Robot Devil

we are not a serious contender yet, and until we are we will have to put up with front-running umpires.

It must require incredible strength of mind for an umpire to avoid anticipating the play flowing one way rather than the other, and real independence for him to see the line balls without prejudice, so that - when the split-second evidence is against all expectation and noise of the crowd - he will nevertheless instantly rule in favour of the surprise. I think front-running - think how Judd, Ablett, Lloyd, etc etc are umpired, as compared with the treatment given to a raw and tentative beginner - is understandable, and inevitable.

In the end, not many games are decided by the 5% of advantage the arrogant players/teams get away with.

What gripes me is the umpires' tolerance of staging and engineered "holding-the-ball" infringements. Outright dishonest, and should be stamped out. Lazy bullies go for that stuff, and the umpires are in general complicit.

I agree with much of what you say.

Case in point:

If Simon Black wasn't such a respected player I'm sure he would be cited for staging in todays game.

Nicholson gets run down by Ricoh and has his head rubbed into the ground - just cops it.

The worst part of that was that the replay showed he got the kick away and was therefore wrongly penalised.

Didn't Scotland already have charges for assault ?

Errrr... Yes. The point I am making is that whilst Scotland is facing assault charges, Sticks should refrain from making references to assaulting things.

Eddie is going nuts! this is how we should have acted towards GWS when they poached tom scully.

I can't help but imagine him stroking a white cat while saying these things. Either that or he's gone to the Vince McMahon School of Business.

Thought Sticks could have chosen his words better considering Scotland's predicament.

"We'll get a few players back, we'll make a late assault, make no mistake."

http://www.heraldsun...f-1226412721936

I wonder, could it be just a possibility, that maybe, we are getting just a tiny bit ahead of ourselves? Off course that's only my opinion and I could be wrong.

Can't we just dream a little? No point playing if you don't want the top prize.

I don't want to end up like Garfunkel, Messina, Oates and Lisa playing the #2 hit "Born to Runner-up" while the fans boo.

And at this very minute in the Hawthorn/Carlton game there are 3 umpires having a 5 minute conversation trying to "work out" if a player kicked it out on the full.

I only saw the TV images and there seemed to be a lot of vacant seats around the guys with the banner. Are we talking about the same one?

"I haven't (signed) Just going up to have a look. $cully"

See my response in the other thread : AFL Thought Police.

I was sitting two rows behind the guy who brought this banner. Had a chat to him and he hadn't heard of the discussion about banners on this board.

Seemed like a nice, genuine Melbourne supporter who wanted to have his chance to tell Scully what he thought of him in a public forum.

There were some dirty looks from the GWS camp when they turned around and saw it.

All credit to him he made a banner that wasn't offensive and was then respectful of the security guard asking him to take it down.

NOONE was sitting near the banner which quoted $cully's words about checking facilities. So noone's view could be impeded.

Actually, I was sitting directly behind it and couldn't see the ground.

However I was pissing myself laughing so I couldn't have cared less.

Lets offer Collingwood pick 13 and Moloney for wellingham or Beams.

Are you sure they wouldn't prefer the silky skills of Cale Morton?

Who are they to judge the supporters reactions? They are not in any way impartial.

Imagine the crowd reaction of the Tiger Army if Deledio or Martin went to GWS and Lehmo would be in tears if Buddy Franklin went anywhere.

We would have been ridiculed as apathetic supporters if we had done nothing. Damned if you do...

I could not care less about the opinion of Jones, Duclos or Lehmo - same as anyone else- which is why they are on Gold104 anyway.

If they had invested 36 years of their life into supporting the Demons I would consider their point.

As it is, they can bugger off.

I'd really like to think the boo-ing got to Scully after the first quarter and helped shut him down...

It's worth the sore throat.

Either that or they ran out of McNuggets at Tullamarine Maccas and he stamped his foot down in disgust.

Or Tom dropped his wallet...

And although it's very easy to, don't forget the sublime Chris 'the Heff' Heffernan.

And even more obscure: Gary Moorcroft

For the symbolism, I'd love Mitch Clark to break Scully.

Especially seeing as Clark is actually earning his paycheck at the Dees. ie. Kicking goals and making a contest in our forward 50.

I'd say so far he has shown he can be a positive influence on our club, now and in the future.

Haven't heard Scully's name mentioned in a positive sense at all this year, even with the many good things the papers have said about GWS.

Still, he's got another 4 years to prove his worth.

Under the rules

56 C111.

Blocking/shepherding/tunnelling may legall occur if the guilty team has a larger membership than the team being infringed upon whilst the smaller club mst observe the 5 metre rule.

Could not have said it better myself!