Umps

[liz]

If the commentators deserve their own thread, then surely the umpires do too.

Bagging umpires is a bit of a national pastime but credit has to be given to the understanding they showed of the game last night. Barely a contentious decision all night, the ones they "missed" were only just there, and the way they put the whistle away in the frenetic final minutes was brave. There were numerous "almost" frees there - marginal 'in the backs', handballs that weren't quite handballs, incidental, soft high contact. How easy would it have been to relieve the pressure by plucking a soft free either way to decide the contest. Instead they left it to the players to decide the outcome.

Let's hope we see umpiring like that for the rest of the finals series.

[Schneiderman]

Yeah it was an incredible last two minutes. I think they had been briefed to put the whistle away if the finish is close.

And thank god for that. Its all I have been asking for all year.

[Sanecow]

Re: Umps

Originally posted by liz
the ones they "missed" were only just there

Do you really think that?! At the very least LRT was robbed early with high contact on the boundary, Kirk was tackled without the ball and a Geelong player standing on the boundary with plenty of time (facing onto the ground) decided to just pull his arms back over the boundary. Not to mention Bolton, C missing a 50m penalty late that would have been paid any other game. There were others but I stopped caring for the most part when we kicked 1.6 in the 3rd and the inevitable loss was only going to be our fault. A bunch of missed Geelong frees too but I turned a blind eye.

That said, putting the whistle away is far better than over-umpiring so I will take what we had yesterday over what we are used to.

[Schneiderman]

My collected mistakes:

1. C Bolton 50m penalty that wasn't
2. ROK's mark that was spoiled by a chopped arm
3. Dempsters mark that was spoiled by a pulled guernsey
4. The free against J Bolton for an imaginary marking infringement (the one where he jumped for the ball, and Mooney pushed him in the side slightly)
5. Kirk's "legging" of Rooke. It was there much less than Goodes' was, yet it gets paid.

[Provost]

No more whistle please.

Much improved effort by the umps than of late.
And to think I was a little worried when I saw Goldshpincter's name in the Record.

[liz]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
My collected mistakes:

1. C Bolton 50m penalty that wasn't
2. ROK's mark that was spoiled by a chopped arm
3. Dempsters mark that was spoiled by a pulled guernsey
4. The free against J Bolton for an imaginary marking infringement (the one where he jumped for the ball, and Mooney pushed him in the side slightly)
5. Kirk's "legging" of Rooke. It was there much less than Goodes' was, yet it gets paid.

Would have been a soft 50m penalty to give to B2 at that stage.

ROK did have his arm slightly tugged but it was only slight.

Players from both sides were tugging guernseys all night. The one on Dempster was no worse than many others that weren't paid.

Don't recall the Jude one.

Two wrongs don't make a right. A low tackle is a low tackle. Wouldn't be fair to punish Geelong because of umpiring errors last week.

[Glenn]

Credit where credit is due, a good performance by all 3 umps.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by liz
Would have been a soft 50m penalty to give to B2 at that stage.

So the rules change during the game? Typical commentator's nonsense.

[satchmopugdog]

When I turned on the TV and saw The Golden Whistle was umpiring us I nearly blew a head gasket but if we had lost I would not have been able to blame the umpires. Much better than I expected.

[Newbie]

They were good. Quite consistent and fair. Credit where is credir due.

[sharpie]

Yep, I'll agree, they umpired the game far better than I've seen for a while. Much. much better when they let the game flow instead of over-officiating.

However, at the end, just before Davis kicked the winner, I was calling out for a penalty for either side, just to put the game out of its misery. I couldn't take the pressure anymore, and just wanted it to end.

Thank god it ended the right way.

[giant]

Geelong still scored the usual % of goals from frees our opponents always seem too - but this time they mainly seemed to be there (tho the usual quota of Hall frees were missed too).

But excellent umpiring in the final qr & esp dying moments. I was considerably less apopletic this week than I was last week, so that was generally a good sign.

[Red]

Do you reckon Roos should congratulate the umps on doing a fair job?

Seriously, after all the (deserved) flak they've copped recently, what effect would it have on them if a coach actually praised them after a game?

Perhaps more importantly, what effect would it have on the way they umpire us ?

[punter257]

yeah its good when they let it go and dont over umpire
but that 50 to C Bolts would have been paid all season, it just sums up our luck with the umps

[Nico]

The umps probably won us the game. On radio today they said how they blew time on immediately there was a stoppage in the last Q to stop any deliberate time wasting. That last ball up by Goldspink, he blew the whistle immediately and then blew time back on again a fraction before he bounced it.

He is foreever in our debt. Hope he umpires us in the granny and even next week because the Saints supporters reckon he's got it in for them.