Round 8 Swans v Hawthorn MCG Friday May 11 7.50 pm

[barry]

The game is stuffed unless Gill is removed. The NRL dodged a bullet when they seriously thought about offering him the job a few years ago.

[I?m-uninformed2]

Rugby league is a badly run amateur hour overtly dominated by some blow hard voices, but they?re not that stupid

[Meg]

Round 8 Swans v Hawthorn MCG Friday May 11 7.50 pm

Well Hawthorn?s defenders will have to change their tactics this week!

[dejavoodoo44]

AFL bow to Clarkson

AFL bows to Alastair Clarkson pressure, sends memo to clubs | Fox Sports

Can anyone guess which coach got fined $20,000 for umpire criticism last year? $15,000 of which is suspended till the end of this year: assuming that he doesn't indulge in further umpire criticism.


I'm sure that you have all got it by now. Makes the AFL's stance on this even more contemptible.

[Meg]

Such a pity Buddy is not playing this week. Given the umpires will be hyper vigilant on anything looking vaguely like blocking he might have kicked 15 goals!

[Meg]

Further to the Fox Sports article, it says: ?There are sub-headings and screenshots attached demonstrating key examples from recent weeks.?

I would love to know which players/clubs feature in the examples.

[dejavoodoo44]

Another ludicrous part of Clarkson's strange narrative, is that he claimed that the incident in which he thought that Grundy should have been penalized for shepherding Roughead, happened "at the top of the goal square". He then went on to insinuate, that the umpires didn't pay a free, because it was too close to goal. Looking at the non-incident, it happened about 30 or 35 metres out from goal.
Further eroding his case, was the fact that the umpires did pay a free right near the goal square in the second quarter. It was when Gunston got a gift shot at goal, for grabbing on tight to Mills' jumper.
It is just so infuriating, how pretty well everything that Clarkson has said is total crap, and yet the AFL has chosen to reward his extended tanty.

- - - Updated - - -

Further to the Fox Sports article, it says: ?There are sub-headings and screenshots attached demonstrating key examples from recent weeks.?

I would love to know which players/clubs feature in the examples.

I would love to know what sort of gibberish their "benchmarking" is.

[Meg]

He then went on to insinuate, that the umpires didn't pay a free, because it was too close to goal.

From the umpires? point of view that was probably the worst part of what he said - effectively accusing them of knowing there was an infringement but choosing to ignore it because of where (he alleges) it occurred.

I?m hoping the umpires are furious and give a heap of blocking frees against Hawthorn this week.

[S.S. Bleeder]

Such a pity Buddy is not playing this week. Given the umpires will be hyper vigilant on anything looking vaguely like blocking he might have kicked 15 goals!

With their usually display of incompetence, the umpires will go over this rule in this weeks training and will infringe any team that comes close to blocking. Then the following week it will be back to normal. They don't know the meaning of consistency.

[Markwebbos]

This is what the Herald Sun says ... you may choose not to believe it

Category: | Herald Sun

... the AFL says there is no fresh crackdown on blocking in marking contests, adamant its umpires have been paying free kicks for it all year.

The league has laughed off claims Gillon McLachlan?s breakfast with Alastair Clarkson influenced a monthly league memo reinforcing rules over blocking in marking contests...

This month?s memo covering Rounds 5-8 was a direct replica of the Round 1-4 update, which reinforced umpires were watching blocking in marking contests.

A report has suggested the league had cracked down on blocking in marking contests.

But the AFL said its advice to umpires had not changed at all this year and would not change in future weeks.

[dejavoodoo44]

From the umpires? point of view that was probably the worst part of what he said - effectively accusing them of knowing there was an infringement but choosing to ignore it because of where (he alleges) it occurred.

I?m hoping the umpires are furious and give a heap of blocking frees against Hawthorn this week.

Yes, that's one possibility. Of course, another possibility, is that they will now be even more aware were the power in the game lies and they will further conform to that power.

[dejavoodoo44]

This is what the Herald Sun says ... you may choose not to believe it

Category: | Herald Sun

... the AFL says there is no fresh crackdown on blocking in marking contests, adamant its umpires have been paying free kicks for it all year.

The league has laughed off claims Gillon McLachlan?s breakfast with Alastair Clarkson influenced a monthly league memo reinforcing rules over blocking in marking contests...

This month?s memo covering Rounds 5-8 was a direct replica of the Round 1-4 update, which reinforced umpires were watching blocking in marking contests.

A report has suggested the league had cracked down on blocking in marking contests.

But the AFL said its advice to umpires had not changed at all this year and would not change in future weeks.

Did they bother to inform us what the meeting was about? Sharing holiday snaps? Discussing a future business venture? Planning a Hawthorn premiership party?
Or maybe it was just a pure chance meeting? "Why, Alastair, fancy seeing you here!"

[Sandridge]

AFL bow to Clarkson

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl...73ae77fa8907e9

The headline says it all, doesn't it!

[liz]

They reported pretty much the same on AFL360 -ie that this was a regular, scheduled report and had nothing to do with The Meeting.

Tonight was players' night with Jack Riewoldt and Jordan Lewis and the issue was discussed at length. Lewis opened up with a bit of a chuckle, saying they used to specifically train for it at Hawthorn. He then commented that he thought the Langford hold on Grundy was a clear free kick, while he saw nothing wrong with the Grundy/Rampe/Roughead contest, saying that Roughead was out of position and just needed to work to get better position in the contest.

Both of them said they have no issue with blocking/holding down (not with arms but by body position) in a contest in principle, while acknowledging that some are illegal. Riewoldt commented that it is very easy for the player supposedly being blocked to play for it and make no effort to get position to mark the ball if blocking frees are awarded too liberally. And both thought there's nothing wrong with a team getting some kind of advantage where they have more players in a contest.

[Markwebbos]

Did they bother to inform us what the meeting was about? Sharing holiday snaps? Discussing a future business venture? Planning a Hawthorn premiership party?
Or maybe it was just a pure chance meeting? "Why, Alastair, fancy seeing you here!"

McLachlan told the Herald Sun he had met Clarkson at the Hawthorn coach?s request with no idea of the topic.

He said he had not spoken to AFL football boss Steve Hocking about the contents of his meeting, which on Monday became public...

McLachlan and Clarkson are close friends and often meet, with the Hawks premiership coach determined to get his point across about how the game is played and officiated.

It is understood McLachlan agreed to meet him on Sunday night after several Clarkson text messages.

When Clarkson began to present a series of video grabs about blocking over breakfast, McLachlan listened to his message.

But Hocking and his new team have been separately working on how to minimise blocking in marking contests, believing it has crept into the game and stopped players flying for marks.

The AFL?s determination to stop defenders chopping the arms of forwards has meant defenders have got craftier as they attempt to stop goals.

Many including Sydney?s Dane Rampe, St Kilda?s Nathan Brown, Essendon?s Cale Hooker and Richmond?s David Astbury are masters at tactics such as pushing players under the ball with their body weight.