Search the Community

This week's free kick count was outrageous, not so much for the frees against us that were paid - although two Carlton goals resulted from seriously doubtful calls - but for the ones we should have had but which were not paid. But I was not even especially enraged by those three clowns since we were the architects of our own demise with lousy kicking for goal, dumb decision making, excessive reliance on handball even in the wet and a surprisingly docile midfield. But still, I have been inspired to check the stats and it confirms for me what I have seen for years, that the Bulldogs for some reason get the softest run in the comp. So here they are folks, the current free kick differentials by club. For mine the surprises are that Norf rate as positively as they do - surely Lindsay Thomas can't duck that often - and that West Coast are not ranked even more positively than they are. And look at Collingwood: even in a rubbish season they get a soft run. There goes my theory that the struggling clubs generally cop a harsher judgement from the umps. The Giants defy that too. Hawthorn, for all their thuggery do pretty well too. Carlton, courtesy of yesterday are doing pretty well. Western Bulldogs +84 North Melbourne +58 Collingwood +40 West Coast +35 Hawthorn +23 Adelaide +22 Carlton +22 Essendon +14 Brisbane -12 Fremantle -16 Richmond -20 Melbourne -23 Sydney -26 St Kilda -33 GC Suns -34 WS Giants -38 Geelong -40 Port Adelaide -57