Razor Ray

[Velour&Ruffles]

Tadhg was tackled by Blake (I believe) and Schneider was late to the contest, the tackle itself was a tad iffy I thought (even on replay). The thing that throws me a tad with it all, and affords me some sympathy for Tadhg, is that it was Schneider who was trying to wrench the ball from his grasp, not the man who had tackled him, when the 50 was paid; it's not exactly uncommon to see a player refuse to give the ball up quickly to someone from the opposition who has not been awarded the free, and not give away a 50. There was going to be no play-on, and the kick itself should not have been Schneider's as he wasn't involved in the play- the man who had earnt the kick I believe was still on the ground/on top of Tadhg and was going to have to get up and go behind the mark to then be able to play-on to Adam. The result then was a shot on goal from a forward that's a pretty decent kick (although it obviously wasn't a gimme).

If it was legitimately Adam's free then yep, it was a 50- but I don't think it ever should have been and only became it when Adam tried to wrench the ball away. I daresay Adam pulled a bit of a swifty there, more power to him.

Spot on. This is exactly why that 50 was crap. And sometimes a player cops a 50 if they throw the ball to the wrong player, so there is no common sense or consistency at work in a decision like this.

[SwansFan1972]

Can we change the thread title to 'Bubbles Chamberlain' please?!?! Ray is no razor!

Doubtful he will get another run this year, but if he does, hopefully he will get to take his It's really all about me show to Subiaco. If he does a number on the weagles there, he will need to be blackhawked out of the ground to get out in one piece!!

And another thing - how was there no free paid to Spang when he copped an arm chop, push in the back and body slam into the turf in the one movement?!?!? Then the routine tiggy ones get paid - no wonder there is a credibility issue on umpiring generally.

[ScottH]

He thought he was Merv Hughes at one stage. The play was up the other end of the ground, Ray was stretching, twisting, all the usual things big merv used to do.
Hilarious.
And the crowd around me had nothing but glowing praise for his work last night!!

[ScottH]

What did irk me in the 3rd term was the 3 tackles ealry in the quarter with no result, and a 4th a bit later.
Great tackles, the player either dropped the ball or it was held in. Surely one of them had to have been pinged.

[Red]

And the crowd around me had nothing but glowing praise for his work last night!!

Well that must be why we keep getting him -- he likes the love he feels from our fans

Easier to feel magnanimous about Ray Chamberpot today. Last night it looked like the holding-the-ball rule only applied if there was no black in your uniform.

[ScottH]

Frees were 20-19 in favour of the saints. Much closer than I thought.
Especially at 3/4 time that still had one more than us. At that point I was very surprised.

Not all odd decisions were paid by Ray. But most people "praised" him for each free.

[goswannies]

Maybe we should un-mike the Razor. He might not feel the need to explain everything in such detail and justifying his questionable calls. And it might not make him feel the game is all about him.

[Primmy]

twerp

[Nolie]

The fifty itself was there, Tadhg refused to give up the ball. The original decision had me enraged at the time but looking back on it, I think it was 'technically' there. Tadhg took on the tackler (although I don't think he had prior opportunity) and whether he incorrectly disposed of the ball or it jarred out during the impact of the tackler on him is debatable. You could certainly mount a case for awarding the free kick based on that argument.

Garbage it was there! See Stellation's comment #14. You are either being super conciliatory or you are not a Swan supporter.

[Big Al]

Garbage it was there! See Stellation's comment #14. You are either being super conciliatory or you are not a Swan supporter.

Settle Nolie. Ugg is one of the most passionate Swans supporters I've met and is entitled to his opinion so cut out the "you're not a Swan supporter" because he happens to disagree with you.

[Cardinal]

This may actually be the stupidest comment on football I have ever read. Which is saying something.

The lack of an offside rule is what makes our game great.

Not sure how that slipped in. What I meant to say is that until we have a six tackle limit aussie rules will never win over the nsw market.

[Nico]

On BF the Saints supporters were giving it to Ray. Appears there were 3 of him out there last night.

RWOers reckon he was bad! Did anyone see the first half of the Blues/Dons game. I lost count of the number of times an Essendon player ran down a Carlton player who had more than prior opportunity, only to see it called play on. On one occasion the Essendon player was pinged for hanging on to the tackle too long. Then of course when it goes the other way it got paid. Murphy had a licence to hold on to the footy for as long as he wanted. Not that I have any sympathy for the whinging throng, but the Essendon supporters had a right to be peeved.

[SwansFan1972]

Just soaked up a few happy moments watching a replay and on 'that' free and 50 against Tadgh - Bubbles actually signals a throw as he races towards Tadgh, after paying it as holding the ball from the blindside. Clearly Bubbles had too much going through his head to remember what he'd paid, even though it was only .03 of a second prior! Either way, he guessed - but they don't do that according to the Giesh/AFL.

The 50 was his usual trigger happy self - he pays 50's quicker than any other umpie in the league.

We did, however, get a reasonable run overall on the night, and scored more goals from frees in that game than we would normally get from frees in two months of footy! As long as there is no 'square up' in our next three(!) games this season, we should be happy!

[CureTheSane]

Yeah, the fifty was there, but the free wasn't IMO, but I can live with that particular decision - at least it wasn't completely unjust.

As for the interchange rule being too tough, I was thinking that as well, until someone of a footy show suggested that if it was just a free kick the rule might be used to slow down the game when the flow is going against them. Good point.

I say leave it as it is. It's gonna be breached every so often, and then everyone will be VERY mindful of it or the next year or two

[sharp9]

As mentioned above the 50 was definitely there. And I think the free was there technically based on the comments you could hear over the mics. The Gilbert one was there too.

As Cardinal has pointed out, there definitely needs to be a tweak to the interchange penalty. For Kosi running a metre the wrong side of a line to cost his team possession of the ball AND 50m is just plain ridiculous. Maybe they need to introduce two types of penalties for infringements. If there are 19 on the field, then by all means make it a harsh penalty. But for someone crossing the line in the wrong place? Gee, surely a fine for the club would suffice. There is no benefit whatsoever being gained by the offending team, so why punish them on the field.

You are completely wrong. There was no free there....did not even take complete possession and even if he had there was no prior before the ball was knocked free in the tackle...then DID NOT even have possession, let alone hold the ball after that. So no possible reason for free.