The retirement of Scott Thompson got me thinking about a certain subset of players who are often forgotten when discussing "soft umpiring." The players who rule the "Frees Against" column. Forget Mathieson and Selwood (antiheroes of umpiring critics?) and let's talk about the real heroes and what makes them so terrible in the eyes of the umpires.
Scott Thompson:
Has amassed 466 frees against in 308 games (Ave. 1.5 per game). Handy work and one of the modern greats in Frees Against. Thompson's temper was an issue early in his playing career, but his Frees Against only really started ramping up in his AA year and towards the twilight years. His inability to adjust his tackling technique to deal with players dropping the knees led him to give away approximately 500 in the back/high tackles a game in every game I've seen him play in the past 7 years. Needless stat padding in an already dominant player.
One would expect his retirement would mean that the spot for Number One in Frees Against would be up for grabs... But it isn't. It isn't even close, because Thommo was only 2nd on the list (and by a considerable margin).
The current champion of the people:
Lance Franklin:
Current Undisputed champion of the world. Franklin has 529 Frees Against in 264 games (Ave. 2.0 per game) He is so far ahead of the pack of dinosaurs trailing behind him that he will never be dethroned. Behind Thommo is a Dad's Army contingent of good blokes in Mitchell (414), Hodge (380), Kelly (327) and Mumford (307). 200 frees behind is a lot to make up, even for someone as adept Mumford and I don't see Franklin retiring at the end of the year and Mumford playing on for another 2 decades to catch up.
Lance Franklin is an anomaly in Frees Against. He is neither a midfielder nor a primary ruckman. Intellectual disability can only get you so far in Frees Against (Mitch Robinson amazingly only has 195 Frees Against at an ave. of 1.31/game); so Franklin may actually have a case for the umpires hating on him. How does he have this many frees against? It's crazy!
He has so many frees against I cannot see any player possibly having more. Unless maybe the umpires don't hate him. Maybe they are just following a ritual laid down by their fathers and their fathers before them. I'm talking about Hawthorn and...
The Guernsey of the Greats:
Brereton barely even warrants a mention here. Sure his 498 Frees Against are massive. Besting Thommo by 32; any blue collar hero would be admired for the effort. However, he lives in the shadow of giants. His Frees Against are nothing when compared to the greats that came before him.
John Peck (1954-1966): The Frees Against tally only came into being in his last 2 seasons. Nonetheless he still makes his mark in the all-time Frees Against leaderboard with over 100 Frees against in his last 2 seasons (in only 34 games). History suggests this was a miserly effort compared to previous seasons, but we don't have the statistics to support it.
Don Scott (1967-1981): Dual premiership captain. Hall of Famer. Hawthorn team of the century. Frequent attendee at the tribunal in an era when a man would have to be nearly put to death to grant you an appearance, and... Undisputed champion of the world in Frees Against since the beginning of time.
Don Scott earned 1303 Frees Against in his decorated career. An achievement better than any other. He reached double figures in 7 games showing not only did he have talent, he had consistency. He frequently had more Frees Against than Kicks or total possessions.
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So with some of the history out of the way. Why does Buddy have such ridiculous numbers? It's obscene. And holy s**t... 1303 Frees Against? A true god.
Scott Thompson:
Has amassed 466 frees against in 308 games (Ave. 1.5 per game). Handy work and one of the modern greats in Frees Against. Thompson's temper was an issue early in his playing career, but his Frees Against only really started ramping up in his AA year and towards the twilight years. His inability to adjust his tackling technique to deal with players dropping the knees led him to give away approximately 500 in the back/high tackles a game in every game I've seen him play in the past 7 years. Needless stat padding in an already dominant player.
One would expect his retirement would mean that the spot for Number One in Frees Against would be up for grabs... But it isn't. It isn't even close, because Thommo was only 2nd on the list (and by a considerable margin).
The current champion of the people:
Lance Franklin:
Current Undisputed champion of the world. Franklin has 529 Frees Against in 264 games (Ave. 2.0 per game) He is so far ahead of the pack of dinosaurs trailing behind him that he will never be dethroned. Behind Thommo is a Dad's Army contingent of good blokes in Mitchell (414), Hodge (380), Kelly (327) and Mumford (307). 200 frees behind is a lot to make up, even for someone as adept Mumford and I don't see Franklin retiring at the end of the year and Mumford playing on for another 2 decades to catch up.
Lance Franklin is an anomaly in Frees Against. He is neither a midfielder nor a primary ruckman. Intellectual disability can only get you so far in Frees Against (Mitch Robinson amazingly only has 195 Frees Against at an ave. of 1.31/game); so Franklin may actually have a case for the umpires hating on him. How does he have this many frees against? It's crazy!
He has so many frees against I cannot see any player possibly having more. Unless maybe the umpires don't hate him. Maybe they are just following a ritual laid down by their fathers and their fathers before them. I'm talking about Hawthorn and...
The Guernsey of the Greats:
Brereton barely even warrants a mention here. Sure his 498 Frees Against are massive. Besting Thommo by 32; any blue collar hero would be admired for the effort. However, he lives in the shadow of giants. His Frees Against are nothing when compared to the greats that came before him.
John Peck (1954-1966): The Frees Against tally only came into being in his last 2 seasons. Nonetheless he still makes his mark in the all-time Frees Against leaderboard with over 100 Frees against in his last 2 seasons (in only 34 games). History suggests this was a miserly effort compared to previous seasons, but we don't have the statistics to support it.
Don Scott (1967-1981): Dual premiership captain. Hall of Famer. Hawthorn team of the century. Frequent attendee at the tribunal in an era when a man would have to be nearly put to death to grant you an appearance, and... Undisputed champion of the world in Frees Against since the beginning of time.
Don Scott earned 1303 Frees Against in his decorated career. An achievement better than any other. He reached double figures in 7 games showing not only did he have talent, he had consistency. He frequently had more Frees Against than Kicks or total possessions.
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So with some of the history out of the way. Why does Buddy have such ridiculous numbers? It's obscene. And holy s**t... 1303 Frees Against? A true god.
