Opinion Playing for frees - it's now a big part of the game.

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baldandbroke

baldandbroke

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Oct 15, 2012
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I've noticed this more than ever in 2023.

AFL is more about getting the free by exaggerating / simulating illegal contact than ever before.

I heard David King validate it with a call on the weekend when J Cameron threw the head back with no contact as "It's a good sell".

Cody Weightman nearly turned the game with some of the worst examples I have seen against the Suns.

Butters and Rozee do it every other contest.

Tex and Keays both played for frees yesterday.

Unfortunately, my usual comparison is against Ice Hockey ... which I have to say, these playoffs I have seen it there too.

If there is no way to stamp it out, if the opposition do it and win contests with a dive / arms flung / making a tackle appear dangerous / throwing back the head ... is it time to accept that it is part of the game and go down the Premier League route and get professional about it?

Are we ever going to win a Grand Final without winning the free kicks that matter by making sure the umps pay them / getting a couple of freebies that were never there but exploit the difficulty in umpiring?

I suppose it is important to remember that finals are umpired differently, so the line may not be as far on the awfulness scale as I have feared, but there is a line.

Thoughts?
 
Horrible, fine them massively post game.
I don’t think I’ve seen one as bad as that Brisbane bloke on the south western flank throw himself in the air.
The one creeping in seems to be in the tackle the player lays down for a bit to try and get a dangerous tackle, or the crane their head over to get it to hit the ground first.
I think it was in the freo Melbourne game a player did this, stupidity at its finest.
 
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Who was the Port player that actually speared their head into the Richmond player and got the free? It was so obvious and yet the umps pay it. They are to blame, don’t pay it and they won’t do it. Or better still penalise them holding the ball.
 
Geoffa32 said:
Port are great at milking frees.

I hate it, but may as well get better at it if it wins you games.

It will never be stamped out.

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Can’t be that great, check our free kick differential for the year.
 
Been part of the game for a while. Shrugging tackles to force them high or going head first over the ball into a tackler are both tactics to milk frees. Throwing yourself forward to turn a tackle from behind into an in the back free is also a big one.

Main one I've seen more of this year is the off the ball stuff, with a fourth umpire to keep an eye on things. Like the Weightman one against Gold Coast this week. Fogarty did something similar earlier in the year, albeit slightly less egregious.
 
I feel like the name of the player helps them get frees too, like if the same thing happened to Chayce Jones and Rory Sloane then I feel Sloane is more likely to attract a free kick in those 50 50 situations.

I think the holding the ball calls are the worst and a complete lottery pick at times
 

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NSolis said:
Been part of the game for a while. Shrugging tackles to force them high or going head first over the ball into a tackler are both tactics to milk frees. Throwing yourself forward to turn a tackle from behind into an in the back free is also a big one.

Main one I've seen more of this year is the off the ball stuff, with a fourth umpire to keep an eye on things. Like the Weightman one against Gold Coast this week. Fogarty did something similar earlier in the year, albeit slightly less egregious.
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Agreed, it's been a problem for years and years. My memory of it being a big issue goes back to around 2006, but chances are it's been longer than that. Someone like Joel Selwood built an entire career out of exploiting a rule designed to protect the head, by deliberately trying to incur high contact, and was lauded as a brave leader as a result.

There is exactly one way to solve the problem - you identify players who are staging, and you penalise them significantly enough that it's not worth doing it. But the AFL is massively gun-shy on doing it, and every time they try, there is enough blowback that they stop again. It still amuses me that Kane Cornes was the one guy who got the book thrown at him for staging and then the AFL never did it to any other player after that.
 
The only way to solve playing for frees is you adjust the standard. by this I mean instead of paying ticky touch high tackles where an arm grazes the head or around the shoulder, only pay the clear cut hard hits. The AFL isn't protecting the head as it claims if its only encouraging scumbag players to gamble with head injuries by running head first into tackles.
 
Jello_B said:
Can’t be that great, check our free kick differential for the year.
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True. But where you get them counts. And there is no denying Butters in particular - but majority of your smalls - play for the free. We had Rowe doing it for the last couple of years and Murphy does occasionally. Pretty much all your smalls do


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cmndstab said:
Agreed, it's been a problem for years and years. My memory of it being a big issue goes back to around 2006, but chances are it's been longer than that. Someone like Joel Selwood built an entire career out of exploiting a rule designed to protect the head, by deliberately trying to incur high contact, and was lauded as a brave leader as a result.

There is exactly one way to solve the problem - you identify players who are staging, and you penalise them significantly enough that it's not worth doing it. But the AFL is massively gun-shy on doing it, and every time they try, there is enough blowback that they stop again. It still amuses me that Kane Cornes was the one guy who got the book thrown at him for staging and then the AFL never did it to any other player after that.
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A Joel Selwood concussion lawsuit defence by the AFL would be interesting.

Joel: "AFL failed to protect my head"
AFL: "you ducked which caused more head contact than otherwise would have been expected"
Joel: "You told umpires to pay those frees"
AFL: ".... .. "
AFL: "We brought in a rule to stop players like you doing it"
Joel: "Yeah but you didn't apply it to me, I kept getting away with it"
AFL: "... .."
 
adelaidecrows said:
The only way to solve playing for frees is you adjust the standard. by this I mean instead of paying ticky touch high tackles where an arm grazes the head or around the shoulder, only pay the clear cut hard hits. The AFL isn't protecting the head as it claims if its only encouraging scumbag players to gamble with head injuries by running head first into tackles.
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I agree with this one.

“High” is not supposed be a finger over the shoulder area.

I think it needs to be forceful contact … which of course unfortunately leaves space for interpretations.

Healy calls too many no frees as missed frees. The commentators set such a low bar.
 
baldandbroke said:
I agree with this one.

“High” is not supposed be a finger over the shoulder area.

I think it needs to be forceful contact … which of course unfortunately leaves space for interpretations.

Healy calls too many no frees as missed frees. The commentators set such a low bar.
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My other idea is they do retrospective yellow cards.

Any player suspected of simulation, playing for free kicks gets a yellow card. 2 yellow cards is an automatic match. One more card is another 2 match suspension.

I'd also add a red card.

For any player who is headlocked in a high tackle because they deliberately dropped the knee will receive an automatic 1 match suspension. do it again, a 2 match suspension. do it a 3rd time you miss the remainder of the season. The reason is this. The AFL are working hard to protect the head and right now, the players are treating it as a joke. Especially young cocky ones like JHF and Ginnivan. The AFL has to stamp it out. So the only way I can summise to do it would be to give them time away from the game to work on their technique while being tackled. Replays can determine players who drop their knee into tackles. Its deliberate because the natural movement is to stand taller into the tackle and drive your weight into it. Lowering the knee suggests your only intention is to be taken to ground and be hit high.
 
Ticktak said:
In regards to Laird’s report, I honestly feel Neale flings himself at the end of the tackle to get a free kick.

All we need is him admit it to get Laird off.

But he won’t, because who wants to be known as someone playing for free kicks.

Massive problem in a game atm.
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2nd time Neale has done it to get a player reported too
 
MRB37 said:
Nah, players don't fake for frees at all!
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The Brisbane supporters crying about Hipwood's mark that wasn't paid. Old mate Berry here was the one that kicked it to him. Should never have happened. Such an obvious fake at the ground too, and in the replay they showed at the ground which was not shown in the broadcast.
 
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