sue

That last phrase makes me wonder. Has anyone tried to shift blame? No, they are merely saying it is unfair if others commit the same fault and get away with it.

What time of the day is it?

Why? I can enjoy all that and still expect fair dealing. You won't get that in the future if you just acquiesce in accepting bad behaviour in the past.

Ridiculous insufficient intent “rule” is driving me insane. As is the way forwards get away with pushes in the back. Defenders don’t dare fall over to make it clear what happened

Maybe the ARC can’t work near the padding?

I think that is correct. But when a player runs more than 15m in general play, I have the impression umpires pay it from the position where it was when they get around to blowing the whistle. Is that the case? Maybe anything else is a bit hard to fix. But for a kick in there should be no doubt - 15m beyond the square in whatever direction the player was running. (or less if he was running in circles)

Interesting, and would make the umpire's job a lot easier. As long as overhead throws are not allowed or we'll be playing gridiron. Whoops I realise we already have overhead throws masquerading as handballs where zero to 1% of the ball's momentum comes from a fist.

Americans are not a race.

Cwood look wobbly when we started to dominate even when there was little pressure

What a creep.

Pretty rich that fines paid by country teams just go into the AFL's pocket. Surely they should be distrubuted to clubs in the same leage directly. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/10/they-dont-get-country-footy-the-regional-victorian-clubs-saying-no-to-the-afl

Me too. But I'd still be happy to beat them because they are unwell. There are so many 'luck' factors that determine games, many go against our (or any) team, so I'm happy to take the ones that go our way.

Interesting idea. But what if one of the the 2 umpires who press the 'pay free' button wants to pay the free to the opposite team to the other.

If (a) is applied, then when a player is tackled just as he goes to handpass and his punching hand does not make contact with the ball, then it is not a free for incorrect disposal if it was a genuine attempt to punch the ball. No doubt the player was trying but failed. But that is a free that is very often paid because often it is clear to the umpire that the fist missed. I am more confused than ever. Am I missing the context?

No old55 I hadn't missed it. I was just assuming this 4 umpire madness would disappear by next season. And yes, I am aware that there will be umpires injured etc. - hence my stating "in very rough numbers of course"

Agree. While the traditional look of a perfect bounce is great, far too often the bounce clearly favours one side and the umpires do not recall it when they should. The AFL has already made it clear the bounce will die. Why else would they throw it up after a 666 infringement? There seems no justification for not just doing the bounce as usual after issuing the warning.

I agree with ViperP that some serious work on the rules would make the umpire's job easier and it should be first cab off the rank whether umps become pros or not. OLD55 is right of course, the desire to be an umpire is far less common than that to be a player. But some have a passion to be involved in football and if they find they'll never be good enough as a player, umpiring might fill that desire. We don't need as many people motivated to be umpires as we need players. We have towards 800 AFL players and need only 27 field umpires a round (in very rough numbers of course).

True, the is no equivalent for umpires. Therefore the AFL should run such a program out of its enormous budget. In any case, many players play for relatively modest sums compared to the stars and are not treated to a golden future by their club's influential supporters. They play for other reasons and do whatever career afterwards they have either planned or fall into. The same could apply to umpires. It may not produce 100% of what is needed, but it would go a long way towards fixing things.

Just treat them the same as say, the second rank of highest paid players. And club sponsored job opportunities for players can be AFL sponsored ones for umpires.

True, but think how much more there would be to be gained if Oliver, Petracca and May were all out! I'll take 4 points regardless.

I wonder how being rubbed out affects the umpire's Brownlow votes when a player does return. They must be tempted to award votes to other players, figuring a vote for X is a wasted vote. So that might increase the chances of that player's teamates winning. I wonder if there is any historical evidence for that, eg a sudden drop off of votes for X followed by a rise for a teamate after X returns.

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Your last sentence highlights where we differ and where you confuse the hard-done by individual umpire with the system they have to work in. I'm not calling for the heads of individual umpires on plates and every decision they make to be analysed after the event in slow motion replays. Nor for outraged criticism of individual decisions like supporters do when a free goes against them (which as you say the biased supporter often gets wrong). My point is that there seems to be no (or extremely little) serious discussion of how umpiring can be improved. If that requires examination of examples of errors, then so be it. Not pointing the finger at the umpire who made the decision, but as to what can be done to prevent/minimise errors in future. Too much of the media is beholden to the AFL corporation, so I'm not holding my breath. Personally I think it's about time the AFL paid the umps as professionals at rates similar to the better players. That will do a lot for your fears about lack of junior and country umpires. (I'll also be surprised if the AFL releases a detailed analysis of to whether an extra umpire has improved things or if a fifth umpire is needed.)

Doubtless they do, but some external analysis and criticism by the 'independent' media might be in order too don't you think? But we never see it. Why?