AFL?s review of Grand Final finds umpiring was not up to the standard expected

[ASSASSIN]

Tell us something every swans supporter didn't already know....

THE AFL has found the umpiring in the 2016 Grand Final fell short of the standard expected from the three umpires of that elite calibre
The league has reviewed the umpiring from the Grand Final and found that there were three to four decisions that were incorrect that went against the Sydney Swans.
Those decisions deemed incorrect by the review included some failures to call sliding free kicks, most notably the contentious slide by Easton Wood on Dan Hannebery that resulted in a medial ligament injury to the Swan in the final quarter when the game lay in the balance.

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[Maltopia]

Only three to four, what a joke.

[bloodsbigot]

Only three to four, what a joke.

They're the ones they simply can't deny because they were so glaringly obvious. Example, the one on Papley hasn't received as much public outcry and thus gets overlooked.

This is merely a PR move by the AFL. If everything went the way they wanted to, they wouldn't have heard a peep out of us.

Like good little boys, our club has remained quiet.

[KTigers]

I blame the coaches a bit for the lack of outcry re poor umpiring. They all have multiple meltdowns during
the match then say diddly squat about it after the game. Longmire is a repeat offender here, and I think it's because
the coaches fraternity is a boys club that makes Eddie's media scrum down in Melbourne pale a bit by
comparison. He doesn't want to offend his good mate Bevo by suggesting the Dogs may have be benefitted from
the umpires giving them a free reign. They are all as bad as each other in this area.

[Beerman]

I seem to be very different from the average internet posting footy fan in that I don't believe in attributing to conspiracy that which is adequately explained by incompetence. I don't think the AFL or the umpires are "out to get us", and I think that umpires rarely make much difference to the outcome of a game. If everything went according to the AFL's plan, they wouldn't have heard anything from the media about the umpiring, because the game would have been umpired better.

I think this is what coaches are talking about when they say they only worry about what they control. They have enough to do without coaching the umpires as well - that's Hayden Kennedy's job. The question in their heads is "did I see anything that requires me to coach my team differently", and rarely would that be the case.

Having said that, the umpiring was clearly below standard and I don't think it's a coincidence that the non-calls mostly were for "below the knees". Once one call gets made, the umpires try and be consistent and the bulldogs went in lower and harder than us all day and so benefitted. It's the same with the 50m against Laidler - that was a bad call, but Joey Kennedy benefitted from a similar call later in the game (although Joey's I thought was a borderline right call, whereas Laidler's was clearly wrong).

We were beaten by a better team, but the bad umpiring was salt in the wound of the loss and felt like an insult to us. It makes me feel a lot better that the AFL have acknowledged it.

[Velour&Ruffles]

Tell us something every swans supporter didn't already know....

THE AFL has found the umpiring in the 2016 Grand Final fell short of the standard expected from the three umpires of that elite calibre
The league has reviewed the umpiring from the Grand Final and found that there were three to four decisions that were incorrect that went against the Sydney Swans.
Those decisions deemed incorrect by the review included some failures to call sliding free kicks, most notably the contentious slide by Easton Wood on Dan Hannebery that resulted in a medial ligament injury to the Swan in the final quarter when the game lay in the balance.


Read more here Home | Live Scores & Latest News | Fox Sports

It was impossible for them to say anything else because the umpiring was so obviously horrendous. I have friends who dislike the Swans but were ringing me to say WTF WAS THAT!

The "three to four" is called damage control - acknowledge a problem so you look fair and even handed but downplay it to the greatest extent possible.

[liz]

I blame the coaches a bit for the lack of outcry re poor umpiring. They all have multiple meltdowns during
the match then say diddly squat about it after the game. Longmire is a repeat offender here, and I think it's because
the coaches fraternity is a boys club that makes Eddie's media scrum down in Melbourne pale a bit by
comparison. He doesn't want to offend his good mate Bevo by suggesting the Dogs may have be benefitted from
the umpires giving them a free reign. They are all as bad as each other in this area.

It's rare that I don't agree with practically everything you post, but in this case I don't think criticism of the coaches (for not criticising the umpiring) is warranted. What happened had happened, and no comments were going to change the result of the game. Making any comment about the umpiring as a losing GF club would just come across as ungracious. One thing that I am immensely proud about this club is that it is consistently and uniformly gracious in both victory and defeat.

[barracuda]

I wonder whether clubs like the swans should be analysing the opposition prior to a grand final and then making public the aspects of the game that the umpires have to watch. For example the bulldogs are known for going in too low, and for throwing the ball. Perhaps the swans should have met with the umpires prior to the game to highlight their concerns about this, and gone in the media before the game highlighting the need for umpires to be vigilant in respect to these frees.

I'm not sure the refusal to acknowledge the issues by the club helps much. I think they need to be more proactive and develop an umpire management strategy. Hawthorn have certainly benefited over the years from such an approach.

[AnnieH]

They're the ones they simply can't deny because they were so glaringly obvious. Example, the one on Papley hasn't received as much public outcry and thus gets overlooked.

This is merely a PR move by the AFL. If everything went the way they wanted to, they wouldn't have heard a peep out of us.

Like good little boys, our club has remained quiet.

If the club open their mouths, they get fined and every little troll on the internet will call us sooky la las.
They F'd it up badly.
I hope that Stevic umpires the under 17s next year.

[KTigers]

Yeah, probably my comment is a little harsh (it was early and I hadn't had my first coffee yet.... I'm blaming that)
but I do think the fraternal nature of the coaching community does make them tread lightly around the issue.
The coaches are clearly frustrated by umpiring decisions during games if the footage of all their gesticulating in
the box is anything to go off. Complaining about it immediately after a GF or any game is not a good look, but
you'd think there are avenues to make their opinions heard once the hubbub has died down a bit. Maybe they
do, and we just don't hear about it. For me the thing that lost us the GF was our inability to stop the Dogs scoring
from stoppages in their forward 50. Or forward 20 actually, they kicked a lot of goals from very close in.

[ScottH]

I was over the loss, but now after reading that article and seeing it reappear on my news feed over and over again, I'm even more pissed off!!

[Hotpotato]

Some accurate kicking for goal from set shots by our blokes would have kept us in it .
Umps favour teams like the Dogs who play rapid movement free flowing footy so they have less descisions to make .

[Industrial Fan]

It definitely hasn't helped my cause either. So frustrating - the Jack one before half time and the Rampe one were two critical calls that swung the play around and led to goals. Rampe one was worse because of the @@@@ free that followed straight after.

Takes a lot to go your way to win a flag. I hope we see another one soon after the two missed chances in 14 & 16 after winning the minor premiership.

[Blue Sun]

We all know the umpiring was farcical. At least it has been officially acknowledged now. Maybe if we make another GF in the near future the outcome won't be decided by terrible officiating. Time to move on.

[iigrover]

Umps favour teams like the Dogs who play rapid movement free flowing footy so they have less descisions to make .

This comment on their natural bias this is very true when you look at the stats. We were always going to be hard done by by the Umps in a Grand Final vs the Dogs. Just a pity that some of their 'errors' appeared so blatant.

Interesting analysis here by Matt Cowgill.... Who won the free kick race in 2016? – The Arc

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