Re: AFL Rd 11 2024 Post Game Postulations Carlton vs Gold Coast
Reply #94 –
I was at the game, and things may have looked different on TV, but i cannot agree with this statement.
Me and 40k of my closest mates seemed to see some very obvious ones being missed.
Most of it was based on the holding the ball decisions.....that were not paid.
A lot of the frustration would be taken away, and the decision making of the umpires made easier, if we ditched the prior opportunity rule.
Right now a player takes on a tackler (which gives up his right to prior opportunity) is correctly tackled and doesn't dispose of it correctly, and the umpire doesn't pay anything because they say there was no prior opportunity. So the mistake came when judging if/when a player decided to take on the tackler.
Removing prior opportunity removes that decision making error.
There's a similar problem when the ball comes out in the tackle.
Is that supposed to be play on?
Does the player with the ball get done for incorrect disposal?
This seems to change depending on how long the player had the ball for as well......or....if he had prior opportunity. TBH, i'm not sure which way that rule is supposed to go, but thats how its umpired and thats where another grey area is introduced where it shouldn't be.
I keep banging on about it, but removing prior fixes so many of these errors.
The main issue seems to be that people don't want to penalise the player making the play.....which is a reasonable stance.
However, currently, we do not reward the tackler enough. It NEEDS to be fairer in that regard.
If the ball is knocked free in the tackle it is holding the ball if there was prior opportunity and play on if there wasn’t.
Similarly, a player must dispose of the ball immediately when tackled if he had prior opportunity. If there was no prior opportunity, the player must be given a reasonable time to dispose of the ball.
That’s where the confusion lies; identical tackles can have different outcomes depending on whether there was prior opportunity.
Get rid of prior opportunity, adjudicate every tackle on its merits but don’t disadvantage players who take on the tackler. Ping them if they don’t make an attempt, but give them a reasonable time to dispose of the ball.