mic59
1 Apr 2003, 19:14
I have these stats from Footy Monday on frees for all AFL and SANFL games.
Demons 19/Hawks 19 total 38
West Coast 30/Port 16 total 46
Lions 18/Essendon 20 total 38
Crows 19/Fremantle 19 total 38
Bulldogs 19/Geelong 11 total 30
Saints 10/Roos 11 total 21
Magpies 16/Richmond 29 total 45
Sydney 19/Blues 22 total 41
Eagles 27/South 27 total 54
Sturt 18/Glenelg 15 total 33
Central 17/North 24 total 41
Norwood 26/Port 23 total 49
Now apart from proving that I can add I would say those figures show that our game is horrendously over-umpired. 12 games and only 2 reasonable ones. Frees must be paid when they're there but too many mean the game has too much chance of balancing on the whim of the umpire. When you pay 54 frees it can easily mean one team has been advantaged by happening to get them in the right places.
Part of the reason there are so many frees coming up is that players know now that to use their body strength legally is not enough as a player who knows he will be beaten in a fair contest will pull and scrag. He may be free-kicked but he may as well lose "for a lion as a lamb" and there is a chance that the umpire will not pick up his illegal antics and he will win the contest. So the good player knows that to compete he must scrag too, and sooner or later he is caught. Of course there are players who never have to resort to this but they are few and far between.
None of the free kick counts on Saturday, except possibly the Hawks/Demons one would have affected the result, but some of the games were much less as a spectacle for them.
Demons 19/Hawks 19 total 38
West Coast 30/Port 16 total 46
Lions 18/Essendon 20 total 38
Crows 19/Fremantle 19 total 38
Bulldogs 19/Geelong 11 total 30
Saints 10/Roos 11 total 21
Magpies 16/Richmond 29 total 45
Sydney 19/Blues 22 total 41
Eagles 27/South 27 total 54
Sturt 18/Glenelg 15 total 33
Central 17/North 24 total 41
Norwood 26/Port 23 total 49
Now apart from proving that I can add I would say those figures show that our game is horrendously over-umpired. 12 games and only 2 reasonable ones. Frees must be paid when they're there but too many mean the game has too much chance of balancing on the whim of the umpire. When you pay 54 frees it can easily mean one team has been advantaged by happening to get them in the right places.
Part of the reason there are so many frees coming up is that players know now that to use their body strength legally is not enough as a player who knows he will be beaten in a fair contest will pull and scrag. He may be free-kicked but he may as well lose "for a lion as a lamb" and there is a chance that the umpire will not pick up his illegal antics and he will win the contest. So the good player knows that to compete he must scrag too, and sooner or later he is caught. Of course there are players who never have to resort to this but they are few and far between.
None of the free kick counts on Saturday, except possibly the Hawks/Demons one would have affected the result, but some of the games were much less as a spectacle for them.