Horse on SEN 7/2

**mcs** · 7th February 2017, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by Vonsteinman

Lengthy, informative interview on SEN this morning with the coach.

Well worth a listen, follow the link on the RHS alongside the lead paragraph.

It includes a measured - but pointed - response to questions on GF umpiring.

Umpires need to work more on their craft: Longmire

As always, Longmire is exceptionally diplomatic and just gets on with it - which is what the coach should do. I do wish the club had more of a red hot go in the immediate aftermath of the grand final and didn't let the issue just get completely 'whitewashed' however. As others have said, it most certainly would not have just been taken on the chin had it happened the other way round, or indeed happened to a Melbourne based club in another case.

As for the umpiring in 2005 - it was pretty decent overall, although Weagles fans consistently still harp on about how they think there was a clear free kick in the lead up to the Leo Barry moment (though I think one can argue Cox clearly infringed before the preceding mark. We got bent over plenty of times through the 05-06 period though - in particular during that 05 qualifying final in Perth. We certainly didn't get the golden road umpiring that the Fairypuppies got last year, that is for sure.

**CureTheSane** · 8th February 2017, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by crackedactor

Just sayin I did not feel in 2005 that the Swans was everyone's second team. Maybe we are more hated now, but the umps did not do us any favours,
unlike what the Bulldogs received. Was the umpiring bias in 2005? Probably not, but we certainly did not get any favours for a team that had a 72 year drought.

I wouldn't expect any favours.
I do think the Dirty Dogs got favours in 2016
Certainly in the GF, it was a massive bias towards the Swans in the crowd.
I was sitting in the members section, were most of the others supported a team who was not playing. pretty much all of them were behind the Swans.
Across Melbourne, most people were behind the Swans for many reasons - we were playing WC, the 72 year drought, but mainly because there was no particular bias against the Swans. No ill feeling.
These days there is ill feeling everywhere towards the Swans, generated by media, Eddie, but also largely by the ALF in Mike and Gillon.
We may be quickly becoming the Collingwood of the time. Luckily for us we don't play dirty, and have good ethos, which will help reign back the reasons for hate.

**bloodspirit** · 8th February 2017, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by dimelb

John Longmire is a past master at official statements: accurate, measured, honest and avoids deflection onto hobbyhorses. If only our politicians would take note.

I agree that Horse is a very steady media performer. Mostly he does this by being dull and giving next to nothing away. However, he is also accurate and measured and if you listen closely you do get valuable bits of information here and there. I think in this he is typical of the whole club ethos: all the management speaking to the media are careful and restrained - Tom Harley, Andrew Ireland, the coaching crew. Actually, the possible exceptions, if you ask me, are Andrew Pridham, who has been a bit more fiery on occasion, and Kinnear Beatson, who is canny about what he gives away at trade/draft time (for example he was quite willing to give the false impression that we would wait until the rookie draft to select a ruck in last year's drafts) but is mostly really open, candid and interesting.

**Doctor J.** · 8th February 2017, 04:17 PM

Reasonable unbiased umpiring and we win the game.

Unbiased umpiring and when Hewitt slots through our last goal of the game it should have been to put us 2-3 goals up, not 1 pt down. Its then a totally different game for the last few minutes, with the Dogs having to take massive risks to score.

People talk about conspiracy theories, well this was no conspiracy theory, it happened before our eyes. From the moment of the Bulldogs unexpected win over WCE the AFL was presented with a genuine feel good story and went out of their way to ensure the fairy tale materialised.

Consider this:

Hawthorn laid over 100 tackles in their elimination final, and not one free kick for holding the ball. They lost the free kick count 19-14 and in the crucial 3rd quarter 3 of the Dogs 6 goals kicked were via free kicks (2 directly and one should have been called back for a throw just prior to Bontempelli kicking it)

Prelim final, the obvious one was the 50m penalty that wasn't given to Scully late in the last. A free kick count of 23-13 in favour of the Bulldogs certainly helped in getting them over the line.

Then we get to the GF and we all know what happened there. We were ambushed and could do nothing about it.

A Sydney win was the worst outcome for the AFL. The media would have written about how a salary cap, COLA assisted, academy benefitted, interstate team had ripped a premiership away from the poor battlers of the AFL's heartland. The local (Vic centric) media would have created a media storm that the AFL could quite frankly have done without.

Yes the AFL got their fairy tale. It meant instead of the media reporting on the bad boys from up north depriving the battlers from the heartland and continuing to report on sagas such as COLA, Academies, EFC drugs saga, Whitfield drug issue, Jobe's Brownlow, Talia drugs charge, etc, it now had a good news story of the Bulldogs winning their first GF in 62 years, and all the bad news could be forgotten. And didn't the win get front and centre for months, pushing all the other issues to the background.

As far as I'm concerned: Bulldogs Premiers 2016*

*AFL assisted

**graemed** · 8th February 2017, 04:56 PM

It was interest hearing him discuss a wide range of topics because he will be addressing a leadership forum at my school tomorrow and I am keenly anticipating the topic of the discussion as well the opportunity to hear him speak to such an audience.

**dejavoodoo44** · 8th February 2017, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by graemed

It was interest hearing him discuss a wide range of topics because he will be addressing a leadership forum at my school tomorrow and I am keenly anticipating the topic of the discussion as well the opportunity to hear him speak to such an audience.

Perhaps you could enquire about what particular decisions in the GF, caused him to have a word with the AFL: as he's being a bit cagey about that.

**graemed** · 9th February 2017, 07:49 AM

I doubt the format will allow for much access of this type. It is basically a senior student forum on leadership and resilience

**Blue Sun** · 9th February 2017, 10:27 AM

It was very professional of Longmire to wait until the hype surrounding the Dogs premiership had died down before making a public statement. You've got to admire him for that, I'm proud that he is the Sydney coach. On the matter of the one-sided affair last September, it hurts a little less now, but the 2016 premiership will always be tainted in my mind. There was no way the umpires were going to let the Swans spoil the fairytale.

**bloodspirit** · 9th February 2017, 02:19 PM

I am so sick and *#@!ing tired of hearing whinging about umpiring! OK, the Bulldogs got the rub of the green, it suited everyone except us and, depending on your point of view, the premiership is tainted. But do we have to go on about it ad nauseam? It's so pointless and discouraging and pathetic. I think the right noises were made via the right channels at the right times (thank you Horse and the Swans) and there's nothing more to be done. Bleating won't get us the flag now. And it looks bad and is horrible to read/listen to. It's sore losing and it ain't the Bulldogs fault. They were magnificent and got a victory they have every right to celebrate and enjoy.

I was at the game, saw the tears of joy flow from Bulldogs fans and felt a heck of a lot better about that result (umpiring notwithstanding) than losing to the Hawks in 2014 (which still evokes a heavy, sick sensation in my gut). Umpiring variability is a part of competitive sport and the very best teams and individuals rise above it and dominate anyway. In 2016 we were good enough to win but we weren't so good that not winning meant we wuz robbed. Let's be even better this year!

Rant over.

**mcs** · 9th February 2017, 02:36 PM