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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 13 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Essendon
Last post by Milhanna13 -
would love to know how many of those are centre square frees (for both pitto and the others). maybe its just because we watch him all the time, but pitto does seem to give away a lot of those
i support pitto, but he isnt as dynamic as some of the other rucks in the comp (although he started the year kicking goals), and if he isnt giving is first use in the middle (including giving away frees), then he becomes even less useful
It would definitely show a bias. I.e. pittonet is penalised once per match for crossing the line in ruck contests over the course of 2026. Most of that time, his opponent is running and jumping over him and also crossing the line but it seems that if you are off the ground, in the air, this doesn’t matter.
Ultimately the free kick thing is irrelevant as most of the ones he is giving away aren't really there to start with.
When you look at free kicks rather than worry about how many are given away, it needs to be viewed solely about how a player plays over the course of a match. Some players are on the edge more and give more frees away. Some teams play like this as a rule.
The number of frees simply represent the number of times you got penalised, and not the number of times you infringed or did something wrong as you wont be penalised every time, the umps tend to put the whistle away.
"but it seems that if you are off the ground, in the air, this doesn’t matter" - i hadnt actually noticed this, but it does make sense. Pitto is penalised as it is easy to see him "step" over the line, whereas the jumpers it is harder to judge. makes sense why he seems to give so many away
on the pushing the edge - that used to annoy me so much, with the clarko hawks. they used to push the rules to the max, and way over the max, cop maybe 2 or 3 frees a match for it, but get away with 98 other infringements. smart, when you think about it, but so frsutrating to watch