomed out and got access to a bunch of good draft picks which would give them a better than average chance of reaching the summit again - another Clarko parting gift from the late season winning streak they went on in 2021. Asides from St Kilda, several other well resourced teams with one 'sucessful cultures' are currently without a premership in over 20 years (Adelaide, Carlton, Essendon) and Freo with a natural advantage for WA tallent retention/attraction haven't conjured a flag in nearly 30 years. Hawthorn could similarly be at the start of such a long drought. 20 years is a whole generation of kids growing up without the ultimate sucess and many of us know how that feels, we've lived it!

Have a look at the amount of MCG Games the Tigers got in those 4 years. The AFL have zero integrity

I thought that too until I reflected on his extreme bullying of Morris being out of character (notwithstanding his past sparring with Cornes and Barrett), on his reference to the mental health of staff and players and the impact of the soft cap, that it may have all been a cry for help. Thankfully help both football and personal is now forthcoming. He knew he had embarrassed himself, his club and sponsors. His apology was filmed before a blank sheet, no sponsor logos in sight. He looked shattered. Any further punishment by the AFL may not be the best for his well being.