Umpiring today

[dimelb]

I was pretty happy with the umps today. Like others, my heart sank when I saw the Mac name, but although he was his usual picky technical self, he did it even-handedly. (So Baz got a free/mark occasionally, and as someone pointed out elsewhere, didn't complain - has someone had a word with him?) I thought the same applied to the other two, so that even though they were a bit frequent with the whistle IMO, it evened out in the end. Will be interesting to see the figures.

[liz]

I thought the umpiring was the usual rubbish. For most of the second quarter, I don't think there was a contest without them pulling some soft free from somewhere.

The Swans probably were the beneficiaries but that was because they were first to the ball more often than not. But the amount of softies - the frees that are ruining our game - was as bad as normal.

[swansrule100]

i think umpiring in the afl is the worst ever this year all round. There is no consistency at all, and there is so much tikky touchwood rubbish being called.

You notice the umpires so often during every game, they are ruining the flow.

[Xie Shan]

i think umpiring in the afl is the worst ever this year all round. There is no consistency at all, and there is so much tikky touchwood rubbish being called.

You notice the umpires so often during every game, they are ruining the flow.

Spot on! While today I thought at least they weren't biased (if anything I think we had the better of the umpiring), I definitely felt the umpires ruined the flow of the game being at the ground. I agree - umpiring has gotten steadily worse in terms of soft frees being called over the past few years. Troy Luff was (justifiably) having a whinge about it on the 2MMM (Sydney) call today, I've noticed a dramatic increase in the number of soft 50m penalties given for backchat, etc in the last couple of seasons.

[ugg]

Spot on! While today I thought at least they weren't biased (if anything I think we had the better of the umpiring), I definitely felt the umpires ruined the flow of the game being at the ground. I agree - umpiring has gotten steadily worse in terms of soft frees being called over the past few years. Troy Luff was (justifiably) having a whinge about it on the 2MMM (Sydney) call today, I've noticed a dramatic increase in the number of soft 50m penalties given for backchat, etc in the last couple of seasons.

Cmon Xie Shan, there were ONLY 69 free kicks today.

[NMWBloods]

I thought the umpiring was clueless as usual. We did better out of it because we were in front and actually trying to get the ball, but who knew what was going on half the time.

[Xie Shan]

Cmon Xie Shan, there were ONLY 69 free kicks today.

You should update your sig with the 2008 stats

[matthew]

umpiring

for most of the games i have watched this weekend, the umpiring has been very ordinary, Brisbane and Collingwood, St Kilda and Carlton and the swans game against Port Adelaide, the umpires week in week out are under pressure and it must be hard for them, the rules committee are ruining this great game headed by the chief operations manager who has only played college football, since he's been there, it has got more ridicilous, your thoughts.

[swantastic]

I thought the umpiring was clueless as usual. We did better out of it because we were in front and actually trying to get the ball, but who knew what was going on half the time.

Spot on NMW same @@@@ different day except we got a few in our favour.McClaren is still a dick head.

[No 14]

Having complained last week about the 50/50 decisons that go against us I was delighted to hear the radio call of the game today. We actually won the free kick count and may even have been on the right side of the 50/50 decisions. Maybe I am cynical but if we keep the pressure on in these types of forums about inbalances then maybe someone is reading them. I know many organsitions track through the web issues that are relevant to them.

It's going to be a great football year - unless you are a demons, blues or tigers fan.

[CJK]

'AFL umpire makes 'average' decision'

[Norris Lurker]

Maybe it's just my imagination, but they seem to be blowing the whistle a lot more this season.
And whatever happened to the advantage rule? I recall one incident in the third quarter where Michael O'Loughlin ran into an open goal but was called back and made to take his free from 40 out.

[Glenn]

Seem to get a reasonable rub of the the green against non-vic sides in Sydney, coming up against the likes of Essendon etc is a different matter.

[Old Royboy]

It's not imagination. It's back to the sixties. Take a look at any game from that era and you will see that tiggy touchwood frees (and marks) were a dime a dozen. The difference is that backs in those days got value for their money - you could touch a bloke in the back or knock his block off and the result was the same - free kick. Litle wonder that Wes Lofts and others of his era played the way they did.

This is why all the old time commentaters always said "get in fromt"

As long as this is applied consistantly I have no problem. But will that be the case?

[gossipcom]

I must admit I went bloody hell in shock when McLaren awarded us the free kick followed by the 50m penalty. And then awarded one to Hall. It was like wtf is McLaren on today? Then he made up for it by awarded consecutive free kicks to the Power.

Overall, compared to some of the other matches, the umpiring was above average, as someone said it could have a lot to do with non-Victorian teams being part of the mix today.