Analysis A bit concerned

[Rors]

The ones that really annoy me are when one of our key forwards (Bruce, Paddy or Roo - take a pick cos it happens to all of them) in a marking contest always seems to have an opponent's hand on his shoulder to hoist himself over the top to make the spoil.... You can't do that, it's a free kick everytime

Im amazed that Josh Gibson gets away with this so often as he does it just about every 1-on-1 contest he's involved in, & always has a hand on the forwards shoulder when he comes over the top to make a 3rd man up spoil as well

Then we cop rubbish like Andrew Walker getting his arm caught up in Sam Gilbert's arm deep in the last quarter on Saturday & the maggot couldnt blow his whistle fast enough. Having said that though, our defenders due to being undersized tend to give away a lot of obvious free kicks

 

[RoundCubic]

Our forwards have been getting a hard time especially Bruce this year.
I'm sure the club has or will bring it up but privately

 

[Defacto]

If I was in charge I'd want the struggling clubs to succeed, you see what it's done to Carlton. 48,000 at St.Kilda v Carlton in today's game is unheard of, the league obviously generate a lot more revenue when the good/big clubs are up and about. I don't know what the financials would look like if clubs like the Eagles and Hawks were struggling on field....Essendon fall into that big club category but they are an exception as the fans have rallied behind them under some challenging circumstances.

the eagles and dockers are both owned by the WAFC. the WAFC pays a flat fee to the AFL for the licences. if the eagles and dockers are both poor on-field it literally does nothing to the AFLs bottom line

 

[George]

the eagles and dockers are both owned by the WAFC. the WAFC pays a flat fee to the AFL for the licences. if the eagles and dockers are both poor on-field it literally does nothing to the AFLs bottom line

Cheers for that mate, didn't know. Why all the frees then?

 

[DarkSaint]

What because were bottom of the chart?
Someone has to be bottom
Maybe were just not good enough inside were others win highs and backs free

Someone does need to be at the bottom of the list and when there are roughly 16-22 free kicks paid each week to either side, having a team that's 450 plus over a couple of years is unheard of. To me most of the free kicks aren't high that we are conceding, its the holding the ball ones that we seemed to be pinged against but not receive when it happens to us.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

I don't mind at all. It just makes us tougher and everything sweeter.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

We did definitely get some really soft frees in the Freo game I'm pretty sure. There was one game this year where we got looked after with some really soft free kicks. I'm pretty sure it was the Freo game.

We had very favourable umpiring in the first quarter of the Freo game. We generally haven't been getting shafted too badly since the Hawthorn and North fiascos.

 

[Saint Hendy]

There is a correlation between teams that have strong and loud crowd attendance (WCE, Adelaide, etc) and positive free kick differentials. Unfortunately we are far from a loud or strong crowd.
I'd love to think that this will change with success; however, I'd be leaning towards it being just the nature of St Kilda supporters.

 

[Joffaboy]

How Carlton got more frees than us on Sunday is mind boggling.
We doninated them in all aspects and when we absolutely dominated in the first qtr, they got the frees 8-1.

The disparity is not a statistical anomoly.

The maggots are either completely incompetent or the AFL is fixing it.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Having said that, I thought the umpiring on Sunday was good. Didn't really notice them until a few soft ones to the Baggers in the last quarter (that were there but weren't reciprocated at the other end)

Apart from the way Steven was being absolutely belted off ball, and the way they were keeping Bruce out of the contest, yeah, overall I was pretty happy.

 

[plugger66]

Frees for don't matter, its the gap between for and against. Ours is 2.7. Hardly earth shattering IMO.

 

[plugger66]

How Carlton got more frees than us on Sunday is mind boggling.
We doninated them in all aspects and when we absolutely dominated in the first qtr, they got the frees 8-1.

The disparity is not a statistical anomoly.

The maggots are either completely incompetent or the AFL is fixing it.

I know you cant be serious with the last line. The AFL may be fixing it? Seriously? How could even bother watching the sport if that even crossed your mind?

 

[Choomah]

How Carlton got more frees than us on Sunday is mind boggling.
We doninated them in all aspects and when we absolutely dominated in the first qtr, they got the frees 8-1.

The disparity is not a statistical anomoly.

The maggots are either completely incompetent or the AFL is fixing it.

id say every single ump is incompetent, absolutely useless pack of campaigners

 

[plugger66]

I know this doesn't suit but we also have the 4th least frees against.

 

[George]

Hey plugger, could you please explain this;

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Maybe Richo or Finnis should stand up & question the all mighty umpire department.

Don Pyke didn't care, why should we?

The Scott brothers do, Bevo said it was " disgusting to question the umpires" ...and then did!
Roo has always been a victim of unfair scragging, blocking and sometimes tunneling and now it seems Bruce has taken over this mantle.
Time for our coach and CEO to also make a stand, if only behind closed doors.
We don't want any favors, just bloody consistent umpiring....is it too much to ask for a supposedly professional game??

 

[Diehard Saint]

What because were bottom of the chart?
Someone has to be bottom
Maybe were just not good enough inside were others win highs and backs free

Consistently? For years?
And the Eagles the opposite way too?

 

[plugger66]

Hey plugger, could you please explain this;

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

What do you want me to say. I think its just bad luck or the side isn't very good and gives away frees because of that. Most down the bottom have been bottom of the ladder for a fair period. I'm more interested to hear your thoughts. Mine are easily explained.

Ave you got stats from 2006 to 2010?

I suppose we can continue to have threads on this and suggest a conspiracy or whatever you want if it feels better but as we have no control at all I don't get the point. Id rather focus on things the club can control like still staying with Sandy.

 

[dct66]

There could be a sub-conscious bias against us because we wear black.

A University of Florida study showed this seemed to be the case in the NHL.

http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/...who-wear-black-are-called-for-more-penalties/

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

Although I don't understand why they'd do it, that's what I was told...like you look at the historical data over the past 20 years for frees paid and the Eagles only have lost the free kick differential over a season I think twice in 20 years or something ridiculous. It's no coincidence, some of these numbers jump out of the page at you and it's a reoccurring theme.

I noticed this weekend that the umpires actually made an effort to not pay eagles the 50/50s against adelaide and low and behold they actually lost the game. Biased free kicks make a huge difference in our sport.
Keep an eye on the eagles at home. I think theyve been pulled up on it.

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

There could be a correlation between free kicks differentials and contested possesions. Are teams that have good CPs diffs higher up on the frees table. I know wb are a very good cp side and were quite poor compared to other teams and add to that were not a known team to play for frees and we dont have the home ground circus supporter show? Maybe thats why we always get shafted?

 

[George]

What do you want me to say. I think its just bad luck or the side isn't very good and gives away frees because of that. Most down the bottom have been bottom of the ladder for a fair period. I'm more interested to hear your thoughts. Mine are easily explained.

Ave you got stats from 2006 to 2010?

I suppose we can continue to have threads on this and suggest a conspiracy or whatever you want if it feels better but as we have no control at all I don't get the point. Id rather focus on things the club can control like still staying with Sandy.

I don't see how any team can have 200+ more frees than the next side on that list. Those kind of numbers don't just happen by chance. Your point about the teams down the bottom of the list being poor makes no sense as giving away frees, whatever the reason, isn't a direct correlation to poor on field performance. Carlton are 2nd on that list.

Don't have any figures from 06-10 but know that the Eagles have been given basically a free ride for a long long time now.

 

[Flandersss]

must get boring trying to argue with everyone and claiming you know every afl player on here surely?

Grant Thomas just left Steve's house then, apparently Hamill is 2 weeks away.

 

[plugger66]

I don't see how any team can have 200+ more frees than the next side on that list. Those kind of numbers don't just happen by chance. Your point about the teams down the bottom of the list being poor makes no sense as giving away frees, whatever the reason, isn't a direct correlation to poor on field performance. Carlton are 2nd on that list.

Don't have any figures from 06-10 but know that the Eagles have been given basically a free ride for a long long time now.

Clubs down the bottom of the free kick list have mainly been down the bottom of the ladder in that period and it does make sense a less skilled player can give more frees away than a better skilled player. Seen it for 40 years to know it isnt a coincidence so it makes complete sense and backed up by numbers. Still no thoughts from you? Is it cheating, they don't like us, we don't go to church enough? Don't care about the Eagles but interesting.

 

[Defacto]

Cheers for that mate, didn't know. Why all the frees then?

i have no idea but there's obviously a problem, i would isolate it to the eagles. freo are pretty much middle of the road when it comes to frees, which tells me its not a home ground issue and in recent seasons up until this year theyve been well performed on field so it cant be, being last to the ball

something else is at play here

first step in my eyes is making sure umpires are solely employed by the AFL, to avoid conflicts of interest with major stakeholders at clubs...