Chris

Would help with relaxing and breathing. All other times on the ground you are rushed and not relaxed, kicking for goal needs a clear mind and to be relaxed, having you mouth jammed open by a piece of plastic isn't all that relaxing. Then again they would be so used to the mouth guard they shouldn't even know it is there.

Why not go all out and use a motor bike helmet! There are issues around the use of helmets. -Players who wear them take more risks - If some players wear them (especially big gridiron type helmets) then they are an injury concern for other players. This is not so much the case in Gridiron as they wear protection and the hits are for the most part more controlled (as in come from one direction and are expected) - Wearing such a helmet without the support of shoulder pads could lead to more neck issues due to the heavier weight while being knocked around.

That's a gridion helmet! The theory you suggest is right but the AFL helmets do squat, and may actually make things worse as the player takes more risks as they think they are protected. There is heaps of research to suggest that the more safety things you put in place the more risks get taken.

We have one of those in Spencer. Maybe what you mean is a mature back up to our back up ruck!

Geelong in 06 kind of did. They had a few tight loses, a few big wins, and a few massive loses. It was a real rollercoaster of a year for them. Hawthorn also lost 4 games in the first half of 2015 by 10 points or less (they didn't win the flag the next year though

Like him but would drop him purely on not running through the line of the ball a couple of times on the weekend. Both times the North player did, got the ball, and bang, it was back in their forward line. If he can't take the hit when it is his turn then he has no place in the team. Fix that and it will bring a bit of mungral to his game and he will be fine as his other attributes are OK.

The DOOB against Hibberd could be excused if the ump was blindsided, but the one closest wasn't and call came from the ump miles away, the close ump should have over ruled. The ump has no excuse in the Salem one. Baffling in its stupidity.

Happy to join in too! A someone said in this thread, just grab a jumper then smash em with iron poles, the AFL may not even ban us then!

They weren't even free kicks apparently. So now you can hold people's ankles, trip their feet, found house punch people to the throat from behind, punch people in the guts to the point they throw up, and the AFL will look after you. All this as long as you are a long term protected species or a 'good bloke'.

Thompson got a week but hit much harder and with the point of his elbow.

No point appealing Salem. Was worth a week, unless you look at precedent! Nothing we can appeal for fines against players boxing on that aren't in our team.

The MRP decided the strike was to his body so he got off. Punch away boys, just not to the head!

Next time we play the Roos we should just openly punch every player, just not to the head, hit them really hard in the stomach repetedly. Do that all game, cop the fines, walk away.

I thought maybe a week but going off precedent of what Thompson did to Dangerfield there is no way it is a week. Maybe a suspect medical report came in about a broken jaw he will play with next week is behind it!

Salem has been given a week for his elbow. Cunnington predictably got a $1000 fine for intentionally punching someone on the field. The MRP are a joke! How Salem can get the same as Thompson is beyond me. Update. Higgins also got $1000 for striking Clarry. Both Higgins and Cuntington were deemed intentional with low impact. Higgins got off completely for hitting Vince. The protection of that puss bag of a club continues. I hope we smash them in Hobart later in the year, don't care if the whole team ends up suspended just pummel the twerps into the ground.

The one thing the bounce brings in is variation and randomness which the good rucks will deal with. They could get around this by instructing the umps to throw it up at inconsistent heights (but straight)

Had to do with knee to knee contact causing injuries as rucks charged at each other. The circle stops them charging and reduces the knee injuries.

I've only counted the 3 central umps and an emergency for each game. Maybe we could go back to two with full time umps in place.

That may well be the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place. Knowing how to win is certainly a skill and one we don't possess, with the exception of Lewis. That is probably the biggest skill he can bring but it is an incredibly hard thing to teach as it is so intangible.

On having professional umps, I agree in principal that it is a good idea, I quick look at the sums makes me wonder though. For a round of footy you need 36 umpires (3 on the ground and an emergency for each game). If you pay each of these around $150,000 ($200k once super and insurance etc are calculated) then the cost is over $7million dollars per year (that is nearly a whole other team in terms of salary). You would need to pay them this sort of money to do the job. It is high pressure with a limited lifespan with little career to go on with afterwards. A few solutions. Make the sponsorship of the umpires cost more to cover the cost. Have various levels of umpires, maybe two at each game that are part time, one part time, and one 'trainee'. That may well bring in more inconsistency though. Have umpires together every week. That will mean they get to know each other better and can be more consistent. It will also mean the clubs can prepare for what they are like as each umpire 'team' will be harder or softer on certain parts of the game. I hate to say it but get rid of the bounce. As I read somewhere there are very good umps in lower leagues who don't get the call up simply as they can't bounce the ball. The umps should be there for their minds, decision making abilities, and the ability to run forwards and backwards. They shouldn't need to be able to have ball skills as well. I love the bounce and the tradition of it but if it would improve the standard of umpiring then get rid of it.

I have had the same concerns but he was injured for much of his TAC years, ankle from memory. Put another 10 kg on him and a year or two of development and I think he will be fine.

Thompson only got one for a much harder elbow to Dangerfields face in the same way a few weeks back. If he gets one then so be it but if he gets two then it is a travesty based on precedent.

You are being very generous to the umpires. They missed plenty of obvious frees to us, I saw four clear trips, numerous holding the balls, Bernie getting punched, Buggs 50, Salem being tackled without the ball, and others. They also paid a few stinkers the other way, Frost's holding which cost us a goal, the DOOB on Hibberd, Salam giving away a free for too high while being tackled without the ball, etc etc. Yes a few weren't paid to them that should have been but a lot of 50/50 decisions went to them and very few if any went to us. Marry that with those mentioned above and the umps were deplorable and one sided.

They had 4 more scoring shots, if you take a 50% strike rate (which is about what both teams were going at) then they should have won by 2 goals, which is pretty much what they won by.

One of them they didn't even handball it around, just threw and we still did nothing!