Is ducking to draw the free a blight on the game

[thecatattack]

No he's really not. The Lloyd comparison is a great one. Great player - but free kick drawing tactics across an entire career removes you from the champion category.

Champions don't spend a career perfecting how to draw free kicks. That's not a champion thing to do, yet it is the thing that people most readily associate with selwood.

Lmao Lloyd is a champion of the game too.

James Harden will go down as a legend in the NBA, but he's made a living out of being able to exploit a rule in the NBA to send him to the line.

Chris Paul is a flopper and he's one of the greatest Point Guards in NBA history.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Lmao Lloyd is a champion of the game too.

James Harden will go down as a legend in the NBA, but he's made a living out of being able to exploit a rule in the NBA to send him to the line.

Chris Paul is a flopper and he's one of the greatest Point Guards in NBA history.

Sorry but being a "champion" refers to more than ability - it refers to your standing in the game and when you're best known for your ability to draw a free kick it puts you a level below true champions that don't do that.

 

[thecatattack]

Sorry but being a "champion" refers to more than ability - it refers to your standing in the game and when you're best known for your ability to draw a free kick it puts you a level below true champions that don't do that.

You mean like being voted the most courageous player 4 times and captained the AA team 3 times?

He's a champion of the game

 

[Leather Poisoning]

You mean like being voted the most courageous player 4 times and captained the AA team 3 times?

He's a champion of the game

No he's really not.

Like I said - great player, and you're right that he's courageous, but his General lack of sportsmanship means he's not a champion.

I hold Ling, Bartell, Corey, Enright and Taylor in higher regard, even though Bartell started to do a bit of it in his last season or two as well; but that's forgivable. He didn't do it across his entire career.

A champion is more than a great player.

 

[Hoops]

Last night we reached peak Selwood. He now instinctively lowers the body and leans into opposition the moment he gets the ball even when he is on his own.

The ducking/lowering/shrugging/arm raising epidemic is a modern day disgrace in the game and it all started in 2007 with Selwood. Today there are well over 50 players across every team in the competition that do it regularly - there would be none if it wasn't for Selwood. That is his legacy and his alone.

How many of those times was he tied up in a tackle? It obviously a breaking tackle technique because it breaks the tackle. He doesnt fall into an arm like some players.

 

[Aramis]

Rhetorical question, of course it is, its embarrassing that its been going on this long.

 

[sherb]

The Selwood Manoeuvre.

 

[Maddo11]

Sooks, ducks, complains, loses like a bitch.

Jobe Watson leaves the game with a less tarnished image than Selwood.

Lets not get too crazy..

 

[Xtreme]

You mean like being voted the most courageous player 4 times and captained the AA team 3 times?

He's a champion of the game

He's a champion at cheating

 

[ManOfClay]

Toby Greene was collapsing the knees every time last night. Little worm was having a nightmare and resorting to cheating

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Toby Greene was collapsing the knees every time last night. Little worm was having a nightmare and resorting to cheating

I think this is the worst part - we're seeing players that are resorting to it when they're having a bad day or past their best. It's become rampant (yes yes, I know Puopolo and Sicily) and I'm pretty over it. Such a crap way to play - real scummy.

 

[Ian Dunross]

Lets not get too crazy..

Fair. It's closer than you'd like though for a supposed "clean skin" player.

 

[Sedat!]

I think this is the worst part - we're seeing players that are resorting to it when they're having a bad day or past their best. It's become rampant (yes yes, I know Puopolo and Sicily) and I'm pretty over it. Such a crap way to play - real scummy.

Yep, and it's all due to Selwood. Real footy fans know this even if sycophantic media scribes refuse to acknowledge it.

 

[jenny61_99]

Until they change the rules (AGAIN!) it will continue to happen. It's very hard for an umpire to make a split second decision as to whether the player being tackled contributed to the high tackle. In almost every case, Selwood contributes... but at full speed and possibly with limited vision, the umpire will only call what he sees. I hate that he does it, and that Dangerfield has built it into his arsenal as well (with the added theatrics of being shot by a sniper). There's others in the league that do it too (Knight in our team) and it's just a shit aspect of the game. But until the AFL can find a way to make it easier for umpires to call (while still protecting players from head high tackles), it will remain a blight on the game.

 

[romeohwho]

Sorry but being a "champion" refers to more than ability - it refers to your standing in the game and when you're best known for your ability to draw a free kick it puts you a level below true champions that don't do that.

Codswallop. Matthews and dermie were top thugs but still champion footballers. So, It's ok to take people out of the game with unwarranted and low acts of violence and your status remains intact but no ok to retain the tag if you get free kicks.? Lovely logic. Plenty of flawed champs out there. Settle down.
People make way too much of this. Too many people on BF wanting to hate.
Greene got no free kicks -play on, as it should be and it was not an issue.

 

[feenix67]

I can't have respect for a player who's first thought is "how can I get a free". I have no problem with the shrug as a means of breaking a tackle - that's poor umpiring to give him frees for that. What I hate is that he generally initiates contact in those circumstances. He leans in to the tackler before the tackler initiates a tackle, drops slightly and then exacerbates contact. His first thought is getting a free. That's not Aussie Rules and he'll never be a champion as a result in my eyes.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Highest "Freekick's For" by year:
2017 - J Selwood: 70... + 9 on 2nd (Dangerfield)
2016 - J Selwood: 71... +16 on 2nd (Shuey)
2015 - J Selwood: 64 (20 games).... +3 on 2nd (Miles) (23 games)
2014 - J Selwood: 68... +14 on 2nd (Murphy)
2013 - J Selwood: 73... +27 on 2nd (Cotchin)...
2012 - came 3rd on 56. 4 behind 1st.
2011 - came equal 2nd. 1 behind 1st.
2010 - came 2nd. 1 behind 1st.
2009 - J Selwood: 59... +7 on 2nd (Swallow)
2008 - J Selwood: 63... +11 on 2nd (Cross)
2007 - came 12th. 15 behind 1st (Debut year)

In summary
* Every season his played excluding his debut year he has placed top 3.
* He has won the count 7/11 seasons he has played
* 2013... yes you read that correctly he got 27 more free kicks than the next highest!
* Has racked up 673 free kicks in 11 seasons of footy... to give you an idea how his tracking heres the following players career free kick totals.
Trent Cotchin: 360 (10 seasons)
Nat Fyfe: 150 (8 seasons)
Luke Hodge: 404 (16 seasons)
Shaun Burgoyne: 212 (16 Seasons)

He has more free kicks in 11 seasons than Hodge and Burgoyne have combined over 32 seasons. lol...

Goes in harder than most...great to watch a real ball player and other players continually take him high. Yep sometimes he adds to the situation. Fact is opposition players target him because he is a gun. And also he is not a hard man in the old fashioned sense so an easier target. Champion of the game and even if your stats are correct there is a sound reason why he gets the free kicks he does he hecken earns them. Puts his head over the ball at the coal face every week.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

AFL PC agenda rubbing off on him, not a good look for the best captain in the league to single out a player who has rorted the system for years....

If not the above theory, he has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

Btw who won tonight? I missed the game.

Wasn't Hawthorn they did not play.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

You've nailed it there.

I'd add a dirty sniper as well but credit where it's due, he is courageous.

Should not talk about Hodge that way.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

And it is pointless to try and get Cats fans to accept that their captain is a cheat so there you go

There have been cheats at Hawthorn since John Peck in the 60's.....Matthews ..Hudson ...Crimmins.....etc etc Mitchell, Hodge, Clarkeson...See how silly you are..ya Nuffy.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Players have used various tactics to play for free kicks ...it is the nature of the game. Baldock and Bartlett threw the ball out in front just as they were about to be tackled in the 60's early 70's. Opposing supporters were enraged. Other players then decided to do it and the VFL changed the rules. Since then many other examples.....Does anyone today say that Baldock and Bartlett are not Champions of the game...NO.
In 30-40 years time Selwood will be seen for what he is a Champion Player...and the anti Selwood rants will be exactly where they should be......long forgotten. If Selwood continues to get hit round the chops he will continue to get free kicks. The odd one he plays for is incidental.

 

[threesixpio]

Cheats have been around for ages. It's awesome and stuff

 

[Aramis]

Goes in harder than most...great to watch a real ball player and other players continually take him high. Yep sometimes he adds to the situation. Fact is opposition players target him because he is a gun. And also he is not a hard man in the old fashioned sense so an easier target. Champion of the game and even if your stats are correct there is a sound reason why he gets the free kicks he does he hecken earns them. Puts his head over the ball at the coal face every week.

He earns them alright, through the dodgiest tactic/technique ever... and yes those stats are correct, you can go check them if you want. Embarrassment.

Wasn't Hawthorn they did not play.

Yeh, good one.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

He earns them alright, through the dodgiest tactic/technique ever... and yes those stats are correct, you can go check them if you want. Embarrassment.




Yeh, good one.

Puts his head over the ball takes possession gets tackled high. Gives away plenty of free kicks as well...prob HTB mostly. That's what happens when you put your head over the ball and take possession. Bad tackles penalised ...good tackles rewarded it is not Rocket science.
Good old fashioned type footballer.. Raw stats do not tell the whole story never have never will. Different types of footballers etc. etc.