sue

Thanks for those who answered this. I was aware of the Clarrie and Gawn 'moves'. I just thought there must have been more than that. And Jontee says there may be even less.

Probably I missed it, but I can't recall any posts discussing what coaching changes (if any) were made in the second half. Any ideas?

If only they were joking.

Yes, but could they couldn't do it in time to wind down the player's swearing. Personally I'd prefer swearing to BT.

They also need to consult on friction.

Is that true? I reckon we only hear a fraction of what the umpires say or the whistle blowing volume. And I don't think it is because it is simply drowned out by BT's bliterhing. I assume they wind it down and up?

Yes, but if they got that 1 goal closer they could have overtaken us wihtin the quarter. A team can be apparently far better than the opponent and still lose. That too is footy. If you weren't nervous at that point in the game you couldn't possibly be a Demons supporter. 😀 Anyway, while we had a great year and a great final series all I'm saying is we shouldn't get over-confident about the size of the gap between us and other teams. But if it makes any of us happy to be over-confident, fine. Just as long as the players are not. (Confidence within bounds is of course good.)

But I bet you were feeling nervous in Q4. They had significant injuries, we didn't. Yes, we were probably the better team, but if they got an extra goal at a critical time, who knows... I'm just saying the gap between the teams is not as large as some on here are saying.

I doubt you'd be saying that if you were a Dog's supporter or it happened the other way around. Well, perhaps you might, but you'd be spitting chips.

I have just watched the first final against Brisbane. We could easily have lost that and who knows what would have happened if we did. Too much hubris around here.

Ha ha. No, that was clearly very unusual and especially unusual in a GF as many posters have gleefully stated. I mean uninteresting/tedious as a spectacle for the neutral spectator. Aussie rules has a nice balance between too much scoring (eg. basketball) and too little (eg. soccer). Goals scored from high pressure situations locked in the forward line are often very interesting, though preferably without congestion. I'd be against rule changes that reduce their importance.

Sorry, I 'misspoke'. I should have only said if they move (forward) on the line. Re going off-the-line, you are of course correct. I fear they are almost always too late calling play-on when a player goes off the line, especially if they are simultaneously shouting 'stand'. To mount my usual hobby-horse, I reckon the whole play-on arrangement is the wrong way around. The player on the mark should be allowed to move as soon as he thinks the player with the ball has played on. Let the umpire judge if he moved too early and pay a penalty if so. The only time the umpire need shout play-on is when the player with the ball stands still for too long holding up play.

100% agree. I'm guessing one reason we don't just hear the crowd + umpires is that we'd get crowd+umpires+players_swearing. May not be appropriate on free-to-air, but as an option on Fox/Kayo/whatever, why not.

A question. Would it achieve the same ends as the new rule without giving so much advantage to the player with the ball and avoiding the paying of ridiculous 50m penalties if: The man on the mark was required to start on the mark and stay there, but once the player with the ball starts to move, either off the line or on the line, allow the player on the mark to move sideways. Can't say I have spent any time thinking this through and how different it would be from earlier years, but perhaps it's a compromise worth looking at?

Do we really? While the ball zinging down the ground leading to a goal is exciting for the team scoring (and its supporters), in some ways it is a bit repetitive and even tedious. Whereas some grinding in the forward 50 leading to snapped goal is more likely to look like goal of the year to me.

The thing I 'enjoy' most about BT is his mystical knowledge of which was the ball will turn in shots towards goal, especially when there is no wind. Half the time it does the opposite of what he said, but he takes no notice.

Worked well for what objective? Certianly not the one stated when it was first introduced.

Doubtless it's been said already, but my answer to the question of the thread title is NO. It is way past time BT was pensioned off.

One of the things I hate about this rule (which was intended to increase scoring - hah!) is that it introduces yet another distance for umpires to estimate and for players to fudge or second guess the umpires. They often get 15m in a straight line wrong, what hope of getting 5m on an arc right?

Misleading title from the AFL - I was hoping to see more angles.

Thx, but only 6 minutes?

Hopefully everything they are doing has the stamp of approval from our fitness team. Still, I'd expect it would be hard to argue that makes it an official club workplace activity.

Funny how Lever says he was wishing for the last quarter to end. Many supporters were proably happy for it to keep going.

This is another of the unwritten rules of AFL. If he didn't mark it, it would be a free. If he marks it, it is mark of the year.

I've started at round 1 and watched the entire Freo match. Pretty scrappy and only the occasional glimpse of what the team became. As WWSW says, the difference between the Freo match and late in the year is amazing. (I usually only watch the games we won over the summer and spread them out to last until Feb/March. This summer I'll have trouble fitting them all in.)