As well as suspensions and fines, AFL needs to also start paying holding the ball.
Players feel like they have to drag the player to the ground, otherwise no free kick gets paid. They started throwing them down in tackles because the AFL stopped paying ball and gave more time to make an attempt at getting rid of it.
I noticed a few times that when one of our boys was in the middle of the Melbourne players trying to handball to each other the desperation to jump up with hands out in the air like they were doing a starfish trying to stop the ball. Caldwell did it a few times from memory. It stood out to me for sure.
All the talk/hype has been about the Crows over the last few days yet weāre a win and percentage above them despite coming into the season with similarly low expectations.