The Selwood Decade... we may never see anything like it

[winty]

Wrong. Selwood (and other players) obviously uses tactics to draw high tackles from legitimate tackle attempts.

He constantly ducks and leans his head, and drops his knees to lower himself, and raises his arms to push an opponent’s arms up to his neck. It’s an obvious tactic.

So he should just stand there like a stunned mullet and just wait for the umpire to ping him for holding the ball?

You have just described his method of getting out of tackles. Don't blame him for the umpires blowing their whistles and giving him free kicks for doing it.

 

[boncer34]

10.7% of his possessions over this time came from free kicks.

Tells us nothing. He had his hands on the ball for majority of them so would've got a disposal anyway.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Your post on our board last year was the best example of his ability

Yep. I’ve argued Selwood is a champion plenty of times on here, but his constant shrugging/arm lifting for frees is a joke.

Burton is low in the tackle.


Selwoods immediate response(its a split second) is to raise his arm and draw the free.


The end result, much like all the other pics I’ve posted is textbook Selwood.
Elbow higher than his ear to direct the tackle towards his neck. Rinse and repeat.

 

[winty]

Selwoods immediate response(its a split second) is to raise his arm to break free of the tackle.

Fixed that for you.

 

[hawkman]

Yep. I’ve argued Selwood is a champion plenty of times on here, but his constant shrugging/arm lifting for frees is a joke.

Burton is low in the tackle.
View attachment 772927

Selwoods immediate response(its a split second) is to raise his arm and draw the free.
View attachment 772928

The end result, much like all the other pics I’ve posted is textbook Selwood.
Elbow higher than his ear to direct the tackle towards his neck. Rinse and repeat.

View attachment 772929

And notice how far his head has dropped in relation to the fence behind.

 

[Damon_3388]

The unprecedented bit is being 50% higher than 2nd place.

And in a team which gets an average amount of frees.

Fair enough.

Even so, I don't think Selwood has ever operated outside of the rules or gotten a whole heaps of "undeserved" free kicks under the rules. People may find the alleged "ducking"/"shrugging"/"arm-raising" or "playing for a free" to be "cheap" or "against the spirit of the game" or whatever, but the AFL has acknowledged this, and have agreed by bringing in or adjusted rules and guidelines to discourage this.

I'm not sure what more people want done or what more there is to discuss on the topic at this point TBH.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Fixed that for you.

That is gold!

Is he some sort of genetic mutant that make his neck non-existent so that the tacklers arm continues on its path without collecting him in the neck!?

I mean, if hisintention is to break the tackle, why is he continually directing the tackling arm towards his head?

 

[winty]

I mean, if hisintention is to break the tackle, why is he continually directing the tackling arm towards his head?

Um, so he can duck out under it?

The fact there are two movements - Selwood lowering his body while directing the tackler's arm upwards are proof it's a tactic to escape the tackle, not to draw free kicks.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Um, so he can duck out under it?

Right, so he’s intentionally directing the tacklers arm to his neck region in the hope that he can duck out of the tackle....it’s just a pure coincidence that he forgets to do the main part of this routine and instead is rewarded for a high tackle almost every time.

 

[hawkman]

Um, so he can duck out under it?

The fact there are two movements - Selwood lowering his body while directing the tackler's arm upwards are proof it's a tactic to escape the tackle, not to draw free kicks.

In this case he has almost lost his footing which is a strange way to duck out of a tackle. Many times he doesn't as he is genuinely trying to break a tackle. Sometimes as in this case all he is trying to do is draw the free

 

[beema limapep]

So he should just stand there like a stunned mullet and just wait for the umpire to ping him for holding the ball?

No, he should try to dispose of the ball as per 99% of other players.

 

[yeah_nah_yeah]

Just for comparison.

Career Stats
J.Selwood - 295 games - 7477 Disposals - 775 frees for - 10.4%
M.Tuck - 426 games - 8423 Disposals - 956 frees for - 11.3%

 

[Sttew]

Quite amazing he’s got away with it for a whole career. It really is a blight on the umpires.

Here we go again. Like a broken record. The AFL expressly declared some 5 years ago that what Selwood does is not illegal.

Your response is just so typical and naïve.

That Selwood received so many frees is testimony to the fact he was first to the ball. He wasn't a receiver. It is also testimony to the fact that opposition players became lazy tacklers when it came to Selwood. Instead of tackling around the waist in a way that no player can shrug out of, opposition players tackled Joel Selwood around his chest enabling him to slip his shoulder so the tacklers arm ended up around his neck. Wouldn't you think coaches and opposition players might have cottoned onto this a bit earlier instead of whinging and carrying on??????

 

[Sttew]

They’re all perfect examples of his arm lift, which is the key mechanism he employs to earn himself a free for a high tackle.

So why tackle him around his upper chest if you know he's going to shrug his shoulder?

 

[Sttew]

Interesting he's fallen away to a B grade at best player now the interpretation has changed and he can be tackled.

Is that why he spent little time in the midfield in 2019? Funnily enough against WCE in the SF he went into the middle and was one of our best. The guy's body is shot after 12 years of putting it on the line.

I get why Hawks supporters are so pissed off. You selected a spud called Thorp and could have had Selwood in the 2006 Draft. Get over it

 

[O_Grinners17]

Piss off troll

 

[winty]

In this case he has almost lost his footing which is a strange way to duck out of a tackle. Many times he doesn't as he is genuinely trying to break a tackle. Sometimes as in this case all he is trying to do is draw the free

Yet I bet if play was to continue in that case he'd still have been able to get a handpass out to the teammate running past...

 

[winty]

No, he should try to dispose of the ball as per 99% of other players.

Which he does 99% of the time...

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

So why tackle him around his upper chest if you know he's going to shrug his shoulder?

maybe due to every coach in the land telling players to tackle to pin the arms.

I do love the “you’re not tackling him correctly argument”. It completely ignores Selwood’s consistently used arm-lift motion to gain a free, of course.

...but but but, he’s just trying to get out of the tackle....he’s just really bad at it, and concidentally ends up getting more feeds for high tackles than any other player in the history of the game.

It’s just a coincidence, of course.

 

[Seeds]

Seems like hawk fans in denial that rioli only played well in dominant teams with plenty of forward supply and as soon as hawthorn fell back to the pack his game went to complete pieces. The Adrian McAdam of the modern era.

 

[Seeds]

maybe due to every coach in the land telling players to tackle to pin the arms.

I do love the “you’re not tackling him correctly argument”. It completely ignores Selwood’s consistently used arm-lift motion to gain a free, of course.

...but but but, he’s just trying to get out of the tackle....he’s just really bad at it, and concidentally ends up getting more feeds for high tackles than any other player in the history of the game.

It’s just a coincidence, of course.

Selwoods not bad at it. He is exceptional. And he breaks the tackle with no free doing it far more often then he gets the free.

 

[Frappe]

Yep, was good in the 2011 GF surrounded by a great team.

Great insight. You could say that about most premiership players.

 

[Beer n Skittles]

Which he does 99% of the time...

89.3% of the time

10.7% of his possessions over this time came from free kicks.

 

[Furn2]

 

[Sixpence]

Fixed that for you.

How can you break a tackle when you've thrown your legs out to the side? How can you possibly break a tackle without remaining on your feet? He goes from standing upright to looking like he's taking a slips catch in half a second!