You'll never guess what the 2021 free kick differential chart looks like

Apr 7, 2009
1,870
1,808
Geelong
AFL Club
Richmond
The Dogs have now won the free kick count in their last 8 finals:

2016 EF 17-13
2016 SF 19-14
2016 PF 23-13
2016 GF 20-8
2019 EF 34-28
2020 EF 15-8
2021 EF 22-14
2021 SF 28-19

Total of 178 - 117 in that time.

Good luck, Port.
Look I don’t like Essendon or the Lions that much but both were robbed in two weeks. I don’t think it decided the game in the end with the dons but last night was blatant match fixing. Good luck doing that at Adelaide I actually don’t think the fans would let them get away with last night, they would attack.
 

chromium

Team Captain
May 8, 2007
317
26
Melbourne
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
That free kick against Brisbane's ruckman was fixing at it's finest. That was absolute fixing.

It was a block, correct call made. Next!

The unprovable point Doggies fans cling to as if it means something

Unprovable? The stats are there as clear as day. They don't receive the most frees, but they certainly give away a few less than they receive most weeks. If that's not discipline then I don't know what is.
 

JP2

Club Legend
Apr 7, 2003
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Prague
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chromium

Team Captain
May 8, 2007
317
26
Melbourne
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Where the hell did this talking point come from? The Bulldogs have literally won more free kicks than every other team in the league (equal second by average):


Well they've played more games than anyone else. They're 4th in average frees per game, so when they'd all played the same amount of games they didn't have the most. On average they've won 0.825 more frees than their opponent per quarter over the season. Hardly grounds for calling it favouritism or a conspiracy.
 
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Couldn't possibly be a conspiracy. Let's be honest, it's not like the league chairman has ever called a club president and abused him, threatening he will make them pay, then put in place trade restrictions despite the league acknowledging they had done nothing wrong.

I know I come from a biased perspective but the biggest issue in the 2016 GF was the trend that was set early in the game. The difference in interpretation gave one side permission to go as hard as they liked, while the other was second guessing going hard at the ball because the whistle got blown every time. We saw it again last night with a high free from a drop of the knees paid to the bulldogs, yet when Kosi got his head ripped off, it was play on. Who is going to go harder again next time?

The bulldogs players have been incredibly smart over the last few years. They immediately look to draw a free the moment they sense pressure and a clearly coached to do just that. For me, it's a ******* ordinary way to play the game but then, if you get rewarded for it, why wouldn't you do it? Unfortunately the league doesn't see it as a blight on the game. The best thing the league could do would be bring in the interpretation that if a player has drawn the free from their own actions (dropping the knees or raising the elbow) no free will be paid. It would take half a season to reteach some players, but if that rule was brought in and it was umpired consistently, you would see a bunch of players across the league completely change their game.
 

adogsfan5

Brownlow Medallist
Jun 12, 2020
14,957
20,027
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Shown up quite comfortably when umpires weren't assisting them at all. What was obvious was the action to play for a free at every contest. Petracca, Oliver, Gawn just wanted to win more.

What was obvious was you going out in straight sets. God imagine continuously losing finals 🤣.
 

MF

Good Poster, s**t Bloke
Sep 10, 2006
19,609
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Really sad to see what they're reduced to without umpire intervention.

I don't think the dogs rolled over in the 3rd as some have suggested. I think the players, like all of us, were waiting with bated breath for the moment the umpires would step in do something. Unbelievably and quite cruelly IMO, the moment just never came and the poor dogs were left to their own devices.
 
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