sue

Somehow or other the journos currently take turns to ask their questions. Let them put hands up, someone selects one and hands them a microphone. Might mean a few seconds of no audio and delay but that is better than even more seconds listening to a question you can't hear.

Agree about the cameras. Trouble is the AFL also likes controversey. However why not do away with cameras and have 2 goal umpires and just let them decide. They'll get it wrong from time to time, but mistakes by field umpires influence games much more than that. Goal umpires are more likely to be plentiful than othr rumpires - could do several more games a week. (Though I don't know how many they do now. Anyone know?)

Just made the mistake of watching Goodwin's press conference. Not because of anything he said - he rarely says anything much. But how can a mega-dollar organization as the AFL not manage to have the questions audible. Do they fear the journos will steal a microphone if one is anywhere near them?

I see the crowd last nightwqas 11000. Is that normal for GC games? What percentage were Demon supporters?

My eyesight is not great but the commentators kept acting like JVRs fist hit his head but I thought his fist :arm went over his right shoulder and Ballard felt the other side of his head probably because JVR’s shoulder hit it. ?

I wonder if players walk off the line, say the the right for a right footer, and hook it not just because they are trying to get extra distance but also because they feel they are avoiding the man on the mark a bit by going around him rather than over him. If so, perhaps in training they should stop using the current vertical cutouts to represent the man on the mark but use some shape which encourages the player to kick over the man on the mark.

What's the definition of hit out to advantage? If it is hit directly to a player who is sure to be tackled instantly I wouldn't consider that to be an advantage (except when a team is trying to ice the clock).

I haven't seen that, but maybe he means that every other team (bar Sydney) should always play away when they play GWS and at one of its 2 venues. Smoking is perhaps more plausible.

About as good as any other theory I read here.

There was a lot of poor panicky play by cwood in the last Q. A good team would have put them away I suspect

I thought you couldn’t push a player away if the ball was further away than 5m or some such. Yet I see a Hawkins all on his own metres away from the bloke he pushed over just as a 49m pass is kicked. So he pushed the bloke over when the ball was even further away than 40m. No free. Do that to him and he gflays his arms about and gets a free

what's wrong with the Australian "youse" as the plural of you?

Nothing wrong with gents. If it is short for gentlefolk. 😀

Once again excuse my ignorance but how did he avoid seeing out that contract?

Excuse my total ignorance but is there a reason Horne Francis is booed.

With what aim Redleg?

Seems to my naive mind that banking wins now is important so we are in a strong position come mid-season. Then we can do some resting of key players post the byes. If you rest players now you will either have to rest them again or the current rest will do them no good in the finals.

Sorry, there is an excuse if it never gets paid. A player may have read all the rules 20 times and absorbed it, but if his on-field experience is that it is one of those rules that is just on paper and never is enforced, it's forgivable to ignore it (only once, if you get pinged). Let's see if the AFL enforces it regularly now. A lot of the time umps will tell players to get out of the protected zone and only ping them if they fail to move quickly. But not always and not in Lever's case which is particularly bad considering it is rarely (if ever?) paid a 50.

Since the thread has wandered off into other issues, let me add another: The 'stand' rule was introduced to stop the player on the mark moving sideways so as to make it harder for the player with the ball to runoff and kick centrally. So what happens now? The player on the mark is often nowhere near the actual mark. They take up position towards or even at where they used to waltz sideways to before the stand rule came in. And the umpire then says 'stand' - and doesn't require him to come to the actual mark or move 5m away. So we end up with the orginal situation and a lot more shouting by the umpires.

The definition currently is: Handball: the act of holding the football in one hand and disposing of it by hitting it with the clenched fist of the other hand. https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2022/03/28/6d92ed7c-efc2-44dc-86bc-9fa1d9b338ad/2022-Laws-of-the-Game-Booklet.pdf No idea when it changed. Having the ball holding the ball completely stationary is a bit too tough. But a mere touch of the fist to a ball largely being propelled by the hand 'holding' the ball is really a throw. Maybe the rule shoudl be that the majority of the impetus to the ball must come from a fist. Good luck umpiring that.

I was explaining to a young foreigner the rule about pulling it under yourself and not getting it out is a free kick against you. I said the rule was introduced because players were doing that to hold up play and create a ball-up. But I had trouble explaining why when an opponent player pushes/pulls the ball under a player on the ground, the umpire will proclaim - you pulled it under, so no free, ball up. She naively said that surely that player is even more guilty. Not only does he do something to hold up play, but he tries to con the umpire into awarding themself an undeserved free. My only explanation was that the AFL rules and interpretations and implementations are a mess. A difficult game to umpire and the AFL just does things to make it even harder.

What? Find a weirdly shaped home ground where only 5 Richmond supporters can get in, have half their team out and then thrash them? A win by any amount will suit me. (Though the more the better.)

A free for holding the ball without being tackled? Did I miss a new rule?

Doubts over AFL match in Alice Springs amid council dispute

Probably sponsoring any club where the club's backers spend huge sums on their wine. Backer's get some wine, don't have to appear to be funding the club themselves, Penfolds get cash which they can cycle to the club as a sponsor. Win win. 😀