Wodja

Believe it or not I actually like the intent behind the dissent rule. What I am totally annoyed about is the way it is being applied. Appalling. The missing ingredient is ‘reasonable’. Just imagine if a similar militant principled approach was taken in relation to pack marks. I would suggest that most marks would have to be called ‘touched- play on’ particularly when marked from back of the pack. But funnily enough, there doesn’t seem to be any real issue with the umpires in the vast majority of pack marks because they are allowed to take a ‘reasonable’ and practical approach in assessing and adjudicating on the mark rule in these circumstances. Why can’t they be allowed to have the same level of discretion in applying the reasonableness test when assessing the level of dissent shown by players and whether it warrants a 50 metre penalty being applied (rule of thumb being if it looks, feels and is offensive, it most likely is so penalise the player, if not don’t impose a penalty ). I reckon it’s about as difficult to adjudicate on this as it is whether to call play on in a pack mark situation. I again can only conclude it is the AFL that is the principal culprit in this saga. All they have managed to do is make the umpires job harder and (self censored) off a lot of fans of the game like I’ve never seen before.

I’m still totally annoyed about what happened with the interpretation of the dissent rule in last nights game St Kilda v GWS. How am I going to be when I attend our game against Richmond! If that St Kilda player was deemed to be showing dissent for questioning and suggesting to the umpire that the ball touched the ground and was not a mark, logic suggests that if and when a player or players dare to ‘suggest’ to an umpire that the that the opposition purposefully kicked the ball towards the boundary and that should be a free, that they too should be pinged for showing dissent? How dare they try and tell an umpire what they should be doing. I would suggest that when they do this, they would be showing a lot more emotion both verbally and with arm gestures than what the poor St Kilda bloke did. What is the difference? If it is bad enough to be given 50 for disputing a decision in a non hostile manner, surely it must be equally bad if not worse to suggest to them that they should make a decision in a somewhat more emotional manner ! Madness.

I watched the St Kilda / GWS game last night. There were two moments for potential ‘dissent’. The first one was a player upset and clearly showing a form of dissent and then immediate obvious remorse for his action. No 50 given, a logical outcome, move on. Second incident, pretty much a player suggesting that the ball had touched the ground and was not a mark. There was no malice, no disrespect, at worst some emotion but definitely nothing bordering on being over the top. No reasonable person would say he was being disrespectful to the umpire. 50 metres was given! Classic example of subjective nature of decision making process of two different umpires. I am now convinced that the AFL will succeed implementing this rule but at an incredible price. The price being that they will strangle any emotion being shown on the field. Players will become very wary about showing any passion whatsoever. It is slowly sterilising and killing the game. Fans will become increasingly frustrated and vent even more frustration at the umpires. My reaction last night was exactly that and that was watching a game that I had relative little interest in. It is ripping the heart out of the game. I just can’t see how what happened last night will encourage anyone to want to umpire at a junior level. I feel sorry for the umpires, players and fans. I am really (censored) off at the AFL.

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles I'm feeling very still And I think my spaceship knows which way to go Tell my wife I love her very much she knows Ground Control to Major Eddie Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong Can you hear me, Major Eddie? Can you hear me, Major Eddie? Can you hear me, Major Eddie? Can you "Here am I floating 'round my tin can Far above the moon Planet Earth is blue And there's nothing I can do"

Totally agree with you with your comments. I was more trying to make the point that when they make bad decisions during the game not much can be done about it at that point in time . For very obvious reasons it would be impossible to have an immediate performance review process during the game ( and I have no solution to this at all). On the fly, maybe allow one captains challenge but I think in this particular issue this could lead to many more complications due to the interpretative nature of the rule - so forget it I just feel that this dissent rules can and will further exasperate bad decisions that at times will be made. Sure the umpires performances can, should and is reviewed at a later point in time, but the damage may have already been done. Hope that makes sense. Cheers

I hear that the AFL stance is that no matter how exasperated a player may get for whatever reason, even a gesture of putting his arms out in frustration will not be tolerated and the team will be penalised. Wow! I just wonder if there is any correlation of signs of frustration being expressed by players being a reaction to an overtly poor decision that at times are made by an umpire? It does happen! I think overall they do a good job but on occasions they do stuff up. As it stands, umpires are totally unaccountable for their stuff ups, however teams potentially can and will lose games in the future due to an umpire clearly getting it wrong and a player in the heat of the moment showing ‘reasonable understandable frustration ’ considering the circumstances as opposed to ‘clearly dissenting frustration’. How dare he show such disrespect! So I’m not sure how this leads to the AFL’s perception that the game will now be officiated in a fair and equal manner. Players of course will learn not to react so as to not penalise their team. What will the supporters learn? I think they will go nuts venting their displeasure at the umpires even more than they did before. It certainly appears that way in the games that I’ve attended this year. Please don’t get me wrong. If a player shows real dissent, eg abusing the umpire, being overtly rude even with body gestures, penalise him . However my thought process at the games I’ve attended has been along the lines of ‘get real and toughen up a little you flouro coloured cream puffs’ which I know is not appropriate! What I’m trying to say is that it is so obvious that supporters on both sides of the fence having been increasingly venting about umpires. Mission being accomplished to make us (as fans) more respectful of umpires? I don’t think so. I’m not sure how this will translate down to the grassroots comps. I’ll let others that are smarter than me analyse that. What next? Tongue in cheek, will they consider penalising teams if spectators show overt disrespect/ resentment/ dissent to umpiring decisions. On the bright side I think teams like Collingwood, Richmond, Port and West Coast and Essendon may potentially be impacted more than most 🤭

All the more reason for as many of us as possible to rock up to the G this weekend. Times have changed. We at the moment are the ‘alpha tribe’. Let’s strut our stuff both on the field and in the stands. Let’s demonise the ferals on all levels.

I think we gave away eight 50 metre penalties (that resulted in 4 goals) in a preseason game against Carlton (Umpire dissent rule). Surely a record that will never be beaten! Proud off? - perhaps no. Bemused?- definitely yes. The dissent rule was controversial when it was first introduced and it seems it still is for all clubs now in the season proper. (Intent of rule is fine, the application- disastrous) This needs to be sorted out now one way or another . Imagine a GF being determined by a controversial umpiring decision on dissent!

This is a concerning thought. What are the odds that in a pressure cooker Grand final that a (or more likely several) controversial interpretations of the umpire’s dissent rule determines who wins the premiership? Answer- BIG!!!!! This issue needs to be resolved sooner than later.

Hmmm, not sure where you are coming from. Did you read all the way down of what I wrote ? My first two comments were meant to be tongue in cheek sarcasm! I linked / referred my comments to a post that you made - which I think you had linked to someone else’s ( or the other way round)- that I totally agreed with!!! (I think we are on the same page). GO DEES

Ditto, totally agree. Let me put some perspective to this. Tom Scully when he deserted us deserved every boo he got plus more. Hogan is a completely different story. He has had some big challenges and has had to deal with some demons (excuse the pun). I wish him well and hope he does well at GWS.

Unnecessarily over the top and absolutely correct. Why is it so hard to be humble for a lot of us just because we are winning? I hear people talking about going back to back and even doing a threepeat. Seriously? I lose sleep thinking about if the team and the team behind the team keep walking the talk in terms of new found team values why we can’t we make it a fourpeat and become the absolute and undisputed greatest ever. After over 50 years of enduring many nightmares I now love dreaming- GO DEES!

Their ‘gloomy’ makes me feel so happy😊 At the risk of sounding like I got some real issues and I can’t let go of the past….. what better reason is there for all of us to make a big effort to rock up to Richmond’s home game at the G, so that we fill the stands, grossly outnumber their supporters, make more noise, inflict more misery to them both on the ground and in the stands.

I’m with you Doc. Goodsey always goes on about doing it for the Melbourne supporters. Gawney likewise. The MFC appear to have been holding on to their end of the bargain thus far this year. Us, the supporters, not so sure. To me, we seem to be creatures of some bad habits, call it legacy culture if you like. Big game coming up against the Tigers next. The players ‘job’ will be to try and win….again! Our Job? Simple, outnumber the feral tiger army at their home game and blow the stands apart with some real passionate noise. We are after all, the reigning premiers! I would want to see this happen so much so that it is a real talking point after the game. So much so that it out does the following day’s game between the Pies / Dons. Why? Because it should! Our team have embarked on a journey that I for one thought may not occur in my lifetime. I’m a realist, it won’t go forever but I hope that it may be for a long while. Time for us to hop on board and ride this potential wave of success. Success breeds success, passion can become contagious. My dream now is to have all other supporters of all other clubs begin to feel overwhelmed by the sheer size, noise and passion of the ‘new found’ Melbourne tribe. I am so tired of the Melbourne supporter ‘going off to the snow’ type jokes. That is how other supporters see us, a bit of a laughing stock, definitely not something that hold in awe. As we all know, Neale Daniher said ‘when all is said and done, more is said than done’ Not sure if we have as a supporter base walked the talk as well as we could / should have. I really hope my burst of passion does not offend anyone. I get people not rocking up because Covid fears, etc, less so for carparking or train ticket issues, or it’s on TV, but everyone is different. Bottom line is you should only go if you want to go. If I’ve inadvertently offended anyone, I unreservedly apologise. I guess all I am trying to say that if we want to see change happen, it has to start with us, simple as that. I repeat, we are reigning premiers, get on board and for those of us that can, walk the talk this coming game! Be careful, it might become contagious! Your / our only job now is to encourage as many people as you can to go watch the MIGHTY DEMONS strut their stuff this coming game and show some NOISEY PASSIONATE SUPPORT to our players while you are at it!

I get and agree with the logic behind the rule but wow, what a stuff up. Players and fans are baffled. It doesn’t have to become a complex issue to interpret and manage. Keep it simple! If a player expresses verbal dissent, ping him. That’s pretty simple. If its not verbal (eg shaking his head in frustration, etc), umpires get real, it should not be considered disrespectful. The player can only be considered to be respectfully expressing his frustration at either himself for stuffing up or on a decision that has been made that he disagrees with. What the hell is wrong or offensive with that? Get real!…… and GO DEES!!!

To be honest, at times over the years I was almost embarrassed being a Melbourne supporter attending games. Sure we were going through decades of hard times but quite frankly for the majority of time we too as supporters were ‘limp’. Hence all the jokes about us. I was very fortunate (lucky) to make it to the GF last year (and I might add legally) and it was electric and noisy. Sure, you would expect that in a GF in a football state, but there was something more. It was quite apparent the the vast majority of the state got behind us and they got into it in their own way. You could sense the Eagles flavour to their barracking for us (including all the booing). But to be honest it felt both noisy and great. I really think now is the time not only for all supporters to come out of the closet and attend games but also show some passion and make some NOISE!!!. Not suggesting to mimic the feral supporters that some other clubs have, rather just get behind our team so that are aware of the passion we feel and show for them. Lets create a new culture of LOUD passionate and dare I say it respectful support that is NOISY! I am sure our players would both love it and feed of it. And it in turn will make more and more of our mob want to attend games and be part of the journey GO DEES!!!!

Haven’t read all comments so apologies if I’m repeating what has already been posted. Obviously Jacko could potentially be one of the greats and there will be a lot of interest in him from other clubs and no doubt some big dollars being dangled. On one hand a footy career in the scheme of things is for a relatively short span of time so I totally get it and don’t begrudge anyone trying to chase and get the big dollars when it is on offer. On the other hand, I hope that some of the current MFC new found culture and values shine through in the negotiations. Hope Jacko stays and they pay him well (hopefully he accepts less than what others will offer) so that we have dollars left within the salary cap to keep other existing players / fund new talent in coming years. Something along the lines of what I think occurred at Geelong some years ago. Wouldn’t it be nice in many years to come that when he retired from the Dees he would not only be fairly rich ( but not as rich as he could have been) but more importantly been part of a most successful era winning several flags along the journey. What price do you put on a flag? Also Jacko would know deep down that the ‘price he paid’ very much helped the club retain / gain new players over the years that ultimately contributed to the club’s success. That is how dynasties are created by everyone at the MFC actually walking the talk and actually living and breathing the club’s new found values. What a legacy that would be. Fingers crossed and GO DEES!!!

One game at a time for now. It is not a sprint , it is more like a marathon. We are getting the wins for now. GO DEES!

My understanding is that the AFL strategy has been to have two interstate sides in each state so that every week there is a game being played so their is a continuity of footy if that makes sense. Wonder what the strategy for Tassie will be? AFL game every second week (that is my guess) or will the Hawthorns and Norths still play a few down there. In all honesty, I have no idea what the game plan will be if a new team is created.