Gold Coast VS Essendon

[Andrew Mc]

As soon as we set foot on a plane we turn to jelly.

And yet still opted for that over a <3 hour drive to Wangaratta. Boggles the mind...

 

[gPhonque]

The thing is, that's the AFL game these days, everything is so touchy, a lot of frees are iffy, soft, etc.

Yep. And some games (or umpires) are worse than others. As they were tonight.

And umpires positioning can be a cause of that, them not being able to see something clearly.

So can their incompetence and lack of feel for the game.

Go thru every game this week and you can pull out many dodgy decisions to outright wrong ones.

And you think is is ok?

It just SEEMS worse because this game was tighter.

No. The umpiring was awful tonight period. And I was saying it was awful in the first quarter when we were 4 goals in front. It has nothing to do with the closeness of the game.

But the umps didn't gift the game.

Yes, they did. They handed us the first quarter. And then the last quarter as well.

And the Suns can't live off of complaining about decisions, they could've put the game away if they kept lifting above what Essendon lifted.

Agreed.

Teams are at fault for letting umpiring decisions be a 'reason' for not winning a game. Teams have to make sure they win, put a heel on the neck of a team enough that iffy and line-ball calls don't matter.

Not sure what the point of the first sentence is. I don't know of any team that suggests the umpires are the "reason" they lost a particular game.

Agree with the 2nd sentence.

Btw....I'm 5/6 in tipping this week (dropped the Bulldogs-Saints).

Would you like a biscuit?

 

[Dylan82]

Ok had a drink to calm my rage against the umpiring in this game.

Agree with the comments about it feels more like a win for GC than Essendon.


My thoughts from viewing the game:

Essendon on tonights performance are not a top 8 side despite their 3-0 record.

Gold Coast are just plain scary - give them 2-3 more preseasons and they will be top 4 quality - the skill is already there, just the strength and stamina is lacking.

Ablett is the best player that I have ever seen play the game.

Swallow will win a Brownlow before he retires.

Karmichael Hunt announced himself as a legitimate AFL player tonight, no gimmicks, no concessionary coverage for the rugby player, he belonged and was the catalyst for them in the 2nd quarter when they were getting smashed early with his strength in the contests. He has had his knockers and doubters but it was pleasing to see him do so well, good on him

 

[Dont be a lemon]

A lot of Sookie Stackhouses in here.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Ok had a drink to calm my rage against the umpiring in this game.

Agree with the comments about it feels more like a win for GC than Essendon.


My thoughts from viewing the game:

Essendon on tonights performance are not a top 8 side despite their 3-0 record.

Gold Coast are just plain scary - give them 2-3 more preseasons and they will be top 4 quality - the skill is already there, just the strength and stamina is lacking.

Ablett is the best player that I have ever seen play the game.

Swallow will win a Brownlow before he retires.

Karmichael Hunt announced himself as a legitimate AFL player tonight, no gimmicks, no concessionary coverage for the rugby player, he belonged and was the catalyst for them in the 2nd quarter when they were getting smashed early with his strength in the contests. He has had his knockers and doubters but it was pleasing to see him do so well, good on him

I'm sure GC will be thrilled when they read this and realize they were the real winners. You've just made their review so much better. Well done

 

[Seb78]

Carlton have to win next week surely. Very poor performance so far by Essendon.

Agreed! Essendon were very poor tonight but in fairness to GC they were equally as impressive would have beaten a lot of sides tonight much more competitive.

 

[exe ex machina]

Yep. And some games (or umpires) are worse than others. As they were tonight.

So can their incompetence and lack of feel for the game.

And you think is is ok?

No. The umpiring was awful tonight period. And I was saying it was awful in the first quarter when we were 4 goals in front. It has nothing to do with the closeness of the game.

Yes, they did. They handed us the first quarter. And then the last quarter as well.

Agreed.

Not sure what the point of the first sentence is. I don't know of any team that suggests the umpires are the "reason" they lost a particular game.

Agree with the 2nd sentence.

Would you like a biscuit?

Umpires are human, mistakes are made. Just like players making mistakes a billion times every single bit of play going on. That's why football is a "game" because the ball goes up field then back the other way, then back the other way, then the other way, wave after wave, every contested mark, player breaking free, an errant pass, every score etc, involves mistakes being made, why the ball is so often in dispute. Umpires make far fewer mistakes than players and it's a lot harder as they have to make snap decisions all on observation and there are a ton of bodies around blocking views etc. I'd love to see all of you umpire any sport, let alone AR and then come back and tell the rest of the majority fans to stick a sock in it.

It's not ok that the game is so touchy these days that has given birth to so many soft and iffy frees. The reality is that's the way the game is. I just watched that "the best stuff" highlights package and I saw a bunch of iffy calls and non-calls. You can isolate any 5 min stretch and you'll see iffy calls. Like Ian Chappell always says, and it's true with all sports, things tend to even up in the end anyway.

And red+black said before that he wished the umpires let the play go on before blowing the whistle. But in that game there was a ton of times when the umpires kept the play alive a LONG time compared to usual, when bodies were piling on top of each other, players trying to trap the ball for a rest, instead of calling for the ball-up. Why so many players were gassed because the umpires did let the play go on most of the time.

The umpiring standard I'm not saying, never said, was "good" or consistent. Just that that's the way it is. It's always iffy, contentious. Teams just gotta bear the crosses and keep playing, lifting.

Biscuit...sure thing. I'm a competitive ****, needling.

 

[Dylan82]

I'm sure GC will be thrilled when they read this and realize they were the real winners. You've just made their review so much better. Well done

Nice one. I'm well aware the Essendon won on the scoreboard, I was agreeing with the comments mentioned on here that GC will take many more positives from this than Essendon will despite the loss.

 

[CAS79]

McKenna needs to show the GC boys the tape of last week than the first term tonight than the rest of the match. up the second term tonight the GC were stagnate if they were not the direct players in the contest. Something clicked tonight and they found the gut run to back up Ablett and move to space or get numbers to a defensive contest. They ended up out on their legs at the finish but that's much more more forgiveable than being nothing more than a lucky ticket holder allowed on the ground like the first two weeks.

Congrats to Dustin, tremendous effort to get to 350 and certainly contributed to the win tonight.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

That would have been a great last quarter to watch, but for absolutely atrociously bad umpiring. Can't remember the last time I was so angered as a neutral.

You had two teams in a close tussle going end to end, with tired player struggling to get numbers back or set up zones or anything, was one of those great situations where the players who showed more heart and ran harder would come away with the win. Lots of good little subplots as well with Ablett being Ablett, Watson yawning Queensland's yearly rainfall all over the field, and Fletcher patrolling the goal line.

it was all set up for a really good finish, cue a series of nonsense, insanely soft, technical, or just plain nonsense ("front on tackle!") free kicks to break the flow of the game and have a huge impact on the result.

Anyone who has the faintest clue about football knows that in those situations, you cut the players some slack and only blow the whistle when a infringement is obvious and has genuinely hurt someone's chance of winning the ball- if anything though, they went in the opposite direction and plucked out more and more rubbish free kicks as the game got tighter. Probably gave the bombers a leg up, but that's not really my gripe- most likely they would have won it on their own efforts in that last quarter anyway, but the spectacle of the game was ruined by the whistleblowers.

Just completely sums up everything which is wrong with the AFL umpiring at the moment. So disappointing.