The Shot Clock and close games: a solution.

[schmuttt]

Easiest fix - just make it once the 30 reaches zero it is play on no matter what.

 

[SuperSteele22]

Time wasting at the end of a close game is an important strategy and its not particularly easy given how many teams mess it up and give up their leads. I don't see any need for a 'solution'. Both teams have a long amount of time to get ahead. If you earn a good lead - you have every right to use whatever tactic you can to hold onto it as long as its legal.

This. Precisely this.

 

[Topkent]

Some good points. On the head count, I thought if you were wrong about it, you lost your score. May vary league to league. State to state. I got a feeling this may be in junior footy where there is no time on.

Rules are made to be broken so the shot clock will always be exploited. Get rid of it. The umpires adjudicate on everything else so to on goal kicking. After 15 seconds or so give the hurry up and if they don't .. play on.

A players 'routine' is no business of the umpires. Get a move on.

Imagine marking the ball 1 metre out in the goal square. 70 seconds to go. You run up the other end for 28 seconds, turn then have a slow 150 step walk back to the goal square taking the full time to take your kick. As you say some 'dick' will do it.

On your last point you would get called for time wasting mate.

Worst one I ever heard was that if you take your 30 seconds you have to shoot for goal. Can you imagine a guy marks it 45m out calls for the shot and the opposition runs to the middle of the ground knowing that he cant pass the ball to anyone. So he has a man in the goalsquare who is free.

 

[Clems Knee]

Time wasting at the end of a close game is an important strategy and its not particularly easy given how many teams mess it up and give up their leads. I don't see any need for a 'solution'. Both teams have a long amount of time to get ahead. If you earn a good lead - you have every right to use whatever tactic you can to hold onto it as long as its legal.

Time wasting is viewed as a free kick against in many circumstances, and is against the spririt of the game.
I agree it's not that easy for some teams, and it won't be made any easier by stopping the game clock when shooting for goal. That makes it exciting. If a team wants to milk the clock, they should not have an unfair advantage in one section of the ground. Makes for a very frustrating experience at an otherwise most exciting part of the game.

 

[barrackers]

Yeh I don't mind that, except that the AFL have decided that kicking goals is a good look, and that it is reasonable to let a player take a breath before taking a set shot. Set shots are just about the only part of modern football that hasn't improved. We don't want to make it worse.

I see your point, but as a 'pies supporter I don't think our goal kicking can get any worse.

 

[Demons Advocate]

What is the difference between time wasting in the forward 50 and chipping it around on the wing/defensive 50?

In both situations the defending team should be trying to win the ball back and are showing complete incompetence by not manning up. Stop bitching and do the basics.

 

[Animus]

Any rule change would just act as an apologist for poor footy IQ teams and players. Oh which there are many.

Any team that has 30 seconds to man up and fails to do so gets what they deserve. Its just dumb play. Its similar to when its close with 5 or so mins to go and one team starts chipping it sideways and backwards. Teams take a minute or two to comprehend that no, you shouldn't be flooding numbers back to get an extra 3 players to the down the line kick you should be 1 on 1 everywhere.

Other instances include arguing with the umpire for what you consider to be a mark while you get tackled and pinged for HTB, and my personal pet hate- laying on top of the ball with your arms spread out gesturibg to the umpire that you dont know how the ball couldve possibly got underneath you.

**** you Wayne Milera - how about just punching the ball out or trying to. God that shits me. Enjoy the spell, long may it continue.

Anyway, footy brains are goin down the gurgler - we dont need rules we just need someone to turn the lights back on upstairs.

 

[ydraw]

No idea why they don't just stop the clock when a player has a free kick and is lining up for goal.

 

[ydraw]

What is the difference between time wasting in the forward 50 and chipping it around on the wing/defensive 50?

Well in the first instance the ball is actually in play and the game is ongoing.

In the 2nd instance there is nothing anyone can do until the player decides to kick the ball.

 

[Duskfire]

How many times this season has blatant time wasting been used effectively though? Five maybe? Teams have attempted it for sure but hasn't worked a lot. There have been plenty of very tight very exciting finishes this season,

I don't see the big deal myself. Just man up and there won't be a second shot at goal

 

[Danger!Selwood]

Its another case of the AFL introducing rules to do one thing, and not taking into account the ramifications and after effects.

The rushed behind rule change was one- the league changed the rule that teams didn't have to wait for the ump to wave their flags before kicking out to speed the game up. Next thing teams realise that its a benefit for them to rush a behind because then they can kick in immediately with out the physical pressure on the kicker. That in turn means they have to bring in a rule for deliberate rushing behind, and now 9 years later the rule is still confusing, as well as them implementing new rules (interchange cap etc.) to try and slow down the game they tried to speed up for years. Coaches and players are a lot smarter than the AFL give them credit for, if there's a way to manipulate the rules, they will find a way (eg Selwood forcing tackles high, players exaggerating contact to below the knees ).

Ultimately the AFL is to blame for creating grey areas. Watch footy in the 1990's and the rules were straight forward- high tackle is a high tackle, push in the back is just that - not resting a hand etc.

In regards to this, if a player decides to shoot for goal, they have 30 seconds to do so. Perhaps if they pass backwards after using their time, it should be play on? If they pass forward, that's just poor defence.

 

[Demons Advocate]

Well in the first instance the ball is actually in play and the game is ongoing.

In the 2nd instance there is nothing anyone can do until the player decides to kick the ball.

There is something you can do though, you can man up and force the ball holder to take his kick.

No different to forcing a player to bomb long down the line.

 

[Armchair Critic]

If they are going to do it at least do it properly and make the 30 seconds to actually kick the ball and not just start their run up.

In my opinion it should be the same as every other kick around the ground.

 

[Clems Knee]

There is something you can do though, you can man up and force the ball holder to take his kick.

No different to forcing a player to bomb long down the line.

So no 30 second countdown for taking the shot? Because that prevents you from forcing the ball holder to take their kick.

 

[Demons Advocate]

So no 30 second countdown for taking the shot? Because that prevents you from forcing the ball holder to take their kick.

No it doesn't. They still need to kick it at some stage. It will either be a shot at goal or a pass to another team mate to run down the clock. If you man up and don't let them pass it, they will take the shot.

 

[Arkangel]

The problem is when a player is taking a shot, they wait for the 30 seconds to count down before taking the shot or passing to another player. Time wasting kills the excitement of a close game. Darling started wasting the shot clock in the first minute of the final quarter today.

The solution is to stop the game clock while the shot clock is counting down on the screen. No advantage to the kicker to look at the shot clock and wind down the seconds. No disadvantage either. The timing is handled by the timer - pretty easy to set up so both the shot clock and the game clock never work at the same time - and it's not another job for the field umpire. All the umpire has to indicate is that the player is taking a shot. Simple and elegant.

I have not seen this solution suggested before. Any comments?

Seems like a good idea to me, and pretty easy to implement. Gives the player kicking the opportunity to take a breather after marking it, without incentivising time-wasting. Another advantage is that players on a team that is behind would also be able to take their time when having a set shot, rather than having to rush their routine (or risk running out of time to hit the front) and thus increase the chance of missing. I'd guess this would increase the odds of late-game lead changes, which has to be good for entertainment value.