Webber

You’re dead on Redleg. Why those in charge of the game continue to let it be a blight is baffling. Unfortunately, I believe it’s by far the worst aspect of our great game. As an indication that change is possible, we’ve seen an obvious and successful attempt to stop the ridiculous umpiring imbalance in Perth in the last few years. Last night was disgraceful, as was the Geelong v Brisbane ‘incorrect disposal’ shambles (Blicavs) and the Swans v Geelong ‘not 15’ madness (Cameron). All 3 games should have had different results.

It was beyond bad, it was inconceivable, the most obvious deliberate out of bounds I can ever remember seeing. The easiest call an umpire could ever make, and if not for the sentiment of home-crowd influence, it would have been made. Unacceptable.

That is crazy. Nobody will ever want to umpire. The point you make about umpires not being full-time is the biggest issue. They should be, and they and the game would be better for it.

Actually it WAS why we lost. And that’s ok, on a long enough time-line it all evens out. The bigger point is that there’s no reconciling the abominable contradictions in last night’s umpiring that gifted the Crows the win, because it reflects what is the greatest blight on our game - the quality of umpiring. Not forgetting that the size of ground, speed of play and multi-directional nature of our game makes it difficult, it just has to get better. Ignoring the ‘out of bounds’ shambles for a bit, the adjudication of the ‘tackle rule’ - the essence of the game’s physical contact - is a complete shambles, an utter 50/50 mess in any given situation. The home-crowd influence factor is equally egregious, and it was on sparkling display last night. How and why the umpires can’t be specifically coached in how not to fall prey to this baffles me. They’ve corrected it to a large extent in Perth over the last couple of years, but last night was an embarrassment to the game. Bad/unbalanced umpiring determined last night’s result. It’s that simple, and it shouldn’t happen.

The standard of umpiring, and the fact that the AFL appear to have no plan to improve it, is frankly the biggest disappointment of our game. 3 results this year have categorically been determined by poor umpiring - Geelong v Brisbane, Swans v Geelong, and Adelaide v Melbourne. These change seasons, and can obviously ultimately affect final ladder positions. If I was an external observer of the game, or a newbie to it, I’d find it comically odd. The Charlie Spargo deliberate OOB, and then the dying seconds non-decision OOB are irreconcilable. This just shouldn’t happen in a game that has so much hard-earned involved, and it’s become a woeful, unacceptable blight.

The regrettable truth is that umpires are human. Many of them simply can’t avoid letting the crowd influence their decisions, and it’s on the AFL to create better standards of umpiring by selecting those who can reliably arbitrate with balance regardless of the context. “The loss we had to have”, “didn’t play well”, “missed too many opportunities”, all of that is true. The greater truth, and it is objectively unavoidable, is that bad umpiring determined the result of that game. Given that every team cops it over a long enough timeline, we of course have to just suck it up. None of which changes the fact that umpiring standards are the biggest, most disappointing blight on Australian Football, no less than at the highest level.

That is absolute rubbish, and I suspect you really know it.

Bad umpiring makes a joke of our great game. Frankly embarrassing.

Except that the Crows are playing excellent, high pressure, fast footy.

First time we’ve had to play the crowd this year, and all that comes with it - umpiring, oppo getting hero cheers, no love from the crowd when you do good stuff. That’s when our slow starts are a problem - if you don’t shut ‘em up early, crowds like this are worth 1-2 goals a quarter. Unless our fitness late becomes a positive, it’s hard to imagine us winning. That they’re just cutting us up with short, fast possessions is also very worrying. High risk + crowd = high reward I guess.

Remember that too. Was sufficiently surprised to start hoping. The sustain factor has so often been the problem though.

Fascinating range of opinions. Two things of which I’m confident - humans crave certainty (and are seduced by those who peddle it - hence Trump), and humans also love simple answers, particularly to conundrums. Two things of which I’m even more confident - certainty ain’t so certain, and nothing’s ever so simple as it appears or we want it to be. There is however a simple answer to the Dees 8-0 start - it’s multifactorial!

Was just reading Titus O’Reily’s Round 8 wrap, and a poster in the comments was recalling North Melbourne’s start to 2016. They went 9-0, top of the ladder, but won only 3 more games to September, finished 8th and were eliminated straight up. Didn’t remember that, and now wish I hadn’t been reminded. Form and wins are fickle. How likely for the Dees?

Brilliant work again, Nasher. Do you think the difference in Geelong game, given the directional tap superiority you quote, was Max facing less competitive opposing ruckman?

Given your commitment Nasher, I’d hate to think it wasn’t useful. Beats going to church, either way. Top job!

All of that’s true binman, but (and it’s a great position to be in - seeking to improve an already winning formula) as Goody pointed out, getting smashed in the centre clearances is effectively a free hit to the opposition. Squaring it up would be an excellent outcome.

I saw that, and am still struggling to believe it. Worst bit of umpiring I’ve seen in living memory. I’d love to know what he was actually thinking....maybe he forget which team was going which way.

Tmac was NOT playing injured. He’s not saying it, the club’s not saying it, nobody is saying he was playing injured, nor would they have any reason to deny it if he was. At all. He was struggling for form, because form, particularly for forwards, is horribly fickle. It happens, as does the way so many on here jumped all over him for it.

Max’s taps have great variety, which is a quality, mostly. We’ve all seen him put it beautifully down Oliver or Trac’s throat, but those instances have become less frequent. He’ll mostly now go the big forward thump, the ‘behind his head’ or the backhand-outside, but rarely now bring the ball to the feet and protect it with his size - almost like that plan is for lesser ruckman. But I reckon this might be a way to stop the rot.....bring it to the feet, and have a Jordon (he’s staggeringly calm, nuggety and mature for his 8 games!) or Harmes (in Viney’s absence) effectively kill it (if they can’t get it off to Oliver/Petracca). Thus we force a ball-up in ‘stoppage mode’, which we are clearly much better at. I suspect also that’s why the damage seems less when Dogga is rucking. He offers a physical presence with elite second efforts, but without the tap expansiveness, maybe it’s better at killing the ‘space’ for oppo players to nab the breakaway.

That is definitely what’s happening. The problem for mine is that we should also have the defensive, or at least nullifying component at the centre clearance (Viney-esque). The Swan’s forward line isn’t great or particularly threatening at the moment, which other than our tight back six (I thought Petty did well under extreme Swans pressure) keeping them quiet, helped stop the clearance smashing we got from losing us the game.

The centre clearance issue has been evident all season thus far, but is noticeably worse without Jack Viney. As good as Trac and Oliver are otherwise as midfielders, I reckon they too often approach a centre clearance possession like it’s a chance to construct the next move ahead, after their own possession. Viney is more ‘see ball, get ball, and then I’ll decide’, or if the oppo player looks like he’ll get to it first, then get him. Against a team like the Swans, that approach can’t be overvalued. Tonight was staggering in revealing our almost total inability to stop them getting attacking thrust from the middle, and it has to be fixed.

My only problem with Caro is that she seems to have a bloodlust for clubs/players/stories that aren’t performing, on field and off, as if she’s seeking to accelerate or even revel in their demise. If fearlessness and accuracy are the pillars of journalism, then empathy should come next, if only to balance the bad news with some hope and relatability. As a person, she may have it in spades, as a journalist, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen it.

Reading the individual players report (Alan Richardson’s) from Casey, he says Sparrow was BOG by a big margin. Sparrow is a pure midfielder....size, grunt, good decisions, good disposal. What we obviously missed on Saturday, where Cunnington’s influence stood out like Kangaroos balls, was Jack Viney, the role player it seems just as obvious Sparrow is modelling himself on. Based on this, I’d be staggered if he doesn’t come in this week.

Plays div 4 EFL, so waaaay below AFL standard. The Coodabeens Champions interviewed his mum yesterday, real footy family.

Petty was emergency