R12 Swans V Saints @SCG - Live

[Legs Akimbo]

When a player is on the ground and elects to drag the ball in (which in this case was probably just taking possession), rather than knocking it on, it becomes his responsibility to clear the ball. McCartin didn’t clear the ball, so a free kick was paid.

It looked weird because King was sitting on it at the end, but the AFL doesn’t want players who are already on the ground trying to take possession of the ball as it rarely gets out. If the roles were reversed I would expect the Swans to receive the free kick - and would be screaming out if it was not paid (but perhaps this might be called one-eyed). I was nervous when McCartin picked it up.

The point of contention more than anything is whether McCartin’s action of taking possession is equivalent to dragging it back in.

You might want to take another look. After the ball is dragged in, McCartin tries to handpass but never gets his right fist to the ball (his right arm is being tackled by King), which is then knocked out of his left hand by either the other Saints player on his left or the extended tackling arms of King (and then comes to rest between King’s legs). Based on the definition you supplied, it seems to be the right call.

Just for the record i completely disagree with that description. We disagree, that's fine, I'm moving on.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

If Higgins wasn't struck be the yips we would have. So feeling relieved!

On the other hand if the Swans hadn't been so wasteful in the first quarter, we probably would not have needed Jack Higgins' extraordinary efforts.

Is anyone else as worried about JPK as I am?

[Velour&Ruffles]

You might want to take another look. After the ball is dragged in, McCartin tries to handpass but never gets his right fist to the ball (his right arm is being tackled by King), which is then knocked out of his left hand by either the other Saints player on his left or the extended tackling arms of King (and then comes to rest between King’s legs). Based on the definition you supplied, it seems to be the right call.

That would almost make sense if the umpire immediately paid the free kick .... but he didn't. He watched King sitting on top of the ball like a Mother Hen for 5 minutes, then paid it.
And let's say for the sake of argument that the ball had lodged between Kings arms somehow rather than his legs - on the basis you've described it would still be a free against mcCartin even though King was actually the one holding it.
I maintain my view that we've officially entered Bizarro World.

[barry]

My son expressed an interest in doing some umpiring. I advised him not to it because there is no appreciation for what umpires do and they have to cop the umpire bashing that occurs in this post.

That story is obviously made up, but to any other dad's out there whose children are thinking of getting into umpiring, go for it. It builds character and resilience.

[Wardy]

For the record - the strange? biased? incapable ? brilliant ? umpires today : Curtis Deboy (11), Robert Findlay (23), Nathan Toner (38) !!!

So we got the work experience kids - again!!!

[Wardy]

Really pretty horrid win - thought we played much better vs Dockers for a loss. Bye can't come fast enough I suspect.

Joel a very big bonus on an otherwise fairly ordinary day. He does need to learn how to handball though.

- - - Updated - - -



Isaac needs to sort his kicking out, because if he kicks like that to win us the GF there will be a riot. I actually think he's a pretty solid set shot kick so don't understand where this left foot screw kick nonsense has come from.

I think he took way too much notice of Stevie J - that’s was his “thing” and for some reason a few of our lads have taken to doing this sideways samba style of kick too.

[Swanny40519]

So we got the work experience kids - again!!!

I watched the game again last night and if those umpires - particularly No 11, ever umpire a AFL again then Gill is really scrapping the bottom of the barrel. They were so one sided and biased in their decisions, particularly those very soft 50m goals the saints got.

[Nico]

What kept St Kilda in the game was our 6 misses close in from set shots. Higgins missed up the other end but we were poor kicking for goal. Papley 2, Amartey 1, Hayward 2, Heeney 1. Heeney picked out his mum in the crowd on the opposite wing.

Update on that: Heeney missed 2 set shots. Gary Lyon was harping on about STKilda's poor kicking for goal, if we had kicked straight we win that by a street. A really bad part of our game was the centre clearances: 9 to 17 opened up our defence big time. It seemed for what ever reason our mids stood defensive side and Ryder kept hitting it the opposite side. Our blokes just stood there like garden gnomes.

[The Great One]

I am tired of getting the worse of the umpiring. Those 50m penalties for a gentle push were ridiculous. Then watch about Paddy Ryder stopping RB running for the ball by holding him on the wing 3rd quarter. How could the umpires not see that? I was amazed RB was given that free kick in the last minute, even though it was blatant.

As I said in a post a few months ago, I have serious doubts whether the AFL will allow us to win a competition whilever Buddy is in our squad. I am sure they wanted him to go to GWS and since then we have been on the receiving end of many suspect decisions.

Buddy should win a lot more free kicks than he does particularly when he is double and triple teamed in the forward 50

As others have said there is a bias towards Melbourne based teams that is blatantly obvious. Unless my memory is failing me I seem to recall the last all interstate gf was 2005 and 2006. When we qualified for the 2016 gf there was no way gws were going to win and the fairy puppies were born and parachuted to a premiership on the back of huge free kick counts in 4 finals.

The surprise as others have said was the free kick paid to Rowbottom that sealed the win. It was obvious but so was the one earlier on the left wing when he was tackled before he had it.

[Aaron]

So we got the work experience kids - again!!!

2 are relatively experienced.
Shirt #(Games this Season /Career) Statistics before R12
#11 (10/119)
#23 (11/265)
#38 (1/1)

[Ralph Dawg]

Whoever was predominately on Higgins needs to be dropped (was it Fox?). 7 shots on goal, 12 marks. He basically did as he pleased, as if he was playing unmarked.

Our defence is looking quite shakey, with a lack of cohesion. Horse said as much, making the comment in his pressers that they scored too many easy goals. Dropping off tackles is not helping. As good as JMac has been in attack, he gets swatted off too easily. Send him over to Trent Robinson and the Roosters for a refresher.

I also agree our midfield looks a bit knackered and I think the bye can't come quick enough. If not for Hickey being a one man midfield, we would've been slaughtered inside. He's just been incredible this year, even playing with one leg. If I was the coaching staff, I would just give the players a week off after the Hawks game.

[TheBloods]

Is anyone else as worried about JPK as I am?

WTF??

Has it occurred to you that Kennedy might be taking a back seat to give some of the younger mids around him a go ? He is selfless and the heart and soul leader of this club he would understand his job now is to pass the baton to the next generation. Not his fault they didnt take it , not one young mid had over 15 touches yesterday !