Arrogant Players

[Vivien]

Thought it was interesting that in the 3rd quarter Simon Meredith gave all of 6 50m penalties and a stack of free kcks. Thought he got a little too whistle happy and went a tad overboard, but then again I can see where he's coming from.

I think some of the players are getting a bit too big for their boots. One thing I don't like to see is arrogant players f-ing and blinding at umpires when they've given away a free kick. Nor do I like to see players flapping their arms about when they think they've got someone pinned down for holding the ball or think a kick has gone out on the full. It's all designed to put pressure on the umps, often causing them to make decisions they wouldn't ordinarily make.

I'm of the opinion that the umpire has the responsibility to keep the game under control. But sometimes the umpire doesn't have the measures to do so. AFL is the only football code where players cannot be penalised by being sent off the ground for some period of time. I also think AFL players show the least respect of all codes to the umpires. What would everyone think of a sin-bin or send-off system? I'm personally not for it, but would be interested to see what others think.

[swansrock4eva]

I don't think a sin-bin would work especially well, and would also disadvantage a team quite a lot - missing one player for 10 minutes on a field as large as the Aussie Rules field would leave a huge hole.

On the whole though, I agree that there is a lot of apparent disrespect in Aussie Rules, compared to other codes, but I think that's a side effect of the higly interpretive nature of the game - it's very very difficult for one umpire to remain as close to 100% consistent as possible over the course of a match, and then multiply it by 3 umpires, and the fact that they are all trying to keep up with each other's interpretations as well, and it can lead to some pretty heavy dissatisfaction, which is often where the disrespect can come into play. If there was a way to minimise some of the interpretive errors, I'm thinking there would probably be a reduction in dummy spits!

[dimelb]

I think a sin bin rule is a great idea and it's sheer stubbornness that prevents it from being introduced. Players who start bagging the ump should be shut up (the 50m penalties seemed to help) and repeat offenders should be given cool-down time.

[sharp9]

We won by a kick. Consider this. In the second quarter the Swans got a highly interpretive free kick 45 out directly in front. The Lions players call the umpire all sorts of f'ing and c'ing things. Fifty metre free. Goal

About two minutes later the Lions got a highly interpretive free kick 45 metres out directly in front (Dempster holding the ball without prior opportunity, but the ump saying he wasn't trying to release it - from memory). The very angry Swan kept his mouth shut and put his hands up...result, no goal. There be the entire ball game if you will.

In war any strength is also a weakness, for example the Somalian force DELIBERATELY set out to exploit the Rangers' great strength, namely that they never, ever leave their comrades under ANY circumstances. The warlords turned this around to mean that the Americans will always fight to minimise American casualties rather than to achieve the overall objective..that is why they created a situation where the Americans would throw good men after lost men, resulting in a major defeat and the withdrawl of the entire American contingent from the country.

The Lions aggression is their primary strength, but as the fifty metre example shows, it is also their weakness if you are resolute enough to exploit it. The Lions play with a bit of white line fever, when their aggression is up, their judgment is lacking. Their aggression is not completely controlled and as long as you don't fall over you can expect them to make errors when they are in their bullying frame of mind.

[Barry Schneider]

The Lions gave away 3 50 metres penalties so did the Swans.The Lions kicked 5 of their goals from free kicks while the Swans kicked 4.I don't think one incident of backchat should condemn the Lions as the Swans were just as aggressive and ill disciplined.

[sharp9]

Originally posted by Barry Schneider
The Lions gave away 3 50 metres penalties so did the Swans.The Lions kicked 5 of their goals from free kicks while the Swans kicked 4.I don't think one incident of backchat should condemn the Lions as the Swans were just as aggressive and ill disciplined.

Please don't ruin my theories with cold, hard facts. It is inordinately inconsiderate of you.