Review Round 8, 2022 - Brisbane Lions vs. West Coast

[AFLQLD]

I honestly think Eleni is an average umpire in a sea of equally ordinary umpires. They are uniformly poor at consistent decision making. I find her no worse than the very low average, she just stands out more. If she is substandard, so are a dozen others. I’m not so much sticking up for her as pointing out that she is right on the mean for the quality of umpiring across the whole comp.

 

[Ad Astra]

There are general rules against Misconduct and Time Wasting. Take your pick. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the free. Had a chuckle.

Looked to me as if Charlie was intending to throw the boot back to the defender
but the bloke ran up behind him and he didn't realise he was that close. Charlie's
a very good sport and genuinely cares for people. Not the sort of thing he'd do.

 

[POBT]

I honestly think Eleni is an average umpire in a sea of equally ordinary umpires. They are uniformly poor at consistent decision making. I find her no worse than the very low average, she just stands out more. If she is substandard, so are a dozen others. I’m not so much sticking up for her as pointing out that she is right on the mean for the quality of umpiring across the whole comp.

I was at the game last night with someone who doesn't follow Aussie Rules. Their observation based on the crowd response (which is clearly subjective) was that Eleni made a lot of errors but that the crowd was far more vocal and personal following her (perceived) errors than those of the other umps.

I do think she's below the standard we'd like but I also think that she's not alone. She might be in the bottom 25% of current umpires but I don't know that she makes more poor calls than anyone else in that bottom group of umpires. We just know who Eleni is.

 

[weevil]

I honestly think Eleni is an average umpire in a sea of equally ordinary umpires. They are uniformly poor at consistent decision making. I find her no worse than the very low average, she just stands out more. If she is substandard, so are a dozen others. I’m not so much sticking up for her as pointing out that she is right on the mean for the quality of umpiring across the whole comp.

Put one umpire in a different coloured uniform to all the others and very quickly people would start talking about issues they have with their umpiring.

 

[POBT]

Just on that, I've been involved as coach or official for 4 youth level footy matches this year with different umpires. By far the best umpire of the 4 was a female. Confident, decisive, knowledgeable, covered the ground and managed the players well. That's not an unusual occurrence at junior levels in my experience, that female umps are high quality. Even if Eleni is not a great umpire, I think there's value in ensuring the next wave of female umps sees that she's at least fairly treated.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Weirdly this was probably the most meh 70+ point victory I've witnessed. The rain & injuries were a factor but going to the Gabba last night I was hoping to see a potential historic win and potentially our highest score ever as a club, maybe I went into the game with unrealistic expectations and bought into the narrative that we would kick 200 points. It sucks we couldn't pass Freo on percentage. Thank goodness I didn't have to endure Kelly Underwood on commentary.

Our entries inside 50 most of the night were diabolical and I really thought despite the conditions our midfield would have annihilated the Eagles in center bounces. Anyway happy for the win and hopefully Eric comes back in as soon as possible.

 

[knaf]

Worst 12 goal win I can remember. WC flooding, rain, umpiring and commenters all contributed to stealing the jam from the donut.

i did get a laugh in the last quarter from the “Zorko” snapped goal (according to the commentator). Replay shown clearly it was Oscar who kicked it. Sums up the quality of the call.

Hugh was pretty good in the last too.

 

[Warwick]

To be fair, they could be twins.

 

[Haso]

I have no strong feelings one way or the other.

However, I will say that I heard the contact that the ball made when Starc copped that falcon all the way up in section 429, and the fact that he shook it off at all, let alone in the short time that it took him, was one of the more impressive individual efforts that I saw from the evening.

 

[Haso]

Just an all round good smother really. I just don't recommend that he does it too many more times.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

When an umpire is easily identifiable, they are more likely to be a target for fan abuse and comments. I don't remember the decisions I disagreed with made by umpire 31, because he's practically anonymous so they don't stick in the mind as being made by an individual.

We need many more female umpires.

 

[Warwick]

I think we need more female umpires as well.

But the PC approach annoys me tbh.

Just because she is more noticeable and cops unfair treatment, at the end of the day she is really poor.

 

[Mr Ripper]

I thought umpire 42 (was it?) was way worse the Eleni last night.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

I think we need more female umpires as well.

But the PC approach annoys me tbh.

Just because she is more noticeable and cops unfair treatment, at the end of the day she is really poor.

Agreed, this mentality doesn't just exclusively translate into umpiring. It's also evident in commentary & AFL media journalism.

 

[dlanod]

Hughs last quarter

View attachment 1394955

His last quarter was the equivalent to a good performance by a small forward across a whole game!

 

[dlanod]

No one comes close to Dwayno as most annoying for me.

BT is my perpetual leader in the clubhouse.

Outright dumb comments and trying to inject fake excitement into games that don't warrant it.

The worst thing I've heard from Kelli is some silly misspeakings that if BT said, it'd be the least worst thing he'd have said all game.

 

[dlanod]

McGrath is a good footballer but isn't in the same class as Clug.

Seems quite incredible now that both the Bombers and GWS passed up on Hugh in his draft year as he was considered the consensus #1 pick since at least the U18 champs and possibly before.

The trade we did with GWS to let go our pick 2 for 3 (and 16?) was a masterstroke, snagging Hugh at 3 and Berry (eventually at 17 I think)

The Lions drafting team was reported as rating Hugh as easily the standout #1 pick of that draft and couldn't believe their luck at picking him up at 3

Win-win....for us

GWS had academy kids so we gave up a bunch of later picks worth more points for Berry's pick. Good trade for both there in the end, but we definitely got the star.

From memory, I thought we knew GWS wanted McGrath then Taranto. We weren't sure on Essendon. We rated Clug then McGrath but if we missed Clug, were happy to slip to 3.

If Essendon took Clug, GWS got McGrath before us.
If Essendon took McGrath, GWS got Taranto and we still got our number 1 pick.

This is just my memory of the rumours at the time - couple of ways I could be wrong.

Pretty accurate summary.

IIRC GWS felt Taranto had a higher ceiling because he'd jumped up the draft board so quickly in the latter part of that year, and they thought he had more development whereas Hugh was what he was (which was already very good).

 

[WheildonTheAxe]

To be fair, they could be twins.

View attachment 1395277

Oscar: My name is Oscar and I am your twin brother.

Dayne: Oh, obviously! The moment I sat down I thought I was looking into a mirror.

 

[dlanod]

Also at the ground, why was Charlie freed against for throwing a shoe away. I mean what is that free?

Not sure of the exact reasoning but it's been paid a few times over the last few years.

 

[dlanod]

At the end of the day though Eleni is just not up to standard. It’s almost as if she needs to find a free kick in every confrontation between two opposing players and just makes incorrect calls. But then she’ll miss the most blatant HtB, holding, blocking calls.

Thanks, this is a good summary of what annoys me somewhat. However by comparison to guys like Nicholls or Foot (you know you get frustrated at a specific umpire when you know his name despite him otherwise being a generic white guy) who seem to repeatedly slaughter one team I'd rather have her.

 

[Haso]

Oscar: My name is Oscar and I am your twin brother.

Dayne: Oh, obviously! The moment I sat down I thought I was looking into a mirror.

Most on this board wouldn't have seen the film 'Twins' for a very long time, if at all, but I've got your back brother

 

[FLVanLandingham]

re: Underwood and her commentating.

I think fundamentally I can get over her slightly grating voice, but it seems to me she is trying almost too hard. Other commentators do it too (if you must know, they are male). Specifically it is their attempts to not only just call the action, but call it with some... either word play or something with a flourish. chasing after Cometti glory.

For example when she called Ryan the 'Prince of the pocket'. It actually made me laugh so in a way it was good commentating

In some ways Hudson is like her but is a bit more natural is how he does it. Also he has pretty alright voice for commentating. Brayshaw is equally annoying for me. I think their ilk should not be the main commentator, but replaced by one of the ones I don't know their name (thats how good they are! )

anyway more about the actual game..

I think it was later on in the match when the Eagles had slowed down their flooding the backline, but there was some beautiful low bullet entries. In particular was MCluggage to Berry the Younger, who had McGovern on him!. In the weeks coming up to the Melbourne match show that entry on repeat over and over.

McGovern could do nothing about it. And neither will May/Lever or any of their lauded (and AA certainties ) defenders

 

[mill204]

re: Underwood and her commentating.

I think fundamentally I can get over her slightly grating voice, but it seems to me she is trying almost too hard. Other commentators do it too (if you must now, they are male). Specifically it is their attempts to not only just call the action, but call it with some... either word play or something with a flourish. chasing after Cometti glory.

For example when she called Ryan the 'Prince of the pocket'. It actually made me laugh so in a way it was good commentating

In some ways Hudson is like her but is a bit more natural is how he does it. Also he has pretty alright voice for commentating. Brayshaw is equally annoying for me. I think their ilk should not be the main commentator, but replaced by one of the ones I don't know their name (thats how good they are! )

anyway more about the actual game..

I think it was later on in the match when the Eagles had slowed down their flooding the backline, but there was some beautiful low bullet entries. In particular was MCluggage to Berry the Younger, who had McGovern on him!. In the weeks coming up to the Melbourne match show that entry on repeat over and over.

McGovern could do nothing about it. And neither will May/Lever or any of their lauded (and AA certainties ) defenders

Grating shouty voice and if you listen on ABC Sport (only a minor delay) while watching you'll see she makes a mountain of call mistakes.

 

[PattyKwasagun]

I would take Kelli Underwood a hundred times over before I'd take Dwayne, BT, Darcy or Brayshaw.

 

[dlanod]

if you listen on ABC Sport (only a minor delay) while watching

While true, that's like complaining that the new batsman at number six isn't Bradman.

Those guys are the best, and in general they've both had plenty of time to work on it but also they have to be that good because they have to assume you don't have vision.