Umpires - Time for a rethink?

[tribey]

So far this season the umpires and their panel have brought in a whole new set of interpretations of existing rules and some new ones to the game:

*The minimum markable kick being 15 metres instead of 10.

*The deliberate out-of-bounds rule has been reinterpreted crazily as we saw last week with poor Sam Mitchell being pinged for a left-footed torp a mile away from the boundary line that gained substantial territory in the Hawks favour.

*The ruck rules changing with the likes of McKee and Primus having to completely rethink their roles and style of play just to stay on the field and not give away FKs at every ballup.

*New positions for the umpires to stand and flashy new uniforms in order to prevent the overhyped and over-rated player/umpire clashes.

*The HTB rule reinterpreted in ruck contests so stringently that even if a player pulls the ball out of the air and gets a clean kick or handball away immediately, as soon as he is touched it's holding the ball regardless.

Now the majority of players, coaches and fans would agree that the out-of-bounds interpretations and ruck changes are bloody stupid and needless - not to mention the 15m rule changing the entire game's dynamic in an attempt to prevent the chipkick time-wasting that occurs late in a game when scores are close once in a blue-moon.

Meanwhile rules such as the 'standard' holding the ball, push in the back and holding the man decisions are going unpunished to the point where many are asking whether they still exist at all - Neitz, Tarrant, Lynch and other forwards have been absolutely mugged on different occasions this year with the only response from the umpires being 'play on' - not to mention today's Adelaide vs Fremantle game which saw many pushes by McPharlin and Polak go unpunished by the men in white.

Is it time for the umpires and their panel to pull their bloody heads in or what? Why are they cracking down on rules and interpretations that are open to so much scrutiny and debate, while letting blatant freekicks go unpunished?

Thoughts?

 

[PrideOf]

Originally posted by dyertribe
not to mention today's Adelaide vs Fremantle game which saw many pushes by McPharlin and Polak go unpunished by the men in white.

Those two lads are going to be superstars ....

... unless the AFL brings in a push in the back rule in which case they're both f*cked.

You know it's getting beyond a joke when the two WA TV commentators start referring to the number of times they got away with blatant pushes. The third ump was brought it to watch stuff like that.

 

[Damp Squarie]

What was Cometti's comment...

"That was a full-brother to a push in the back"

Crowd opinion would have seen a lot of these "push in the backs" paid if the game was held at Footy Park

 

[Port01]

Don't take this the wrong way, but you have to worry that there was so much devliery into the forward line that was advantageous to the defender playing behind.

You can take this bit the wrong way , Goodwin wasn't even playing.

Two things lost the crows that game. Forward delivery (even Rutten is good enough if you can put it on his lead, put it landing on his head and doesn't have a hope against McPharlin/Polak), and giving Farmer a paddock to run into for the last goal, even Commetti could see exactly was going to happen.

 

[Damp Squarie]

And missing set shots from 30 out didnt

It was disconcerting to see no one bottlin in Farmer from playing on. I guess had they done this Farmer may have found his loose player in front?

 

[Port01]

Originally posted by topjars
And missing set shots from 30 out didnt

It was disconcerting to see no one bottlin in Farmer from playing on. I guess had they done this Farmer may have found his loose player in front?

Freo missed some easy shots too. If you can't spare a single man to stop someone running around and opening up and angle by so much in your defensive 50 you are in trouble. Farmer took the mark about 5 yards in from the boundary, and had his shot from 30 degrees. That is bad defense, no matter which way you look at it.