Mazer Rackham

Some possibilities: Tommy is still good enough, but the coach is useless Tommy is out of form, and the coach is useless Tommy is injured, and the coach is useless Tommy isn't up to it any more, and the coach is useless Needs a better football mind than mine to know for sure which of these scenarios is the right one. Food for thought ...

The most talented list we've had in years, and another season of their careers squandered. I hope Kennett is ripping into Clarkson right about now.

Oh, there will be. The membership and sales departments can cut back on staff coz no one will be calling.

Wasn't it though? Effectively a ten goal win. Put them away early and didn't give them a sniff. Feel for the Melbourne boys though. They were inept.

Don't worry. If they try that again, and again early in 2021, our coaches will absolutely take notice and begin the process of commencing to start preparing to plan to counter.

Those b*st*rds. COME ON DEMONLAND, LET'S SHOW THEM

Is this "Gawn" fellow well regarded by the opposition? His name comes up again and again.

The crazy part is, they are rigorous in their application of that one rule, yet allow rampant throwing, holding, dropping, short kicks, etc. Which is the biggest blight on the game? But OOB is what they clamp down on. Not to mention they have to read a player's mind to make the right call in a contentious moment like that.

The umps probably spend all their training time learning crucial details like the players' names, rather than studying what constitutes holding the ball, prohibited contact, correct disposal, how far is 15m, and other trivialities.

I think you'll find it restricted to only around 14 clubs, and maybe only 13 as Fitzroy were in a position where they could only dream of paying outside the cap.

Imagine an umpires director who was as proactive and in search of incremental excellence as much as, say, Clarkson or Chris Scott are towards their teams of players. Unfortunately we'll have to imagine it, because previous umpires directors have not even known the rules of the game, and the current one seems to pay more attention to the needs of Channel 7 than the game he's custodian of.

We always suspected the umpiring was arbitrary and random, but now science has proven it! Brisbane were smarter than us at slowing down and annoying the oppo, and yesterday it worked for them. Another day, it won't, and then they'll be flooding bigfooty and facebook with outrage. I don't mind them trying it on ... we should be doing more of that given the uselessness of the umpiring generally ... but in the big picture, all it does is illustrate how awful the umpiring has been this year.

In wet conditions it was a reasonable thing to try (get it to Langdon without risking picking it up in the teeth of goal). The crazy thing is, the deliberate OOB rule is the only one enforced with any rigour in the whole competition! And why? Deliberate OOB is hardly turning people off the game like throwing the ball, and holding the ball. AFL has it backwards.

Like many things in the rules of the game, "unduly" is not defined. The rules are a dogs breakfast. Poorly written and full of clauses describing circumstances that are commonly understood by fans, but in fact are near jibberish. (Prohibited Contact and Rough Conduct are defined and mean pretty much what you would intuitively guess.)

It's the year 2050 and Denmark are playing South Africa in the final of the Australian Rules Football World Cup. The umpires are from Japan and don't speak English. But that doesn't matter as the only noises they make are from their whistles blowing. Everything else they do with hand signals: holding the ball, all clear, etc. The players are accustomed to this and are not fazed in the slightest. It always amazes me why the umpires need to say one damn word. Maybe "play on" but even that's not needed. "Advantage", maybe. Player doesn't give ball back? Whistle. Free kick. Player doesn't go back on the mark? Whistle. 50 metres. The players will learn pretty quick smart. This constant advice and coaching to the players is rubbish and doesn't exist in any other sport. Well, we do say our game is unique.

I reckon Goodwin must be a James Bond fan. “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” Goodwin knows if an opposition coach does a number on him three times in a row, then by golly, something is afoot and counter measures need to be taken. I think we're up to two with Fagan and the Bears. So by this time next year we should be ready to try some kind of counter. Looking forward to that!

It gets worse year on year. The umps literally do not know what they're doing any more. The rule book might as well be the rule book for tennis for all the relevance it has. The direction given the umps since Geischen (and probably before that) is pathetic and apparently based on some imaginary idea (certainly not written down) about what the game "should" "look like". When the umpires directors clearly do not know the rules themselves, and get on the radio after a contentious weekend with ridiculous rationales for inexplicable decisions, is it any wonder the umps end up behaving as if directionless, and make decisions that defy reason? Because they are directionless. It's killing the game slowly -- yes, there are more factors, but this is definitely one. It would seriously be better if it went back to the captains adjudicating.

I see this in every game, every week. Kick a miniscule distance = mark. Run that same distance = no problem. The umps either don't train for this, or are told not to worry about it. Either way it's B*LLSH!T

"Hmmm ... I'm a lousy kick. But I might just ... I mean law of averages and everything ... get it to a teammate. but Gus ... he'll just [censored] it up." The lightning reflexes of the modern AFL player!

I spoke to Steve Hocking after the game, who disagreed. Although he did ask for clarification as to which ones were the umpires, and what sport was being played. Bearing in mind the umpires don't know the rules they're refereeing to, it was a pretty good go. Walk a mile in their shoes: what if you were asked to referee a sport where you didn't know what you were supposed to do? If they get some guidance from higher ups at some stage, they might give it a really good shot eventually.

Players in all teams are coached to faff around and waste time, because the coaches know the umps are directionless and susceptible and useless. One in 20, the umps will call it according to the actual rules. It's well worth the gamble. We lost the raffle. Consistent? (Light laughter.) Watch snooker if you want consistency. Or any other sport, really. But not AFL football.

HERO WEBMASTER (But seriously, thank you for keeping us on line and web post capable.)

Well, the Brions threw the kitchen sink at us. But the one thing MFC has over every other team ... the ONE THING ... is that we are the masters of frenetic chaos ball. So they tried to take us on at our own game. Credit where credit's due. They outdid us at that today. Tried to rough up Gawn too. That's so 2019! But Max didn't have that much impact. So again, points to the Brions. They planned for this and it worked. What did our coaches plan for? Brions are a well drilled team ... they have someone in position for every circumstance. In trouble? Kick wide, someone will be there. It's understood that we have very little system. But taking that into consideration, ultimately, the difference between the teams? Ball handling. Ours just a bit off. Whether due to pressure, or we're simply not that skilled ... (I think I know which one to choose). Sorry to say, Gus is now a liability. Is he a contributor? For every contribution, there are two [censored]ups. Either a fumble, a kick that's too high, a missed possession ... back to the twos, Gus. Jackson kid ... knows where to go, what to do. With some experience, will be a weapon. Unless it's Goodwined out of him. Here's hoping. Goddamn. The umps don't know what they're doing ... they are so lost ... "15" metre kicks ... incorrect disposal ... inexplicable decisions ... this is broken record stuff ... every week, every match. Is anyone in charge of the umpires department? AFL might like to consider putting someone in a role like that. Seriously ... they are so bad, it should be a scandal ... every contest is a randomised outcome of free for, free against, or no decision, regardless of what actually takes place. In every match, not just MFC ones. Congrats to the Brions, and if our coaches have any idea at all, they will learn from this and improve our side. I don't have much faith in them doing that.

When the umpires department is led by incompetents, every kick looks further than 15m Hate to disappoint, but it's like this every match, every week. A crisis, ignored by the AFL brass because ???? who the [censored] can work out what they're thinking.

Lions playing at a frenetic pace, but .... that's our territory!