It’s the rule. It requires the umpires to read minds so that they can decide what the player’s intention was. No rule like that can ever be a good rule.
The ■■■■■■ rules committee has introduced one rule after another for the purpose of keeping the game moving. The result is the series of rolling mauls we see week after week, in every game, until an umpire pulls a free kick out of thin air that nobody understands, and the sort of insanity that we saw today with the deliberate out of bounds.
Every year there are rule changes. And every year they are more stupid.
It’s amazing also how they go out of their way to destroy any credibility it could have. Pay one early, ignore ten more similar ones, find a ludicrous example later and ping that.
Every single game the entire crowd is both raging and extracting the urine about it.
Could not agree more. The less decisions the umpires need to make the less they’ll ■■■■ up, less likely they will be influenced and more likely they can focus on other decisions.
The current rule is fine in theory but ignores human nature and common sense.
The rule’s been around for ~100 years, and I think you need it in some form or another because watching players kicking for touch for an extra ten minutes a quarter would be horrendous. I’m personally in the camp of scrapping the deliberate part and just umpiring general play like kick-ins; if it goes out of bounds from a kick without being touched, it’s a free kick. No mind-reading required, discourages players from trying to stop play. But the AFL don’t like changing actual rules, they like dicking about with ‘interpretations’, so we get to just watch them change the interpretation week to week, game to game, and claim every decision is correct instead.
Who didn’t see this coming? I tipped Carlton to win to my Carlton mates as I was walking up Bridge Rd to the game. We haven’t played well in the wet since the late 80s. Did anyone notice at EVERY stoppage, Carlton placed a spare man 10-15m defensive side of the stoppage, and 80-90% of the time when Carlton got possession it went through this player. Time and time again. Why wasn’t this negated - it was incredibly effective, especially in the last Q when we tried to ‘ruck n maul’ it through the pack, whilst Carlton would flick it out to find that spare man would then have time to find a target. Whenever we won the clearance we’d rush our disposal resulting in a turnover.
Carlton won because they did less dumb things than us. Should’ve lost by 5 goals to be honest.
The absurdity is that a player can shepherd a ball over the line, making no effort to keep the ball in play then get a free kick. Simpson’s actions were much more deliberate than Kelly’s kick in the ball going oob yet he was rewarded for it.
If the player makes no effort to keep the ball in play then they should be penalised or throw it in.
All the shiit innuendo and abused ! as essendon’s supporters for the last 4 years. And gets I served by that kind of crap football, John worsfold can, say what he’s like, the fact is he got his pants pulled down by Bolton
The other thing I don’t get with the deliberate rule is that you can still deliberately punch the ball 20 metres over the line as long as you’re in a marking contest and that’s fine yet a scrambled kick from the goal square goes 40 metres bounces a few times yet it’s a free.
Other professional leagues around the world must seriously just ■■■■ themselves at how unprofessional our rules / umpiring appears.
Also I wish they would pay a free kick against ANY player who appeals for a free kick, it’s not ■■■■■■■ cricket!!! Play the ■■■■■■■ game and rely on your skill, don’t ■■■■■■■ appeal for frees. This would instantly help umpires.