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Opinion Commentary & Media IX

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Like clockwork.

Same shit, different day.
It’s what happens when you’re in charge of a captive market.

You can literally do anything.

And they do.
 

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So tonight we hear there are only two umpires on the AFL umpires roster that actually played the game at AFL level. And by the way, all current AFL umpires earn between 100k and 200k for their part time job. Nice work if you can get it. We need to return to two central umpires. Nine games, 18 umpires. Perhaps we might then see some decent, informed, well trained and talented umpires. Currently it's amateur hour. AFL needs to accept that this four umpire structure does not work.
Leigh Fisher is an absolute abomination of an umpire. David Rodin seems to be well regarded by pretty much everyone.
 
You know what would help? Australian Rules Football is already undoubtedly the hardest sport in the world to officiate.

Maybe, just maybe, if we didn’t change the rules every year. Focus on different rules week to week. And finally, acknowledge how hard we make it on umpires, we might start taking steps in the right direction to reduce the frustration from literally all stakeholders holders in the game
The rules are written by dicks and could certainly be made more clear but the bigger issue is that the umpires officiate to an interpretation of the rules. And I bet that if they have 40 or so AFL level field umpires there would be a dozen different interpretations of the core rules such as handballing verses throwing, holding the man, holding the ball, in the back, high contact and even the stand rule. The inconsistencies in every match just between the 4 on field umpires on any given day prove this.

Greg Swann talks shit. The umpiring is below par.
 
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Have felt similarly about Clarkson's pressers.

He is sounding like a regenerated Denis Pagan at times. And more like the Clarkson we were originally expecting.
I get the impression that he’s gotten the team playing to a certain level where he feels he can be brutally honest with his feedback, like he was with Colby, and they’ll be able to handle it. First few years I got the sense he felt he needed to wrap his arms around them.
 
The media was heralding Swan as the saviour. I get nutter with a god complex vibe from him.
The last touch and stand rule changes were set up to fail miserably. And he didn’t even trial any of it.

Stand rule sucks, but I actually like the last-touch rule.
 
Stand rule sucks, but I actually like the last-touch rule.
I like it too, but not in the form it’s in. It shouldn’t include an accidental ricochet off the boot or shin. Then they double down on the stupidity and introduce the arc to confirm them.

Keep it simple and only pay them for actual kicks or handballs.
 
Stand rule sucks, but I actually like the last-touch rule.

I agree, but the AFL have gone an AFL’d the rule by over complicating it and adding shades of grey to a black and white rule. Now we’re holding up the game in case the ball has grazed someone’s shin instead of just throwing the ball in. IMO if the ‘disposal’ wouldn’t have counted as a disposal stat, then it’s not a last possession free. Simples.
 

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Stand rule sucks, but I actually like the last-touch rule.
I like the last touch rule as well. They just needed to implement the SANFL that they used to, you know, trial the rule for 10 years before unleashing on the AFL.

A Free Kick shall be awarded against a Player who:

  • Kicks or Handballs the football over the Boundary Line without the football being touched by another Player;
  • For the purposes of defining a kick, a kick shall be an intentional action, not accidental. When the ball comes off the foot or lower leg of a player without the intent of the player being to kick the ball, it will be deemed accidental contact and will not be determined as a kick by the umpire and therefore will result in a boundary throw in.
  • Where a Player who does not have possession stops the football being touched by an Opposition Player by Shepherding the ball across the Boundary Line where the ball could have otherwise been touched by the player being blocked, then the umpire will not award a free kick but will instead order a boundary throw in.
 
I like the last touch rule as well. They just needed to implement the SANFL that they used to, you know, trial the rule for 10 years before unleashing on the AFL.

A Free Kick shall be awarded against a Player who:

  • Kicks or Handballs the football over the Boundary Line without the football being touched by another Player;
  • For the purposes of defining a kick, a kick shall be an intentional action, not accidental. When the ball comes off the foot or lower leg of a player without the intent of the player being to kick the ball, it will be deemed accidental contact and will not be determined as a kick by the umpire and therefore will result in a boundary throw in.
  • Where a Player who does not have possession stops the football being touched by an Opposition Player by Shepherding the ball across the Boundary Line where the ball could have otherwise been touched by the player being blocked, then the umpire will not award a free kick but will instead order a boundary throw in.
That’s a better version of the last touch rule.
 
It’s not a slur but could be perceived as disrespectful maybe
It was just a different world back then.

Calling men boys is more of a slur and happens with indigenous people all the time.
 

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This felt big for North Melbourne and the fact it fell on the wrong side of the result will hurt. The context of what's to come played a big part in why this was so significant. Geelong at GMHBA Stadium, Sydney, Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval, then Gold Coast leading into the bye and Fremantle in Western Australia on the other side of it. Yep, that's why it stings.


Urgency Index: Watch This Space.
 
I like the last touch rule as well. They just needed to implement the SANFL that they used to, you know, trial the rule for 10 years before unleashing on the AFL.

A Free Kick shall be awarded against a Player who:

  • Kicks or Handballs the football over the Boundary Line without the football being touched by another Player;
  • For the purposes of defining a kick, a kick shall be an intentional action, not accidental. When the ball comes off the foot or lower leg of a player without the intent of the player being to kick the ball, it will be deemed accidental contact and will not be determined as a kick by the umpire and therefore will result in a boundary throw in.
  • Where a Player who does not have possession stops the football being touched by an Opposition Player by Shepherding the ball across the Boundary Line where the ball could have otherwise been touched by the player being blocked, then the umpire will not award a free kick but will instead order a boundary throw in.

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Cheers. ( p.s. can you spell " ark tecknologie ? Asking for Laura )
 
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I like it too, but not in the form it’s in. It shouldn’t include an accidental ricochet off the boot or shin. Then they double down on the stupidity and introduce the arc to confirm them.

Keep it simple and only pay them for actual kicks or handballs.
It should be the same for out on the full.

Deliberate kicks only, not if it comes off someone’s boot an inch inside the line and lands on the other side.
 
Chaos at the godees. This is huge.

Melbourne has parted ways with chief executive Paul Guerra​

In a decision that has come as a shock to the man himself, Melbourne chief executive Paul Guerra has been told the club is moving him on.

Jay Clark

April 28, 2026 - 1:16PM
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...ory/b0128f16e543fa698d17ad85d2f7b461#comments

Melbourne has parted ways with CEO Paul Guerra.
Guerra was told on Tuesday morning the club had decided to move him on.

Melbourne president Steve Smith is expected to come forward with the club’s reasons.

But the decision has come as a shock to the man in his first year in the job.

Guerra is understood to be seeking legal advice.

Guerra was appointed last April but did not start at the club until the end of last season.

He was crucial in the club’s decision to appoint untried senior coach Steven King in place of Simon Goodwin.

Melbourne coach [PLAYERCARD]Steven King[/PLAYERCARD] and Paul Guerra. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Melbourne coach Steven King and Paul Guerra. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images
King has made an excellent start to his coaching career with the re-shaped Demons.

But the club was in hot water recently when football boss Alan Richardson made inappropriate comments revealing sensitive personal information over Steve May’s exit from the club in a meeting with player partners on the eve of the season.


Smith told the Herald Sun last month Guerra should have ran the meeting, not Richardson.

Guerra came highly recommended after a long stint at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce but the club acknowledged his lack of football experience.

Smith and Guerra did not return the Herald Sun’s calls on Tuesday.
 

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