A Couple Of Real Bewilderers!

[The Coon Dog]

There were a couple that really had an impact on the game that favoured us significantly.

Be interested in Aker39's take on these.

a) In the first quarter Farren Ray looks up & sees a crowded forwarded 50, no one to spot up. He bangs it long towards goal. Leigh Fisher double fists it through for a point (in hindsight he would probably think he should have marked it). I was side on & saw him make contact, the replay shows clear contact. The goal umpire gets the all clear from the field umpire & signals a goal.

In defence of the goal umpire, he was looking right into the sun, but the field umpire standing side on should have seen it.

b) In the second quarter Scott McLaren awards a free kick to St.Kilda & players from both teams run forwards towards the saints goal. The free kick is actually Adam Cooney's, so realising he has signalled the wrong way, McLaren the signals a Bulldogs free kick, but by that stage everyone had run the wrong way.

Cooney then kicks to an unmarked Giansiracusa for a goal.

Personally I think he should have stopped play & allowed players the opportunity to do as they would have done had he not erred. I would have been filthy if we had been on the receiving end on an error like this.

Over to you A39!

[aker39]

Pretty simple really, that were both mistakes.

I agree with you on the touched goal. The goal umpires was looking straight in to the sun. The field umpires was side in like us. Looking at the replay, there were about 4 players between Fisher and umpire. He must have not seen it.

The pointing the wrong way decision, was not the 1st time it's happened ansd won't be the last. I take your poiint about waiting for the players to come back. But how does the umpire know how many players have ran the wrong way by mistake, and you would be penalising the team that got the free kick.

[LostDoggy]

Got to admit i was behind the umpire with the Farren Ray kick, and i have to say i didnt see anyone touch it cause the sun was in my eyes, but it didnt look like anyone touched it, i didnt get to see the replay cause i was talking to my mum and another friend about it.

On the 2nd one, when he pointed that it was a saints free i was confused because it was Adams, Adam was pretty smart to play on probably knowing that all the other guys ran the wrong way cause of the ump.

Both these decisions would have made me go feral if they had of been the other way around, two costly mistakes, luckily the saints wernt in the game so it didnt decide the game.

[LostDoggy]

Haha both of those got the saints fans so dirty

I was laughin my a$$ off

[1eyedog]

There were a couple that really had an impact on the game that favoured us significantly.

Be interested in Aker39's take on these.

a) In the first quarter Farren Ray looks up & sees a crowded forwarded 50, no one to spot up. He bangs it long towards goal. Leigh Fisher double fists it through for a point (in hindsight he would probably think he should have marked it). I was side on & saw him make contact, the replay shows clear contact. The goal umpire gets the all clear from the field umpire & signals a goal.

In defence of the goal umpire, he was looking right into the sun, but the field umpire standing side on should have seen it.

b) In the second quarter Scott McLaren awards a free kick to St.Kilda & players from both teams run forwards towards the saints goal. The free kick is actually Adam Cooney's, so realising he has signalled the wrong way, McLaren the signals a Bulldogs free kick, but by that stage everyone had run the wrong way.

Cooney then kicks to an unmarked Giansiracusa for a goal.

Personally I think he should have stopped play & allowed players the opportunity to do as they would have done had he not erred. I would have been filthy if we had been on the receiving end on an error like this.

Over to you A39!

Evened out with both Welsh and Johnson clearly being held in the FP at the Lockett end, still gives me little faith regarding the standard of those umpires and there doesn't seem to be a lot of quality control, anyone can get a gig these days clearly.

[Mofra]

The free kick count of 25 Saints 13 Bulldogs more than evened those two errors out.
Either way it's not too often umpires have a massive effect on the result anyway. If a team is good enough to win, they do.

[LostDoggy]

Thoug those 2 decisions were awful, I think that in the end the poor poor decisionss that benefited S Kilda more than evened it out. The umpires were shocking yesterday, but those two umpires always are IMO.

[bornadog]

Personally I thought the umpires did well. Every week there is a strange decision here and there, but overall its a difficult game to umpire considering the stupid rules that have been brought in over the years and the culture to over police the game.

[LostDoggy]

Evened out with both Welsh and Johnson clearly being held in the FP at the Lockett end, still gives me little faith regarding the standard of those umpires and there doesn't seem to be a lot of quality control, anyone can get a gig these days clearly.

Agreed, Johnson is always held in the forward line, Welsh is another- there were 2 clear free kicks that weren't paid that cost us goals. I couldn't believe how much the Saints fans were booing at half time, barring those 2 decisions, the umpiring was definitely on their side and the free kick count reflected that.

The goal paid to Ray was just bad, but like you've all said, you can't blame the goal umpire- he gave the benefit of the doubt to the forward.

[LostDoggy]

Haha both of those got the saints fans so dirty

I was laughin my a$$ off

But what goes around comes around. Bad umpiring is going to affect all teams, and I would hate to have a crappy decision go against us two minutes from the end of a grand final and cost us a premiership. I take no pleasure in us benefiting from terrible decisions.

Just need good umpires all round, and clearly many of those in AFL aren't up to the required standard.

[The Coon Dog]

Just need good umpires all round, and clearly many of those in AFL aren't up to the required standard.

Time to bring back Aker39!!

[Topdog]

The free kick paid for in the back against us was a joke. Exactly the same as the holding the ball decision that went the Saints way 10 minutes earlier.

[hujsh]

The rushed goal/behind was made more difficult to see by the fact that the ball spin didn't change.

[Twodogs]

But what goes around comes around. Bad umpiring is going to affect all teams, and I would hate to have a crappy decision go against us two minutes from the end of a grand final and cost us a premiership. I take no pleasure in us benefiting from terrible decisions.

Just need good umpires all round, and clearly many of those in AFL aren't up to the required standard.



Or a preliminary final. God forbid.

[Raw Toast]

The umpiring was awful, mainly against us apart from those two howlers.

However, we were a bit undisciplined throughout the game, particularly when crashing into Saints players who had just hand-passed the ball. We've been focussing on blocking the run of those who hand-pass off all season (copping a few frees but not many), but it looked to me as if a memo had gone out to the umps to watch out for it, and we didn't adjust much at all. It didn't matter this game, but might one day. We can block their runners without giving away a free, we just need to be a bit smarter about it (when they are calling those frees, that is).

[Go_Dogs]

Cooney and Griffen are often being held around the stoppage too. At one stage the umpire seemed to point this out, but it rarely got paid and seemed to be happening almost every stoppage.

[LostDoggy]

Cooney and Griffen are often being held around the stoppage too. At one stage the umpire seemed to point this out, but it rarely got paid and seemed to be happening almost every stoppage.

And then he went and paid a holding free AGAINST Coons later, for trying to get to the ball and barely touching the guy while he had been manhandled all day.

It's like the umps have certain 'concepts' about what is 'fair' ie. if a tagger is holding a ball-player, well, that's his job so we'll be a bit more lenient, but if a ball-player drags a tagger away from the play to get to the ball, well, that's unfair because you're not a tagger.

Same with tackling the player without the ball -- if you are a little player like Johnno or Aker you don't get paid because you wouldn't have gotten the ball anyway but if you are a 'superstar' like Riewoldt everyone knows you will gobble up every mark if not impeded so if he drops the mark he MUST have been impeded in some phantom way and we'll pay the free even if the defender is barely touching the bloke.

[craigsahibee]

Got to admit i was behind the umpire with the Farren Ray kick, and i have to say i didnt see anyone touch it cause the sun was in my eyes, but it didnt look like anyone touched it, i didnt get to see the replay cause i was talking to my mum and another friend about it.

On the 2nd one, when he pointed that it was a saints free i was confused because it was Adams, Adam was pretty smart to play on probably knowing that all the other guys ran the wrong way cause of the ump.

Both these decisions would have made me go feral if they had of been the other way around, two costly mistakes, luckily the saints wernt in the game so it didnt decide the game.

Mclaren although pointing the wrong way did yell out "Adam Cooney" indicating it was his free kick. We must give some credit to Gia and Coons for summing the situation up faster than the others. As for the touched goal, I was side on and it was inconclusive from my angle. The fact that the ball did not change it's spinning motion may have helped towards the decision that was made. Having said that, that dud Fisher should have marked it.

[Twodogs]

Mclaren although pointing the wrong way did yell out "Adam Cooney" indicating it was his free kick. We must give some credit to Gia and Coons for summing the situation up faster than the others. As for the touched goal, I was side on and it was inconclusive from my angle. The fact that the ball did not change it's spinning motion may have helped towards the decision that was made. Having said that, that dud Fisher should have marked it.



That's the salient point. If he could get two hands up to punch the ball then he should have been able to mark it.