titan_uranus

Which is a classic example of the problem with the rule. The 'genuine attempt' part of the rule means that, without a prior opportunity, the umpire sits back and waits to see if the player will genuinely attempt to get rid of the ball. In the Viney free (just watched the replay on the AFL site) he definitely has no prior to speak of, being tackled in mid air, but at no point does he look to genuinely try to handpass the ball. Could he have? Of course not, his arms were pinned. But umpires want to see players writhe around on the ground making it look like they're trying to get rid of it, even if they're not actually able to. It's a flawed rule, but players I guess need to be aware of the intricacies of modern football - lying on the ground without moving under a tackle is going to make it much more likely to be called holding the ball, irrespective of whether or not you could actually get rid of it.

Agreed. Has done nothing to speak of at Casey. At the moment he is completely and utterly undeserving of a spot in the side, and as long as Brett Allison's reviews continue to say things like 'he needs to work on the defensive side of his game' he will remain undeserving.

Good question - I just posted on this in the Post Match Discussion thread. It's very easy to say it's #1, just luck, but when it's now happened for five consecutive weeks, I think credit needs to go to our pressure. We're finally applying defensive pressure not just inside defensive 50, but in the middle of the ground. Watching all of GWS, Carlton, Gold Coast, Sydney and Adelaide stutter coming out of defence, go backwards/sideways, and turn it over, is a huge change from the last 7 years in which, even at our best, sides have been able to cut through the middle with no pressure to speak of.

It's such a change from years gone by. Listening to that last quarter where they continued to get inside 50, but they couldn't mark the ball or get meaningful shots on goal; that would have done us in the last 7 years, but the new Melbourne is able to weather a storm like that. In a lot of our games our opponents have been inaccurate which has led people to say 'well it was a close loss, but if they'd kicked straight'. In our last five games, GWS, Carlton, Gold Coast, Sydney, and now Adelaide have all kicked more behinds than goals. Once is just a coincidence, but five weeks in a row suggests to me that the inaccuracy is coming from rushed shots, perceived and real pressure, and being forced wider rather than having it easy down the corridor. It's this pressure and difficulty to score and play against that is making us a far stronger and better team.

Here's the holding the ball rule: 15.2.3 Holding the Football — Prior Opportunity/No Prior Opportunity Where the field Umpire is satisfied that a Player in possession of the football: (a) has had a prior opportunity to dispose of the football, the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player if the Player does not Kick or Handball the football immediately when they are Correctly Tackled; or (b) has not had a prior opportunity to dispose of the football, the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player if, upon being Correctly Tackled, the Player does not Correctly Dispose or genuinely attempt to Correctly Dispose of the football after being given a reasonable opportunity to do so. © Except in the instance of a poor bounce or throw, a Player who takes possession of the football while contesting a bounce or throw by a field Umpire or a boundary throw in, shall be regarded as having had prior opportunity. (d) has driven their head into a stationary or near stationary opponent, the Player shall be regarded as having had prior opportunity. So, (a) says that, if you've had prior opportunity, it's holding the ball if you do not kick or handball the ball immediately upon being tackled. If you haven't had prior opportunity, (b) says that it's holding the ball if you do not 'correctly dispose' of the ball, or if you do not 'genuinely attempt to correctly dispose' of the ball. So, if you haven't had prior opportunity, you can drop the ball if you're making a genuine attempt to kick or handball. However, if you're not making a genuine attempt to kick or handpass, and you don't kick or handpass it, you meet (b) and you're holding the ball. But you have to have 'been given a reasonable opportunity to do so'. The two flaws I see are in both (a) and (b) being implemented in games. If you've had prior opportunity, you have to kick or handpass the ball, no ifs or buts about it. If you drop it, it's holding the ball. That gets let go far too often. If you haven't had prior opportunity, you need to at least make a genuine attempt to get rid of it via kick or handpass, but you have to have a reasonable opportunity to do this, otherwise it can't be a free. That 'reasonable opportunity' aspect is lacking in far too many decisions. Also, there is a rule about arms being pinned in 15.2.4©: For the avoidance of doubt, the field Umpire shall allow play to continue when: (a) a Player is bumped and the football falls from the Player’s hands; (b) a Player’s arm is knocked which causes the Player to lose possession of the football; © a Player’s arms are pinned to their side by an opponent which causes the Player to drop the football, unless the Player has had a prior opportunity to genuinely attempt to Correctly Dispose of the football, in which case Law 15.2.3 (a) shall apply; (d) a Player, whilst in the act of Kicking or Handballing, is swung off-balance and does not make contact with the football by either foot or hand, unless the Player has had a prior opportunity to Correctly Dispose of the football, in which case Law 15.2.3 (a) shall apply; or (e) a Player is pulled or swung by one arm which causes the football to fall from the Player’s hands, unless the Player has had a prior opportunity to Correctly Dispose of the football, in which case Law 15.2.3 (a) shall apply. So, if your arms are pinned to your side and this causes you to drop the ball, it's not a free kick unless you've had prior opportunity.

The only possible change would be Kent for Byrnes, but if we didn't drop Byrnes after last week, I can't imagine us dropping him after this week unless Kent puts in a huge performance at Casey. If Frawley and Georgiou are fit to play I'm not sure what to do with Garland.

There's no such thing as precedent with the MRP. Yet another reason why the MRP is a disgrace. Also agree. The same action can get 0 weeks or 3 weeks based solely on any injury. It's very, very flawed, but it's why I think Viney is going to get weeks.

If you choose to bump and you make contact to the head, you're in trouble. The question becomes whether he made contact to Lynch's head. On one view it doesn't seem so, but on another it looks like he does. I won't be surprised at all if he cops weeks for this, though he shouldn't.

Based on the radio: 6 - Viney 5 - Tyson 4 - Dawes 3 - Vince 2 - JKH 1 - Jetta

Genuinely one of our best wins since Daniher. I was on here until three quarter time, then had to drive across town, so listened to the final quarter in the car. I was screaming so loud I'm fairly sure drivers in the cars next to me heard. Then, when the siren went, I blasted the sound out the windows so anyone near me could hear it. To play as well as we did in the first half to set the lead up was fantastic, but equally great was the fact that we held on in the face of their onslaught and managed to kick away. I'm still finding it hard to believe we actually won in Adelaide.

Cross, Terlich, Dunn - all have killed us with awful turnovers out of defence.

First goal was always going to be crucial, and they got it. The game is being played far too much in their forward half, we cannot win if we can't get it in our half.

Me too. I said it before though, if it doesn't happen, I hope we can all at least look back fondly on this game, given our highly improved performance (in the face of biased umpiring too).

If nothing else, I want this win to stick up that mob of brainless morons.

Can anyone confirm if Salem is on? SEN suggesting we should switch Howe with Frawley to get another marking option in the forward line.

DAWES YOU LEGEND!

Free kick to us! Can you believe! This is crucial, Dawes to have a shot, we really, really, really need this one.

Now 6. This game is as good as over I think. Let's please remember the first half from this game, if things go as expected.

Their inaccuracy is keeping us in it. If we can get a late goal here, that would be huge, but conversely, it's only 12 points now so we're virtually on the brink.

I said before we're going to lose because of our mistakes. I'll retract that. We're going to lose because of the umpires.

I wonder how much energy we spent early with our start. Need to get Salem on, Roos can't wait too much longer.

Time to bring Salem on, we need his injection of pace and excitement. Terlich to go off?

They're all over us right now. We can't stop them coming out of defence, and we can't generate scoring shots. Haven't had a proper shot on goal for an entire quarter now.

Terlich and Cross coming out of defence are killing us. Their defence is also now getting on top of our forward line and we can't get meaningful forward presses. Edit: Ugh, another turnover out of defence, this time Grimes. We are going to lose this game through our own mistakes if we can't lift.

Cross has turned it over more than once out of defence, this time costing us a goal. We're in trouble here.