Mazer Rackham

In ye anciente times of two umpires, teams would whip the ball downfield to their full forward so quickly that no ump could be in place to witness him manhandling his opponent contrary to the rules. What a quaint idea. Moving the ball at speed to a one-on-one contest. These days maybe we only need one ump???

But the umps are doing a good job, according to their overlords. And compared against the KPIs they work to, they may very well be doing a good job. They can only umpire within the constraints placed on them. Eg, "interetation" of this or that rule, "rule of the week", the notion that there is an ideal no. of frees to be paid, and so on. The only constraint they should have to consider is "the rule book" but even that is chock full of "interpretations". How many sports can you think of where "interpretation" of the rules is a thing?

Telling twitter exchange in this article. (just before the end) Frightening how reactionary this country is becoming. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-31/cassidy-bishop-goodes/6660554

He's saying you are encouraging the racists because they think you're just like them.

I suppose then all unlikeable footballers get booed relentlessly from start to finish. Like Stevie J. He gets booed relentlessly from start to finish.... he doesn't? Just here and there? What about Milne. He was booed relentlessly from start to finish .... wait, he wasn't? Alan Didak? No? That guy from Fremantle ... the tagger who gave everyone the sh!ts ... Josh someone? ... not booed relentlessly? Matthew Lloyd. Olympic gold for diving. Booed relentlessly? All those players got boos here and there ... but mostly were sledged and cat-called by the crowd ... but not booed relentlessly from start to finish. This idea that unlikeable footballers get booed relentlessly from start to finish doesn't seem to hold much water.

Why then has Goodes only been booed since the AOY award? He was staging and eyeballing the umps a long time before that.

Jobe was booed for the drugs thing. Harry is booed for "betraying" Collingwood. Milne was booed for the rape/not rape thing. Scully was booed for selling out. And there are plenty of others, and they all tail off as the supporters get it out of their systems. Even Nathan Buckley was booed half heartedly for a while in his last season as he experimented with diving for frees. All because of deeds they did or were suspected of doing. But this Goodes thing. It's not because of any one thing he's done (like staging). It's because he's an uppity n****r. It's ugly.

Free speech doesn't mean I can say anything I like without repercussions. Primarily, it means I can say things without being incarcerated because someone else doesn't agree. It also means I can say anything I like provided I don't incite people to violence. It also means I can say anything I like provided I don't lead others into harm (physical, reputational, financial). It's not open slather like many seem to think.

Agree. But they should either ping the players, or remove the rule from the rule book. It's just one more example of how the umpires/umpiring panel pick and choose which rules they will enforce. That's without even considering the bugbear of "interpretation". (How many games can you think of where "interpretation" of rules is a thing?)

Here's the out of bounds rule. (16.1.2) Part © is the interesting one. 15.6 FREE KICKS – RELATING TO OUT OF BOUNDS 15.6.1 When Awarded A Free Kick shall be awarded against a Player who: (a) Kicks the football Out of Bounds on the Full; (b) in the act of bringing the football back into play after a Behind has been scored, Kicks the football over the Boundary Line without the football first being touched by another Player; © intentionally Kicks, Handballs or forces the football over the Boundary Line without the football being touched by another Player; (d) having taken the football over the Boundary Line, fails to immediately hand the football to the boundary Umpire or drop the football directly to the ground; (e) touches the football after the boundary Umpire has signalled that the football is Out of Bounds, except for a Player who has carried the football over the Boundary Line under this Law 15.6.1 or a Player awarded a Free Kick under these Laws; or (f) hits the football Out of Bounds on the Full from a boundary throw or a field bounce or throw by a field Umpire. 15.6.2 Taking Free Kick A Free Kick awarded under Law 15.6.1 shall be taken at the point where the football crossed the Boundary Line. And while we're at it, here's another non-existent rule. 16.1 STANDING THE MARK AND TEN-METRE PROTECTED AREA 16.1.1 Standing the Mark When a Player is awarded a Mark or Free Kick or is Kicking into play after a Behind has been scored, one Player from the opposing Team may stand at the position on the Playing Surface where the Mark or Free Kick was awarded or where the field Umpire otherwise directs the Player to stand. The position on the Playing Surface where the opposing Player stands is known as “the mark”. 16.1.2 Protected Area The Protected Area is a corridor which extends from 5 metres either side of the mark to 5 metres either side of, and a 5-metre radius behind, the Player with the football, as illustrated in Diagram 2. No Player shall enter and remain in the Protected Area unless the field Umpire calls “Play On” or the Player is accompanying or following within 5 metres of their opponent. Drinking game. Take a sip every time you see a player in the 5 metre zone.

The interchange is the biggest change seen in our game. Out on the full and other changes over the years have not changed the essence of the game. Interchange was meant to provide relief from injury. Not intended to become the athletics carnival it has become, with players constantly dashing on and off in twos threes and fours, like kids running after an ice cream van. Except in some coach's wet dream. (Which then came true.) Restricting interchange ... and I don't mean from 9,000 per game down to 8,500 ... has to happen. Only interchange at quarter breaks. Only 8 per quarter (or some other nominal number). None at all -- only subs. Take your pick. But that's the thing that has made our game unrecognisable. Zones, limiting backwards kicks ... these are against the spirit of the game, so well summed up by Conan Doyle in the doc's post above. Kill or maim the interchange.

I guess that's why Stevie J gets booed to b*ggery every week. I guess that's why Alan Didak used to get booed to b*ggery every week. I guess that's why every attention seeking f-wit who fakes for frees gets mercilessly booed from start to finish by our very upright Presbyterian crowds who only tolerate the fairest and most strict standards of behaviour. Or do they get booed to that extent?????? No they don't. Could there possibly be more to it than that? This "diving" "attention seeking" bizzo has a grain of truth, but it's a smokescreen. No diver has ever been treated like this. Even Jobe Watson was booed relentlessly for one match and then everyone got it out of their system. Goodes? There's more to it than that.

Well, Jones didn't ask to be captain. He was appointed captain. And a good choice given the candidates. He can't help being who he is. If he can't be empowering or inspiring, then he should set a good example. And he does. Gives it a red hot go every time, win or lose, in form or not. If other players can't lift their games accordingly it reflects more on them than on him. It's not his fault that the leadership, such as it was, was gutted over a 4 year period. The role of captain is coming from a long way back and Jones is giving it his all. If everyone put in as hard as Jones every week we sure as hell wouldn't be dropping so many gettable games.

Malthouse is available. We can get Sylvia back as a rookie. (But make sure he has a big preseason) Offer the entire salary cap to Dangerfield. He's such a guy, he won't accept all that much, so offer what's left to Wines. Sack everyone on the list who isn't prepared to do .... [need to run poll thread to find out what those things are] International search to recruit the best available messiah figure. Send the bill to Gill. Apologies for lack of caps.

This sums up everything that's wrong with football at the minute. (And I don't mean us losing all the time.) The forward has to run back to the forward line. The forward half of the ground is empty of players, so when the forward's team gets it, the forward has to run back to the forward line. The players are crowded around the ball, to such an extent that the forward half of the ground is empty of players, so when the forward's team gets it, the forward has to run back to the forward line. What an unpleasant unatttractive spectacle.

Plenty of times yesterday we (after much faffing around) got the ball out of the maul, got it to a loose player, and looking then down the ground, there was loose player after loose player. Everyone in position for a chain of passes into the 50. Beautiful. And then someone kicks it straight to the oppo, or to someone who's marked, or 90m in the air for the oppo to come and bury the receiver. Can't understand how this has not been attended to.

I wonder if Sylvia could give us a lift next year, if he puts in a big pre-season. We could rookie him.

Hey. Go easy. He does a lot of really hard work off the ball, apparently.

What galls is that we can play open flowing attacking footy. We just prefer not to.

I have heard that Tyson is carrying an injury and the club told him to drink a cup of wet concrete. He's lost confidence as a result.

The umps umpire it the way they are are trained to. It's our dear mate Wayne Campbell who needs to be held to account for the lottery of free kicks paid/not paid/incorrectly paid. Take your pick for every single incident in every match.

Lumumba doesn't play like he used to (at C'wood). Now he holds on to the ball for far too long, tries to break tackles, and ends up getting rid of the pill under extreme pressure.

Apparently we owe St Kilda. What, a comfortable 4 points to make up for the nasty scare we gave them a few weeks back?

In earlier games such as against Port, even though we lost, we showed that when we get a bit of space we can move the ball well, look good and can score. Since Geelong, the other clubs have worked us out. Keep it scrappy, ugly, tight, give us no room to move, and we can't cope. we spray it (by hand and foot), give up widow-maker passes, and score behinds with freedom and inhibition.

We have improved this year. And we have now gone backward on that improvement.