Ever since I started watching AFL I thought the game, which at times is a great spectacle, was over umpired. I know that there are long established traditions but I think that a deep review to significantly lessen umpire involvement and intervention could be very beneficial for the game. I’ll probably get crucified now by the traditionalists! 🤪
I think they could easily go back to one umpire, and bring in heavier MRP review and penalties for infringements.
Sure, I get that one umpire might miss a lot, but I'm not sure that makes things worse.
If the MRP penalties for sneaky crap were heavy enough, the game would self-regulate.
I watch a lot of Ammo and local footy, most games only have 2 umpires, and they move the footy as fast as the AFL. Only two umpires is not a big deal, and in the local footy the umpires are not fit and do not get regular Ad breaks to recover!
Going back to 2 umpires cuts away 50% of the variability, and to me variability is the biggest frustration.
I'm not saying only two umpires per game, but perhaps just two umpires on the ground at any one time would be a big improvement. Why can't umpires interchange the way players interchange?
Glial cell tumours pop up anywhere nerve cells occur, it's a pretty broad category and the big current problem is that there is no effective treatment for Glioma of any type.
My understanding it gets labelled glioblastoma multiforme because several neuroglial cell types can all be affected together in one glioma. Unlike tumors in other areas of the body not much progress has been made in treating tumors based in nerve cells, or even knowing why they occur, there doesn't even seem to be a strong hypothesis regarding the reservoir.
And that brings me to Dean and Derksen. I was concerned about going in with two inexperienced key defenders but they were fine. Having Haynes, Newey and Florent to organise the defence is a big help.
I know Florent has become a whipping boy for some fans, but he keeps doing the right things at the right moment.
More than once Florent was the one intercepting the CheatsFC attempts to go through the corridor, he left his direct opponent and took the risk for the team and it paid off. Furthermore, in the first half when much of the team appeared to be on holiday he seemed to be making an effort, effective or not, and it kept us in the game.
I can't say the umpiring made much difference either way, but it was contributing the low quality game. Sometimes having all those umpires just seems to make things murkier!
The dodgy free that annoys me most beyond the stupid ruck rules is players getting pinged 50m for a moment of confusion about who was being directed to stand, in this regard often umpires contribute to the problem. It's not good enough to just say players need to be aware, they can barely hear each other let alone an umpire 15m away!
For the second week in a row I wish I could give Smith some votes, but in addition to his turnovers he missed several wide open targets with 20m clear disposal attempts, and twice that indirectly lead to chains of play that ultimately created a CheatsFC goal, when we should really have been heading into F50 for a scoring attempt of our own. I realise he is just a kid, but by AFL standards his kicking can be dead ordinary. Fans might not think much of these events because they often happen forward of center, but they are in effect creating a 5 or 6 goal swing. I love the way he finds and wins the footy, he is a serious talent, but if he fails to sort out his disposal he'll never become elite.
Only call i questioned was why Pittonet was not paid the mark on the goal line.
There were several non-decisions that both teams seems to miss out on, marks and obvious holding frees, I can't say they would have made much difference but we did miss out on several well inside our F50 in the first half.
The commentary went on about the Cripps not being rewarded on the boundary line just outside the 50m arc, bit to me that was the least significant of the non-decisions. I thought Pitto should have had two frees within close range inside our F50 and they just weren't paid. And the ruck center line penalties are becoming a joke with most occurring due to the umpires throwing the footy up in favour of one ruck.
Derksen IMO isn't has good defensively as Young. Young's issue is he panics a little when making decisions but he knows how to stay on his mans shoulder and kill a contest when it needs to be killed. Derksen seemed exposed last night.
I think it depends on what you think defence is. If you only count wrestling and winning against giants in a one on one then I agree, Young is better than Derksen.
But if you count reading the play, intercept marking, acting rather than watching, doing something, then using the footy, then I think Derksen has Young covered.
There may be a reason Young is anchored in the VFL, to me his biggest weakness is he too often becomes a rabbit in the headlights in critical moments, ball watching, and it hurts the team. It's so predictable opposition single him out and put him in that situation in pressure moments. I realise his boosters will arc up about that, but I think it's there to see too often, and he isn't an AFL beginner he's been at it for a decade.
btw., Ben it turns out is Harry's twin, and much like Harry who has most equivalently sized KPDs covered on the lead, so does Ben! The reason you see Harry jumping over packs from the back is because opposition put defenders in the space knowing he will have his direct opponent covered on the lead. So the question is, why did we think Ben wouldn't do the same? Perhaps not so good D50 coaching I'm afraid.
We're missing targets by 5m from only 20m away, forwards aren't an option, it's not getting that far forward often enough with any accuracy or efficiency.
Want to know why we are anchored on the bottom of the ladder, watch this game.
So ends Fraser's career, it took just 4 weeks for the list to burn him, at least Voss lasted 4 years, now Fraser knows how Voss feels!
We need to be fully focused and in the most ruthless mood possible. Take no prisoners!
Nope, not just win, we need to be focussed on crushing an opponent for a generation.
Hurting them to the point this generation of CheatsFC players never recover, eternally subservient to Carlton, we must show we are prepared to inflict an eternal bruise!
Until we develop that killer instinct, we are consigned to mediocrity, there is no playing nice, nice in AFL is reserved for also rans!
I apologise if I offend someone with comments like this, but it is reality, not an idealistic meme!
