sue

I just cannot see how raising your arms or looking upwards to the sky to indicate your disagreement with a decision is abusive or is necessarily even disrespectful. Or why any umpire with an ounce of self-confidence would feel hard-done by a player exhibiting disagreement. Disagreement doesn't mean the other person thinks you are an [censored], just mistaken. For example, the free paid against Petty for that excellent spoil. I could see that the umpire may have been mislead into thinking Petty hit the GWS player's head (as did many posters here) when in fact it was the footy that hit his head. If I (or had Petty) indicated disagreement it does not mean we think the umpire was an [censored]. Just wrong. Which is easy to be given the speed or the game, the vague rules and the fact that umpires are not equipped with 360 degree slo-mo vision. If the current umpires are such precious petals that disagreement is too much for them, I expect properly paid full-time employment may help them get over it. (Abuse is another matter.) I think umpiring issues at junior levels can be addressed by other means than requiring AFL players to behave like robots.

That is part of the problem. The spectator has no way to know what the decision was based on. For other penalties we do have at least something to go on.

Well you are being consistent if you apply it to all sorts of tackles. I thought you were singling out run-down tackles and that you'd have to give a run down tackle special status compared to other tackles. And if you did, then you are introducing yet another grey area into the umpiring in deciding whether a tackle is rundown or merely a bit of a separation before the tackle. My memory isn't great, but I don't recall there has ever been a time when prior opportunity has been so rigourously applied as you suggest in the 80's. Seems to me you were always allowed to dispose of it, though maybe 360 degree rotations were penalised more.

Neither hold a candle to Brown, so one must go. But I wondered if Goodwin was pumping up Weid's tyres to soften the blow of not picking him next week. We shall see.

IMO if this nonsense continues it will lead to more disrepect for umpires. We already are frustrated by bad decisions, but at least we understand how hard the game is to umpire AND we can see what happened. (I don't know how many times I have had to eat my words when the replay of a free is shown, as well as vice versa.) But with respect to 'respect', we have no idea if the player called the ump a [censored] or just expressed disappointment, verbally or otherwise and with whom. How is continuing to ask for a free which the umpire says is not there less respectful than indicating you thought a free was wrongly given. And so inconsistent. I just can't see this settling down to something even vaguely preceived as consistent. Net result - less respect for umpires from the public.

Fraction of a toe? It was flush on his boot. Surely DS you are not calling for umpires to make a decision based on whether they think the ball was deliberately dropped onto the foot or 'falls out of his hands'. We don't need another new area for "insufficient intent" decisions.

True, but it's critical for a key forward to clunk them routinely. And Weid's follow-up work appears a bit slack.

Not just against us as others have detailed. One minor thing not mentioned is their failure to immediately line up Gawn on his shot for goal at around 17:00 of Q2. He marked the ball at 51m and was obviously going to have a shot but the ump initially stood with the 'stand' gesture 25m away before realising they had to run in to line him up.

Probably. And they won't be wrong either.

I wouldn't go as far as stabbing. But meddlesome umpire/AFL HQ seems very apt. I find it particulary humourous that the when they pay a free for the most flagrant deliberate OOB, the umpires now shout 'insufficient intent'. Would the player have avoided the penalty if they had been even more deliberate?

Who can rid me of this meddlesome umpiring?

It doesn’t just sound like it, he was. I mentioned it in a post during the game.

Whomever we play the next week.

It caused a chuckle at ours.

I noticed that and was in fear that the defender and ruckman might try to prove how important they are by doing what was done to Brown's namesake last week by the Essendon thug.

If I wasn't swearing, the umpiring would have left me speechless. Hawkins only one of many. While on the subject of Hawkins, I find his style of play very boring. A big bloke pushes/pulls his opponent out of the way and takes an easy mark and kicks a goal. Yawn. Compare that to rapid chain of passes & handballs and a quick snap at goal or a flying pack mark.

Hear hear (or is it Here Here). Noticed that for the post match interviews too. God knows why it took them so long to make these interviews intelligible, but grateful they've done it.

umm,, perhaps because noone has said that . Your clear implication was that vaccines are pointless. The data shows that's wrong. It was a vain hope that posting it would have any effect on your views, so I will desist from further replies and stay on topic. So, I was vaguely hoping for a draw between Hawthorn and Carlton. But I wondered if late in the season I'd regret having at least 2 teams on points not divisable by 4. Impossible to say at this stage I guess (and it didn't happen on the weekend). But historically, have those 2 odd points ever caused grief or otherwise to us in our final ladder position?

Since you were off topic, I'll risk doing the same in the hope you can be influenced by actual data rather than whatever is behind your comments. Have a look at this as a random example I found first up: https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/698388/20220104-COVID-19-Monitor.pdf The data clearly shows that if you are unvaccinated you have a far far higher chance of being seriously ill, in hospital or in ICU. Of course they could be lying to protect something or other. Or just maybe ....

Did the AFL do anything after the 2000 GF?

Suddenly BT seems good

Are these the usual commentators? Usually they are relatively good but not great today.

Agree. Flukes from the boundary, even under pressure are no match for a player zig zagging around multiple opponents and goaling under pressure even if dead in front.

It's not so long ago that if the AFL announced a Tassie team with the nickname Devils we'd assume MFC was being relocated to Tasmania.

I'd agree more wholeheartedly if he had a chance to work himself into form in the VFL first.