I think boycotting the game is actually a great idea. But it’s also easy for me because I don’t even live in the country. For it to work, it would take a huge groundswell from members and I can’t see it happening.
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By tomorrow it will all be about how well FC and Hawthorn are going. We’ll be forgotten.
Mitch Duncan says the umpires were excellent last night. ■■■■ off.
Essendon star Jye Caldwell described Saturday night’s umpiring as “pretty frustrating” and “deflating” as a string of contentious calls gifted Geelong momentum at the MCG.
Caldwell zeroed in on the decision not to award Sam Draper a free kick in front of goal after he had his arms chopped by Zach Tuohy in a marking contest.
A free kick to Draper would’ve given the ruckman a shot to regain the lead. Instead the Cats went end-to-end as Gary Rohan extended their lead to nine points.
“It’s those 12-point plays where you go forward (and) if you don’t score, something happens and they score,” Caldwell told the Herald Sun.
“They’re the ones that kill you.”
Tuohy described the collision with Draper as one of his heaviest in 15 years and it left the veteran feeling sore.
Teammate Mitch Duncan told the Herald Sun that the umpires had got it right.
“I don’t think so (the umpires influenced the game),” Duncan said.
“The Zach Tuohy one was an interesting one, because I thought he had his eyes on the ball if that’s what you’re alluding to. Don’t miss out on the headlines from AFL.
Essendon star Jye Caldwell described Saturday night’s umpiring as “pretty frustrating” and “deflating” as a string of contentious calls gifted Geelong momentum at the MCG.
Caldwell zeroed in on the decision not to award Sam Draper a free kick in front of goal after he had his arms chopped by Zach Tuohy in a marking contest.
A free kick to Draper would’ve given the ruckman a shot to regain the lead. Instead the Cats went end-to-end as Gary Rohan extended their lead to nine points.
“It’s those 12-point plays where you go forward (and) if you don’t score, something happens and they score,” Caldwell told the Herald Sun.
“They’re the ones that kill you.”
Tuohy described the collision with Draper as one of his heaviest in 15 years and it left the veteran feeling sore.
Teammate Mitch Duncan told the Herald Sun that the umpires had got it right.
“I don’t think so (the umpires influenced the game),” Duncan said.
“The Zach Tuohy one was an interesting one, because I thought he had his eyes on the ball if that’s what you’re alluding to.
“It was an amazing contest. Other than that one, I can’t really remember too other ones.
“I thought the umpires did a great job tonight.”
But Caldwell was clearly unimpressed as the calls sapped their momentum.
“It’s hard. I probably can’t say too much, but you give it your all and you’re busting your lungs out there, and if something doesn’t get called you probably get caught up in the moment a fair bit,” he said.
“You can’t dwell on those decisions too much because it’s a long game and if you do you get stuck behind.
“(But) it’s pretty frustrating. It’s probably not the calls as well, it’s probably what’s after that as well.
“If it leads to like them gaining territory or just little moments that probably don’t seem (much) but then it flows on to something bigger, which is pretty deflating.”
Caldwell was involved in one of many dubious decisions when he went unrewarded for a perfect tackle on Jack Bowes directly in front of goal.
“It’s a hard one to adjudicate (holding the ball). I feel like there’s a lot of moving pieces with it,” Caldwell said.
“We’ve had the umpires in to explain what’s holding the ball and what’s not, so we are clear on that.
“But I think it’s that second movement. If you have an arm free or they spin around then they’ve mainly got to call that. That’s what they’re looking for now.
“So it’s the ability to fight a tackle and try and attempt to get your foot to it.
“It’s so hard because if you’re going 100 per cent it gets pretty tough.”
Caldwell admitted he was not totally across the deliberate rushed behind rule.
But he said he believed Jye Menzie should not have been pinged for walking across the line during the third term.
“I’m never on the last line, really, so I don’t really know. But I thought if you were within 5-10m of pressure (it’s not a free kick).”
Essendon forward Kyle Langford says the Bombers players were confused and frustrated by Jye Menzie’s deliberate rushed behind call but conceded they did not handle their emotions well enough.
Essendon was the recipient of a run of borderline free kicks that went against them in the third term which included Zach Tuohy’s arm chop on Sam Draper.
The AFL’s football boss Laura Kane has made clear she is keen to clarify issues in the game including contentious free kicks so AFL House is likely to make a ruling by Monday.
Under the AFL’s rushed behind rule a player can be penalised for a rushed behind if they are “not under immediate physical pressure”, and has had “time and space to dispose of the ball”.
But veteran AFL umpire Ray Chamberlain said last week umpires were told as a coaching point the physical pressure related to a player within 2-3 metres. Menzie’s opponent Ollie Dempsey was clearly within 2-3 metres as he decided to escape across the line.But the AFL’s whistle-blowers have not paid free kicks this year for what Menzie did to run the ball over the line.
Asked if he was clear on the rule, Langford said players had believed they could rush the ball in that manner.
“No, I am not clear at all. We all thought if there was pressure within that nine metre area it wouldn’t be a free kick,” he said.
“I can’t speak too much about umpiring decisions but it is disappointing.
“You see the momentum in footy at the moment and during that third quarter the momentum got away from us.
Scotty (Brad Scott) put it in a very political way. A series of unfortunate events and it is our ability to drop that and move on with the game. Scotty mentioned it. We probably failed in that department. We were bitterly disappointed in the result but it is something we work extremely hard on.”
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I was disappointed in the way we played last night.
But the way it was umpired, both in cases against us and for us made me farking livid.
Has anything from the AFL been issued?
Not that I’ve seen although the above HS article says a ruling should come tomorrow but possibly only about the Menzie one.
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Round 16 - Geelong vs Essendon
3 votes, Mitch Duncan.
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That one’s a bit awkward for the AFL given the final margin for that game.
Spirit and Intention are catch all’s for any decision because there’s no method to provide priority on rules when they compete.
Head high contact or play on, eyes on the ball? Depends on the umpire. Both correct though.
You all know the AFL will tick off every call as correct.
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Mitch Duncan, farking lol. Of course they did a great job, you nitwit.
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AFL admitting to any bad calls doesn’t change the result of the game. And won’t make me feel any better. If anything, admitting to the mistake would make it more infuriating and shows there’s no accountability.
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It’s bouncing the ball. That’s the most important prerequisite to becoming an AFL umpire
The best decision makers aren’t being considered because they don’t get their “bouncing license”
A ■■■■■■■ bouncing license.
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Maybe the umpires still havn’t forgotten when we cheered one of them getting stretched off 10 years ago (in another appallingly umpired game where they gifted the Swans a bunch of shockers at Marvel…. including from memory Mckernan getting arm chopped in the goal square for play on)
How is this enjoyment or entertainment to be here 24 hours reading every post in this thread.
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Can she please not
Just shut up and not lie to us with your stupid smug face
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It’s not ‘contentious free kicks’ she needs to clarify. She needs to clarify how they have complete lost control of the game.
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I can see her now: “We don’t know what the problem is. Mitch said the umpires did a fantastic job”.
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