Round 11: North Melbourne v Sydney Swans

[Ludwig]

What was Ziebell to do? He knocked the ball away and contacted Hanners in the back in the contest. It is not a free to Hanners and I don't know that it was a mark. Ziebell is allowed to do what he did. To say it took no courage is rubbish. It was in play and happens in almost every marking contest to varying degrees. It was in essence a hospital kick.

I agree with you on this, but it was a mark. But I also realise that it's easy to tell with the advantage of slow motion replay, something the umps don't have at their disposal. It's just one of those things that sometimes bobbled balls are called marks and ones like Hanners' mark that get punched away are called play on.

Ziebell has always been a reckless player. He;s a danger to himself and others. He actually had a pretty bad night. He kicked 3 behinds and butchered the ball for only a 26% DE. Overall he should have received more ridicule than praise. It's an enormous detraction to enjoying Saturday night footy having that idiot commentary team calling the games.


On the Richards incident, it was unclear if he was trying to handball or just faking it. Also players tend to extend their arms in the direction behind the mark to show that they want to go behind the defender. Richards actually does that quite often. Getting tackled and dropping the ball made it appear like an attempted handball. In any case, it really doesn't matter because he was tackled after taking the mark and wasn't given to the opportunity to go behind the mark. A clear 50 metre penalty.

[stevoswan]

He played on but Norf tackled him as he was just about to hand ball. There is no way that the umpire had time to call play on prior to Norf tackling him. Therefore it should have been 50m.

Plain and simple, that umpire was a cheating ****, called play on as soon as he saw Ted was tackled(at that point a 50 metre penalty should have been called) and part of a concerted effort by all the officials to give North every chance of staying in the game. This lead to a 4 goal difference in the margin, we should have, in a FAIR world, won by at least 40 pts. It was one of the most blatantly skewed umpiring performances I've seen in years.....disgusting, but unfortunately something that doesn't surprise in this Gillon led, Melbourne based joke of a league.

[Dosser]

It really doesn't matter how many times Richards goes to fake or dummy a handball, it is not play on until he releases the ball or moves off his line. It was a 50m penalty for this reason however for some reason the umpire was calling play on. The only answer would be that the umpire was unsighted and thought Ted had stuffed his handball.
As far as the Goodes tackle, the interpretation was completely correct as the player made no attempt to dispose if the ball. He continued to drive towards the try line while in possession - all he needed was a fly half ready to scoop up the ball when he was eventually brought to ground.

[dejavoodoo44]

After watching Seven's Saturday Night Football, many fans were left wondering, as to just what modifications could be made to most improve Brian Taylor's commentary style.

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[Sandridge]

I thought 32,000 was a pretty good crowd for last night's game.

Could someone who was at the game give me their estimate of the percentage that were Swannies fans? Watching the highlights later, it sounded like a very healthy percentage of the crowd was cheering the mighty Bloods!

[Dosser]

Plain and simple, that umpire was a cheating ****, called play on as soon as he saw Ted was tackled(at that point a 50 metre penalty should have been called) and part of a concerted effort by all the officials to give North every chance of staying in the game. This lead to a 4 goal difference in the margin, we should have, in a FAIR world, won by at least 40 pts. It was one of the most blatantly skewed umpiring performances I've seen in years.....disgusting, but unfortunately something that doesn't surprise in this Gillon led, Melbourne based joke of a league.

Did you accidentally burn your cereal this morning, stevo?

[Doctor]

I agree on Ziebell. The way he plays isn't courageous, it's reckless. He risks injury or suspension regularly, and it's not all that courageous when you're unavailable and the team has to go on without you.

The Richards call was just plain wrong, end of story.

Overall, other than misreading the Swallow free kick, the commentary team weren't too bad. Darcy is obviously biased to the Vic teams but the rest were fine. They all agreed Richards was dudded and generally argued for the Swans when the state of the game suggested they should. BT is still incompetent, but I didn't think he unbalanced.

Strong performance from our guys anyway. Another solid away win with only two tough away trips to come (West Coast and Geelong). We should be feeling pretty good about where we are.

[liz]

I agree on Ziebell. The way he plays isn't courageous, it's reckless. He risks injury or suspension regularly, and it's not all that courageous when you're unavailable and the team has to go on without you.

I think Ziebell is a decent player. He was excellent last week against the Eagles. He was okay yesterday. I was amused by the Warne tweet that was broadcast during yesterday's game, and moreso the commentators' response. "Is there any supporter that wouldn't love Ziebell in their team?" Hmmm... let me think. Yes, most Swans fans would be relatively non-plussed, given there is nothing that positive that Ziebell does that Parker doesn't do just as well (and more consistently). Hanners also does most of what Ziebell does, plus also gut runs entire games, week after week.

[barry]

Ziebel is a poormans Parker

[wolftone57]

He played on but Norf tackled him as he was just about to hand ball. There is no way that the umpire had time to call play on prior to Norf tackling him. Therefore it should have been 50m.

it should have been 50 anyway because Waite would not let Ted back from the mark. He kept grabbing him. By the way teddy should not handball in that situation.

[wolftone57]

The free against Parker, i think it as in the last, for deliberately butting head was crap. how can you butt head when you have been tackled around the neck from behind. Baffling! The umpiring was crap. I think since we got Buddly the AFL has told the umpires to go hard on us.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Ziebel is a poormans Parker

Parkers side step and slipping through heavy traffick last night was incredible. The piece of play where he and Reid kept bustling and scrapping to keep the ball inside the boundary line in our forward pocket that led to Parkers snap to Goodes was possibly my favourite moment of the night.

[Conor_Dillon]

The free against Parker, i think it as in the last, for deliberately butting head was crap. how can you butt head when you have been tackled around the neck from behind. Baffling! The umpiring was crap. I think since we got Buddly the AFL has told the umpires to go hard on us.

Which free was that?

[Ampersand]

Where do you see whistleblowers that is referred to in a couple of posts?

Here's the video. The Swallow free was completely correct to the spirit and letter of the law.

Contentious rule gets a make-over - AFL.com.au

[wolftone57]

Which free was that?

I think it was in the last quarter. He got a free against him on the HBF. North got a goal from it. He was pulled what looked to be high but got penalised for holding the ball.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's the video. The Swallow free was completely correct to the spirit and letter of the law.

Contentious rule gets a make-over - AFL.com.au

Yes Swallow kept moving into Goodes and at no time tries to get rid of the ball.