This!!!!That Thilthorpe free, did the umpire just make a very good call, that most can't appreciate?
The AFL maybe need to make a comment in support of the umpire.
Looks like as the ball gets to Thilthorpe and Howard, it's only Thilthorpe who gets hands to it, it pops up, he reaches to complete the mark and is grabbed by Howard, he then doesn't complete the mark.
It was a live marking contest, you can't grab the guy.
Goal line umpiring is absolutely deplorable across the board. Umpires are usually gutless to pay free kicks in the square on the goal line for either defenders or for the forwards. So for the umpire to blow the free and voice that explanation you could see it caught everyone off guard. It was great, and the umpire was 100% correct. The AFL need to stop this anything goes crap on the goal line. So hopefully this is a sign that umpires are going to start calling clear frees.
For the record shepherding defenders from marking the ball on the goal line is the worst thing in football to not be called. You see it so often. Yet 10 metres out from goal its a free. It's bs.
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