Hall and his pleas for those frees

[bennyfabulous]

I think your being hard on bazza, the blame lies solely with the umpiring fraternity.

Just because barry can stand up thru these infringements where others cannot due to lack of physical strength doesn't mean he shouldn't receive free kicks.

If it was you or i recieving this kind of treatment you would throw your arms back and say "hey ump any chance i can get a free kick as this guy is not playing within the rules" which in my judgement is fair thing to do and expect.

PS ive been watching and playing footy for 5 mins & 42 seconds

[Mr Magoo]

All forwards do it these days (riolis fake "he grabbed me" was a masterpiece in the art ) but in my opinion Hall is wasting his time.

He only has to look at plugger for inspiration. Rarely raised his arms in protest , rarely got easy frees and just got on with using his strength and body to win the contest.

Similarly Hall never gets awarded free kicks for even the most blatant negating tactics so I dont know why he wastes his time. Were he a protected species / poster boy like reiwoldt, judd, goodes etc it is worth it as you will get a free probably 50% of the time, but I reckon Hall would get a free about 10% of the times he is hindered at most.

As said by someone else above he is better on concentrating on winning the contest and let the free kicks take care of themselves.

[reigning premier]

There are plenty of players in our team that don't throw their arms out wide looking for a free. In fact, Hall is the only one I can think of. For instance, I've never seen Craig Bolton do it.

Seen Goodes do plenty of it.... Leo barry doesn't mind having a crack and MO'L has a Masters degree in it......

[pinkemu]

Seen Goodes do plenty of it.... Leo barry doesn't mind having a crack and MO'L has a Masters degree in it......

I think the problem is that Hall does it before the ball has left the delivering boot.

[Bear]

How many times per game do you notice Hall mid contest throw his arms wide calling for a free that he never gets.

It's been happening for ages and I've noticed it more and more lately - twice against the Hawks.

If he forgets about that and keeps playing for the ball, not only will he get more frees, where he doesn't, his hard style of play will often mean he gets the ball anyway.

It doesn't look like they're working on this aspect of the game.

Spot on.

He is one of the few players in the AFL that always carries on like a child when he doesn't get a free. He would be so much better if he got that out of his game.

You're wrong to say it has no effect on the umpires though... it is one of several reasons why they DON'T pay him frees that many other forwards get. The other is his history of straight out abuse of all umpires. He has had to tone down the abuse this year due to a new rule penalising players who mouth abuse at the umps.

[bennyfabulous]

All forwards do it these days (riolis fake "he grabbed me" was a masterpiece in the art ) but in my opinion Hall is wasting his time.

He only has to look at plugger for inspiration. Rarely raised his arms in protest , rarely got easy frees and just got on with using his strength and body to win the contest.

Similarly Hall never gets awarded free kicks for even the most blatant negating tactics so I dont know why he wastes his time. Were he a protected species / poster boy like reiwoldt, judd, goodes etc it is worth it as you will get a free probably 50% of the time, but I reckon Hall would get a free about 10% of the times he is hindered at most.

As said by someone else above he is better on concentrating on winning the contest and let the free kicks take care of themselves.

A Free is a Free is a Free, shouldnt matter who it is . Im with ya Baz one day they will look after you and you will be justly rewarded by kicking 200+ goals in a season. Go Swans

[Danzar]

You're wrong to say it has no effect on the umpires though... it is one of several reasons why they DON'T pay him frees that many other forwards get.

That's a good point Bear.

It's shame because when there's a loose ball in the forward fifty, he's exactly the kind of person you want right on top of it.

Instead, he's got his eyes on the umpire and there's a fair bet the ball is already on its way outside our forward fifty.

I'm not bashing Hall - he's treated woefully by the umpires and there are many commentators who agree. But he needs to get his mind off the umps and onto the play and let the frees come....and they will for sure.

[goswannie14]

That's a good point Bear.

It's shame because when there's a loose ball in the forward fifty, he's exactly the kind of person you want right on top of it.

Instead, he's got his eyes on the umpire and there's a fair bet the ball is already on its way outside our forward fifty.

I'm not bashing Hall - he's treated woefully by the umpires and there are many commentators who agree. But he needs to get his mind off the umps and onto the play and let the frees come....and they will for sure.

I think, in Hall's case, the fact that he has been hard done by for so long, means that he wants to make sure the umpires see it when he is infringed. Experience should have told him by now that it doesn't work.

[goswannies]

He is one of the few players in the AFL that always carries on like a child when he doesn't get a free.

Matthew Richardson when the Tiges are being belted?

Nathan Bassett (before he retired) any time an opponent and the ball were both within 50 meters of him?

[ScottH]

Matthew Richardson when the Tiges are being belted?

That is usually aimed at his team mates tho'.

[DST]

If I remember correctly, the club instructed Bazza a couple of years ago to let the umpires know when he was being held etc as they felt the umpires didn't give him a fair go because of who is was (ie big and bad enough to look after himself).

They were worried that if bottled it all up, didn't continue to get the frees he would snap and just beat up his opponent.

Well in the end he did do that, but for the most part having him remonstrate with the umpires seems to have kepy him focused on playing football over the last 6 or so years he has been with the Swans leading up to last year.

DST

[Bear]

Matthew Richardson when the Tiges are being belted?

Nathan Bassett (before he retired) any time an opponent and the ball were both within 50 meters of him?

Yep, well done. That's a few.

[sharp9]

it's the only part of Buchanan's game I don't like. Wiafe had a migraine tonight (truly!) so I put the littlies to bed and watched the good parts of the Saints Prelim....gee Buchanan was good...and his GF was sensational...sigh...wish I knew how to get him back to that.

I reckon NOT playing for soft frees and NOT throwing his head back every time he gets tackled would be a good start.

Back to Bazza...how good would it be to see him just attack the footy no matter what. I reckon he would get more frees because he would get closer to more contests. There is no doubt his appealing sometimes has an effect on the next contest (or lack of it).

However I would love it even more if he kept his temper in check when the other side have the ball. He gives away far, far too many frees for late (useless!!) contact. Even though the fifty was was incorrect last week it was still, in fact, worth a (soft) free. In fact the Geesh actually stated that fairly clearly (that the correct decision should have been a downfield free). It's not good enough, Bazza. Just stop ****in doin' it!

[Playsmart]

Wide arms - boring & pathetic

Yup! Look, I'm not saying that only Hall does it - at least that's obvious to most on this thread. I'm saying he has a particular liking for it and he does it in a way that takes him out of the contest. He throws his arms wide, stops, looks at the ump, realises he's not getting a free, then runs back into the contest by which time it's too late AND he's too frustrated.

They need to work on that.

Agreed that by taking himself out of the contest from throwing his arms wide, his second effort is poor as results. More often, if he focus on his second effort, he can contribute to teamwork in getting the goals with his bulk.
The coaches failure to rectify this continuing problem of waste protesting.

It is more important to look at the some of the causes of the problem, beside the bad umpiring aginst Hall.

Hall is very poor in grabbing the ball coming in with oppponents in front and at the back of him, a constant tactic used by other teams past years. One of the reasons I feel is that he hardly used or maybe never used (?) the legit tactic that Goodes used against Hawks - that is jumping with his leg pushing the front guy out. With his bulk, the front guy can be pushed out easily, giving him ample space for him to grab the ball. The opponent at the back will be less effective.

With Hall at full forward often, I would expect him to use the tactic more often and send a strong message to others - stand in front at your own peril.
This also forces other coaches to think about other tact to counter him, beside the sandwiching him between two players.

If he can do what Goodes did against the Hawk with spectacular marks & score, it can demoralise any teams at any time of a game.

Putting arms wide often - seen it many times before (& geting boring seeing it as they dont bring rewards) and it look more & more pathetic even though he is more often fouled. Hall can do alot more to get the scores ticking along by strenghtening his ability to grab it.

[bennyfabulous]

This tactic will quickly result in frees against baz. Goodesy can do it but its quite obvious barry is treated differently by the umps.