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Hall set for goal feast
By TIM MORRISSEY
March 12, 2004
WATCH out Matthew Lloyd. The Swans' menancing centre half-forward Barry Hall is set to challenge you for the Coleman Medal awarded to the AFL's leading goalkicker.
Sydney coach Paul Roos believes big, bad, bustling Barry was potentially robbed of as many as 20 goals by the umpires last season which could have resulted in 84 goals for the year instead of the 64 he booted.
That would have put Hall second place behind Lloyd, the Essendon superstar, who kicked a league-best 94 goals for the season.
AFL umpires' boss Jeff Gieschen admitted on Wednesday that the Swans' No. 1 offensive weapon received a raw deal last year in the free-kick department.
Roos believes if his 27-year-old key forward had received the same protection from the umpires as the likes of Lloyd, Brisbane's Alastair Lynch (78 goals) and Melbourne's David Neitz (64) enjoyed, Hall could have had a devastating impact on the competition.
"We feel that based on our discussions with [Gieschen] Barry would have probably had anywhere between 10 to 20 more kicks at goal," said Roos.
"If you look at it in purely statistical terms, Barry kicked 64 goals last year but if he had another 10 to 20 shots at goal the effect on the team as the individual could be quite significant."
Roos believes the unjust treatment of Hall potentially could have cost the Swans a couple of games.
"The one that really sticks out to me was when we played Hawthorn in round 19 and Barry had his hand on the point post pushed off it and he kicked a goal and the umpire called it out of bounds," said Roos.
"That was when he was struggling a little bit and just coming back into the game and had he kicked that goal who knows what could have happened from there."
Gieschen used that incident as an example of when the umpires got it blatantly wrong.
Roos and the Swans are now confident that now the issues concerning Hall's treatment by the umpires has been addressed the Sydney star will have an unrestricted reign to challenge Lloyd and the other superboots in the AFL.
THE Swans have named a near full strength team to challenge Essendon at Newcastle tomorrow in their final pre-season hitout before the round one clash against triple premiers Brisbane at the Gabba on March 27.
Goal-kicking wizard Michael O'Loughlin and key defender Ben Mathews have both been named.
By TIM MORRISSEY
March 12, 2004
WATCH out Matthew Lloyd. The Swans' menancing centre half-forward Barry Hall is set to challenge you for the Coleman Medal awarded to the AFL's leading goalkicker.
Sydney coach Paul Roos believes big, bad, bustling Barry was potentially robbed of as many as 20 goals by the umpires last season which could have resulted in 84 goals for the year instead of the 64 he booted.
That would have put Hall second place behind Lloyd, the Essendon superstar, who kicked a league-best 94 goals for the season.
AFL umpires' boss Jeff Gieschen admitted on Wednesday that the Swans' No. 1 offensive weapon received a raw deal last year in the free-kick department.
Roos believes if his 27-year-old key forward had received the same protection from the umpires as the likes of Lloyd, Brisbane's Alastair Lynch (78 goals) and Melbourne's David Neitz (64) enjoyed, Hall could have had a devastating impact on the competition.
"We feel that based on our discussions with [Gieschen] Barry would have probably had anywhere between 10 to 20 more kicks at goal," said Roos.
"If you look at it in purely statistical terms, Barry kicked 64 goals last year but if he had another 10 to 20 shots at goal the effect on the team as the individual could be quite significant."
Roos believes the unjust treatment of Hall potentially could have cost the Swans a couple of games.
"The one that really sticks out to me was when we played Hawthorn in round 19 and Barry had his hand on the point post pushed off it and he kicked a goal and the umpire called it out of bounds," said Roos.
"That was when he was struggling a little bit and just coming back into the game and had he kicked that goal who knows what could have happened from there."
Gieschen used that incident as an example of when the umpires got it blatantly wrong.
Roos and the Swans are now confident that now the issues concerning Hall's treatment by the umpires has been addressed the Sydney star will have an unrestricted reign to challenge Lloyd and the other superboots in the AFL.
THE Swans have named a near full strength team to challenge Essendon at Newcastle tomorrow in their final pre-season hitout before the round one clash against triple premiers Brisbane at the Gabba on March 27.
Goal-kicking wizard Michael O'Loughlin and key defender Ben Mathews have both been named.
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