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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
Quote from: Lods – on
On another point...did anyone else notice we tried the old "over the head not looking handball" a few times last night.
You mean the throws.

There were plenty of them from both sides, and it's pot luck, it's not a good tactic if you are slower than your opponent because every wayward disposal becomes a foot race that you can never win.

The bulk of the AFL now basically dispose of the footy by brushing a knuckle against the pill as they throw it away. We hate it, but I can see why the AFL have made it this way, because handball by the "ye old definition" was basically a roadblock for female participation in the AFLW.

In that regard you might as well just permit a throw like the many we saw last night.

You have to laugh about the commentary saying the umpires have become lenient because of the weather, but that lenience only extended to one team. Three weeks in a row we've seen opponents take possession, run 2 or 3 steps to be tackled like Tex last night, like Uniacke the week before, and our players have not been rewarded. We can't even blame it on being obscured by traffic, because it's happened in the clear, full view of multiple umpires, players, fans and commentators.

One thing from last night, there is no point our blokes trying to run off stoppages, they aren't fast enough, and absorbing the tackle drawing in the tacklers just screws up our disposal efficiency. Dawson showed what guys like Cripps, Kemp, McGovern and Cerra need to be doing more of to the smaller / lighter opponents instead of towing them around the field like backpacks.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
Quote from: Professer E – on
If Hary got the same umpiring that Tex does (he umpires, not the umpires) he'd be a bazillion times more effective.
Tex is a cheat and has gotten away with it forever.
When Cripps tried to enter a contest like Tex, by pushing his opponent forward into the pack, Cripps got pinged.

Nothing on the broadcast about how Derksen ended up on the deck well off the footy holding his guts with Tex the only other player within 25m.

Cripps tugs on an opponent in the midfield and gets pinged, at one stage he attacked the footy being held by three opponents and it was play on or worse still holding the ball even though he was being held before he took possession like that one in the goal square, more than once actually it's a regular event.

If we want a damning criticism of our players and / or coaches, it would be given we are a slower than average list, where are all the blocks and shepherds for each other, they are invisible! We regularly see Harry flying against 2 or 3, of course he doesn't mark you can't be expected to mark in that circumstance, but he brings the ball to ground and we still have less numbers at the fall of the footy. We regularly see Cripps battling 2 or 3 opponents on the inside, but we do not have the numbers on the outside of the stoppage. Something is very very wrong.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
I'm shocked by fans being shocked about the growing lasso abomination, like the AFL coaches and players were never going to bend this rule to the extreme! What we are seeing is the difference between the part-time semi-amateur AFLW result of this implementation and the fulltime AFL version, in my opinion it was inevitable and I warned as much last year.

But this isn't a problem of players or coaches it's a problem of umpiring, the AFL have made the rules and the implementation / interpretation of the rules so complicated the game is now basically impossible to officiate without shooting yourself in the foot.

The only concern I have is why it seems so lopsided from a Carlton perspective, but it probably makes sense, because we have a list built to play a completely different version of the game to what the AFL currently offers, the game our list is built to play no longer exists. As a result we probably serve up more opportunities for it all to go wrong!
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by Lods -
I'm not feeling as negative as some...

Lots of suggestions for things to fix.
Areas where we need to be better.
Many are valid.
The run on goals was still there last night.
Improvements aren't going to come all at one time.
So we should take the  little improvements where they come.

In the bigger scheme of things we were comfortably beaten by a better team.

But we weren't disgraced and played a team who...

Were on their home turf...one were we usually struggle.
Were minor premiers in 2025
Have beaten Collingwood
Lost to the Western Bulldogs by the current ladder leader by 6 points
Lost to Geelong, last years grand finalist by 8 points
Lost to Fremantle currently sitting 4th by 2 points.

They may not have been winning games but they're matching it with the best.
We matched them for large portions of the game
Were actually better for periods of the game...missing our key defender.
We lost the game in about ten minutes of the 'usual' lapse, but kept fighting.
The rain may have helped, but well into the last quarter we were competitive (in the play, if not on the scoreboard) so I suspect it's not the 'fitness' issue some suggested.

Not happy to lose.
But I thought there was enough improvement there that will be the 'theme' of the week, rather than the 'coach sacking' talk.


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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by Thryleon -
The arc review is an over reaction to the Atkins one vs crows at Kardinia Park.  The ball went out off him, it looked a bit like it hit a crows player, and its as simple as if there are two players disputing a ball, dont pay the lasso rule.

Yep the afl have made this complicated for no reason and as usual players are taking advantage of it.

The one against Frankie Evans was the worst call of the night.  The ball was left behind in a tackle and he had no idea it was going over whilst it came off his leg inadvertently.  Who's idea was this rule and how does it help the game?  Use it for those ones that might be deliberate instead not twiggy touch wood rubbish.  The game is becoming very hard to watch.  Derkson got done for a 50etre penalty whilst Tex was playing on ffs, and then Tex didnt stand and didnt give one away later.  Different rules for different players, throws missed, and then you miss high contact all the time too.  The umps blow the whilst and half the time the free kick isnt even obvious. 
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by BluePhantom -
Quote from: RiverRat – on
Quote from: Lods – on


They shouldn't review it either.
That should be an umpires call in much the same way as a push in the back or a high tackle.
It's not a 'score' that changes  the result.

If the decision was based on whether (or not) the ball was deliberately kicked or batted, there would rarely be a need to review it - there should not be a free kick if the ball is merely 'touched' by a lower leg in a tangle of legs.
I thought it was a free if it went over the boundary line via a recorded possession. Kick or Handball.
AFL has messed with too many rules and haven't got too many right.
Some custodians of the game?
The use of the ARC for it is utter BS too.
Why not use the ARC for Ollies non hit on Walker?
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
So the fans calling for Cripps head now complain about him being benched. He wasn't even out there and it's still somehow his fault!

Cornes and others implied he would be dropped if he wasn't the captain, then they effectively begged for him to have 100% game time, stop listening to the media they are full of crap.

9 minutes of the alternatives and nothing to say about them.

I suspect it showed the true Cripps problem, without him the rest are overrated.