Macca

I could not watch footy if the umpires did my head in. I'd find another sport to watch I played a lot of sport (albeit as a hack) but I never once crossed swords with an umpire ... 50 seasons worth over 30 years Was taught from an early age to play to your best and respect the umpires. Lots of success too So as a spectator, I'm no different. I'm not perfect by any means but sport isn't life & death to me

Believe me, punters blame jockeys when their hard-earned is involved. Trainers get blamed and even racetracks ("They run the wrong way up in Sydney" ... heard that a lot) We talk through our hip-pockets and footy supporters are heavily invested too. And lets face it, a lot of us are bad losers Even on the other game threads the umpires cop it left right and centre. Hip pocket? Probably For instance, the Cats & Pies are hated here so when the frees go their way, the thread erupts

No, I just don't view sport that way I bet on the horses and there's no conspiracy theories in the sport of kings either Problem gamblers blame jockeys ... never done it

If you and I were umpiring and say 2 others here, we'd all see any incident differently For instance, I do not like soft high contact free kicks so I may not pay many. Those who play for free kicks wouldn't get much joy from me either And you know what, I'm betting you'd be different and the other 2 would be different again Why? Because we aren't robots and we all have different personalities and views So you won't get consistency and besides all that, the rules are nearly all grey anyway

Re the 2016 GF, I thought that the Doggies took advantage of the then rules & interpretations. They did nothing illegal as I reckon they just played to the whistle As for the May incident, Daniher may well have accentuated the contact but from my vantage point (forward pocket 40 metres away) I saw a hefty shove from May My first reaction was ... "Why do that May?" Now, you and others can see things differently but I urge people to look at the replay ... 3 minutes into the last quarterI And our players accentuate contact as well ... Kozzie, Spargo, Clarrie, ANB etc I'll say it again, aim to be a good team that plays well and is well coached ... do that and you will win So if you're not a good team, you leave yourself open to being beaten by the grey area rules, umpire interpretations and the like In other words, take as much doubt out as possible. Be a 5 goal better team

Ha ha! Gotta be in game decisions but you're close And I'm fully aware of that Brownlow scandal ... has there been any other documented incidents? Mind you, in the games history, an umpire or 2 has probably been paid off. I wouldn't rule that out But day to day, match to match with each group of supporters crying fowl in a similar way as if there's some sort of giant conspiracy? I don't think so As previously stated, what must be taken into account is how difficult a sport Aussie rules is to umpire ... daylight to the next hardest sport? Basketball? Soccer? To me it's nothing personal, I just allow umpires to make numerous errors And if we are the better team and we play well, we'll win The match against the Crows with that deliberate out of bounds at the end? We put in a 4 or 5 out of 10 performance as a team that day and that was the main reason we lost

You're possibly right but we had to something ... our KPF's aren't firing and Max forward wasn't working either So do nothing and it's probably more of the same or do something and maybe we'll get a positive result. Maybe I reckon the MC came to the realisation that our forward line marking strength was negligible and we weren't a dominant force in the ruck either We could have reversed roles (Gawn/Grundy) but we've chosen a different pathway It could be that either Brown or JVR fires then one makes way for Grundy who comes in and competes hard ... and right now, that's a better result than neither of our KPF's firing Not forgetting that Grundy is a proper ruckman

Ha ha! You know, if there was any real proof that the umpires cheat, I'd be up for a small fortune right now Millions of $$$$'s down the gurgler! The Kew residence would be on the market (I'd have to move to Burwood boarding with dc) Come on, come at me! Show me the proof and I'll show you the money Jerry Maguire style

I agree and I reckon we made the right move in giving Brown & JVR a chance to prove themselves as a pair and as individuals But by doing that, there wasn't a spot for Grundy (for now) ... he gets to get a rest from being first ruck in the seniors whilst hopefully playing well as a forward at a lower level It's a bold experiment but it might work If we can somehow sort it all out before the finals, we'll be doing well

So there you go putting words in my mouth again I never said anything of the sort Give it up, you might have most of this site on your side but your logic skills are negligible You'll go to your grave bitter and twisted about the umpiring of our great sport. In a way, I feel sorry for you but it's your own fault Brainwashed from a young age with a chip on your shoulder (about umpires) the size of Mars Have you ever played any competitive sport and if so, did you spend your whole time arguing with officials? Try umpiring the sport yourself and put your money where your mouth is It's people like you who drive intelligent people away from this site with your incessant whinging about umpiring decisions By the way, there's at least 30 prominent posters on this site who have never whinged about umpiring decisions But they are quiet about it as they do not want to engage with people like you Wake up to yourself or better still, pipe down and behave yourself

Clint is a good guy D/stone. He just doesn't like umpires haha And that's the point isn't it? ... we are allowed to have different views and there's nothing wrong with trying to disprove a different view Siding with the umps on this site (or any fan site) is just not the done thing. But why can't it be a thing? I've long felt that the reason we were such a poor side for so long had nothing to do with umpiring decisions ... talent & good coaching wins games of football 350-400+ possessions and you lose? You've had enough of the ball to win when you get it that many times

I agree but my point is that Clarrie not playing has allowed us to move the chess pieces around I'm not for one minute rejoicing in the fact that Oliver is out. Just noting that we've had to adjust and get on with it In real terms we have adjusted in a positive way and kudos to the MC for finding a way to cover his absence Of course when Clarrie returns, we're a better team

Yes we do miss Oliver AF but in his absence, our midfield has been revamped a bit especially with Petracca pushing forward So it's allowed us to move the chess pieces around like say for instance ... an attacking midfielder like Brayshaw is allowed to play his natural game on the ball And we get Kozzie into the game with some midfield minutes Viney steps up as the main man Gawn goes back in as the main ruckman because our midfielders understand his game? So when Clarrie comes back what then? A good problem to have in terms of some players moved elsewhere out of necessity

Just take the good with the bad ... if you want the game umpired perfectly the sport needs to be changed 14 a side, rules against gang tackling, defined rules, greater education, full time umps, etc etc But the above is never going to happen nor do I want it to happen. I just deal with it all my way I'm not the problem here even though I have a completely different point of view I've heard the other side my entire life and have to put up with it And we get our fair share of lucky frees ... 25 - 10 was the free kick count in the Alice ... but we still lost 19-13 in the '21 GF? Were the dogs cheated against?

I blame the game itself ... numerous grey areas and often a lot of congestion (not on Friday night though - an excellent game) And ill-defined rules left, right & centre. There's no other sport like it ... nothing comes close Over the years we've made the game more and more difficult to officiate. It's a harder game to umpire now than it ever was But the umpires are the visible ones making the decisions ... we're not interested in delving into the why's and wherefore's. Just the A-end of the problem So what do we do? We blame the umpires. Which is largely an unintelligent thing to do And I do not love umpires nor do I feel sorry for them ... but I do often wonder why anyone would want to do it

Ha ha! Well I work with cash a bit so you'll have to accept the folding stuff deevs But my wallet won't be seeing any action as you'll never be able to provide any proof that the umpires actually cheat haha Anyway, just a bit of fun on a Monday morning! Lighten up and accept the good with the bad I say Games are decided by the 400 odd possessions that a skilled side can provide... along with top level coaching The umpiring decisions just reset the mind ... 'Ok, they've got it so what do we do now? Or, we've got it so what do we do now? I've always thought that the umpiring decisions (by and large) only play a small part in the sport. Good teams win, poor teams lose. A boring evaluation? Maybe, but it's true

I just watched the replay of the May push and if that isn't a free kick to Daniher then pushing in the back will never be paid It was so obvious and why is May complaining? Probably caught up in the heat of the moment but nonetheless, he made an error Not the crime of the century either, he just simply made an error and right in front of the umpire. A brain fade but again, not a hanging offence But we want our tribe to win and the officials (umpires) are seen as untrustworthy and on-the-take. Of course, none if that is true but if a football fan reaches adulthood with a hatred of umpires, they are unlikely to ever change their minds Why? Because they are surrounded by confirmation bias for their entire lives People like me are dismissed out of hand and largely ignored. I become the enemy haha But the umpires are treated as the enemy far more so than opposition teams. Which doesn't make sense if people think about about it and apply some logic

Here's the thing People like you (and there are hundreds of 1000's like you) can choose to spend your entire lives whinging and moaning about how the game is umpired or you can choose not to There's no cheating, that's never happened. The umpires have an impossible task and you all should have realised that by now ... actually, past the age of 12 that realisation should have kicked in I don't have an agenda either, I made my mind up over 5 decades ago But most of the rest of you are so far gone there's no changing your mind You're triggered by all the so-called injustice. And all for what? So you can have a whinge? By and large, the game is umpired quite well I've done this with mates so I'm going to do it here ... I'll give anyone here $10k if they can ever prove (real proof required) that the umpires have ever cheated against your football club Cash! In your hot little hands. It's not a bet, I'll happily hand over the money So hop to it, there's easy money to be made (supposedly) Only quote me if you've got the proof (that the umpires cheat) Trying to change my mind is a fruitless exercise. As it's a fruitless exercise to change your minds But I'm entitled to my opinion even if it does make your blood boil I'm baffled that more people here haven't come to the same conclusion that I did all those years ago ... but what we've got is group thinking on a massive scale "The umpires hate us, they really do. They've always hated us, they are cheats, they really are. Something has to be done!" All nonsense based on caveman instincts - tribe related Try watching the game for a month whilst at the same time ignoring all questionable decisions. Do that and you'll be well on your way to accepting how things are You'll feel liberated, I'll guarantee it Afterwards, you'll wonder why you didn't make the switch a long time ago Watch the game, not how the game is officiated. Unless you do that, you're not actually watching the sport properly In the meantime, there's $10k to be had ... hop to it

So if we assume that we're getting pick 4, 5 or 6, are there half a dozen young prospects in and around that area of the draft that the draft watchers could put forward here? I'm in that group that doesn't follow the fortunes of the prospects We could of course use the pick as part of a bundle or work our way up to pick 2 or 3 or even using the pick for an established player But young prospects?

And if we'd kicked straight against the Pies, the margin would have been comprehensive What came out of that performance (that King conveniently forgets) is how we shut down Collingwood's offense They couldn't get past our 3 or 4 lines of defence coupled with our defensive zones which seemed to confuse them It was the way we beat them that sticks in the memory Easily our best performance since the finals of 2021 ... our issue is that we've dropped games against a few lesser lights that we should have won But against the top 3 ... 2 narrow losses and 2 narrow wins (one if which could have been comprehensive) We're right in amongst it but we need Oliver & Fritsch back and 1 of our 2 KPF's to fire ... if 2 of our KPF'S fire we're winning it all!

We do it too when we can get away with it. Harmes & Viney have been known to scrag and harass when in tagging roles Who was that Demon player who Brereton took to task because of the treatment that Platten was getting? Dean Chiron? We're no angels Was Brayshaw blocking Neale's run on Friday night? Scragging? Good luck to Angus if he got away with it And May did not push Daniher in the side and even if he did (and he didn't) that's transgressing the rules anyway You can't just shove another player out of the way especially when the ball isn't within 5 metres

There's a lot of push-outs in the sport ... some are seen, some are missed, some are blatant, others not so blatant. Some simply can't be seen easily But the May shove was as blatant as I've seen and May did it right in front of the umpire (and right in front of where I was sitting/standing - Punt Rd end forward pocket) But you're entitled to your opinion, as am I. But you're talking to someone who is primarily on the side of the umpires A rarely seen thing on this site. Strange but true Just an observation ... there are at least 30 prominent posters on this site who have never once complained about any umpiring decision I notice them because they are like-minded

And a well umpired decision ... kudos to the officials

The May shove was right in front of me and it was a blatant push by May Red & Blue goggles aside, if that free is even questioned, then we should never ever get any frees paid against us May shoved Daniher out of the contest Besides which, the umpiring overall was excellent so why is the officiating even being brought up? The game was am excellent example of how good footy can be and also, the game was well umpired

Brown was a legit KPF but his body is starting to give out and JVR is not yet a bona-fide legit KPF Especially when we compare either player to the likes of Hawkins, Cameron et al. The much maligned Daniher is streets ahead Both Brown & JVR have spent periods of time outside of the senior team - this season And both Brown & JVR will be acutely aware that Grundy will be hovering. And that can be a motivating factor Best case scenario would be for both Brown & JVR to strike form with Grundy putting pressure on but again, what are the chances of that happening?