Monbon

I was about to start a post about why the media only focuses on Melbourne: surely the problems at Catland deserve more attention.

I hate Geelong possibly more than I hate Carlton and the E. coli Wobblers - each protected AFL species - but there's a tiny voice lurking in my diaphragm that says, Wouldn't it be nice if Geelong won by a point after the siren...After yet another bull****e free kick...

Just tuned in to AFL News and saw the clip where the Carlton De Koenig gives away two free kicks against his brother, neither paid, and De Koenig of Carlton is designated as 'The winner'. I am so fast losing faith in this game called AFL...

My god, he called you a flatulater: sue!

And she has a Scott for a mentor...

Just came across this: 10 dodgy decisions this year, apart from the 3 in the E Coli Wobbler : Leigh Matthews and J. Bartel:

I'm not being facetious: is Croms GWS or the Crows??

Going round in circles is not discussion: some people define it as being pig headed.

A pity this discussion has been hijacked by a certain 'numbered demon'. It's like being on a merry-go-round. Maybe he/she has a Messiah Complex - i.e. the only person who knows it all.

Yawn: you are so boringly predictable. If I was the only one in Oz land complaining about how comes it that that the game is being marred by way too many umpiring howlers then you might have a case. You are Robinson Cruso on an island infested by incompetent men and women in white whose main weapon is a whistle and a tongue which orders, Desist!

I got it: your mother is an AFL umpire????

Maybe we need 6 umpires...

That is NOT the issue: they are the bottom side, playing a flag favorite who faltered and then got done by 2 Umpiring decisions....

Swings are unfortunately one way these days....

You imply that is the case for the whole of each game. It just ain't so...

What they are bagging is too blatant to ignore - unless you follow the team which benefits the most from these blatant shall we call them 'mistakes'?

Um, 20 players around the ball? What game are you referring to???

Just read the headline: Robo stating level of umpiring is lowest...Now, I will never admit to following Robo because I don't but my point is exactly what I wrote. And, just for the record, how can 4 bloody umpires ignore 2 Collingwood players running over the mark, A, and B, I thought only one player had that role anyhow. So nobody is asking for instant replays, people like me would just like to see consistency and not what is becoming more and more obvious, that one side - especially if it includes a Daicos - gets all the breaks.

It seems to be a weekly occurrence now that games are won or lost due to crook umpiring decisions. Fer C/Sake, there's four of them now and yet yesterday two E Coli Wobblers were allowed to run over the mark of a North player and four umpires turned a blind eye. There is now an epidemic of these contentious and or/ non decisions which in my case have caused a kind of contempt for the state of the AFL, bordering on suspicion that more sinister aspects lurk behind the mythology of a Level Playing Field.

My oh my. What a topsy-turvy season: the only team capable of sustained excellence is Sydney. And, hate to state the obvious: the Dogs thrash the team that humiliated the Demons, and now North, the cellar team is thrashing the E Coli Wobblers. Oi Weh ...

Contest the mark, fly for a mark, by all means. Why stick your knee into somebody's back or head?

That's the real issue here, in my view. It seems 'The Speccie' is held sacrosanct in Aussie Rules folklore, and the inevitable consequence of allowing players to jump into packs, onto players' backs with their knees up. It is and always has been and always will be an act which can inflict very serious consequences. There are those who reduce it to the copout line - 'It's part of the game'. Well shirtfronts and sling tackles etc were also part of the game until the AFL/VFL faced the fact that they were bloody dangerous. Only troglodytes want to maintain aspects of a game which can potentially kill you.

Please, no apology is needed. I replied comprehensively because I've always respected your point of view. I agree it's a conundrum, but because it has and can cause so much damage, let's glorify the speccie jump, not the climb, not the intrusive and potentially damaging knee.

So what happened to Petracca is simply one sad aspect of the Speccie????? I'm not making Moore out to be a villain: I'm simply pointing out the inanity of a 'sport' that allows incidents like this to occur regularly. Oh, so I ruptured your spleen, punctured your lung, broke your ribs, put you in an ambulance, well, it's part of the game, I was only trying to take a speccie. So 'speccies' is part of the game: as once was what Maynard did, as was once what Mathews and his ilk got away with week in week out. As were sling tackles, 15 metre penalties, one umpire etc. In other words, even AFL, or, Aussie Rules needs to reassess dangerous aspects, just as it has done with 4 umpires, etc etc

It is not the only contact sport. My understanding is that Rugby has taken huge steps to decrease the possibility of head and organ injuries. My question is what does the 'legal right' to knee someone in the back or head or any other part of the body because one is 'taking a mark' have to do with 'sport'?