Umpiring decisions late in games have never felt more consequential nor more commonplace than this season.
In all three games on Saturday,contentious decisions paid in the last minute could reasonably be considered to have influenced the outcome. That is not to say they were all wrong,but all were consequential.
Perhaps it is a form of recency bias,but the frequency of umpiring decisions influencing games appears greater than ever. This might be one result of the trend for more games decided by small margins.
Every week now it seems the discussion of the round’s games starts with a critical late decision by the umpire. And,of course,it’s true players make more mistakes than umpires and games are decided by many moments of play,but they are also decided by the critical judgment calls by officials.
Of the three free kicks paid late in Saturday’s games – Mac Andrew’s for holding Max King;Tom Green for a late bump and the down-field free kick on James Sicily;and,Elliot Yeo for holding the ball – the Andrew free kick was just wrong,Yeo also looked hard done by and the decision against Green was probably fair enough.
Mac Andrew gets a grip on Max King during their duel at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.AFL Photos
King was grabbing Andrew,Andrew was grabbing King. The pair were roughly 80 metres from the ball. The umpire paid the free to King,telling Andrew “you had your arms around him”. He said that because Andrew did have his arms around King. But it was also true that King had his arms around Andrew.
As Andrew,the frustrated defender,articulated at the time – heard through the on-field microphones – “he was doing it to me. Oh,my god.”
Having your arms around a player should be a clue for a free kick,not a trigger for one. If it was a trigger for a free kick,there would be free kicks at every stoppage to midfielders,let alone to ruckmen.
The free kick to King,which led to a goal and gave the Saints the winning margin,should have been called “play on”.
Gold Coast’s Mac Andrew remonstrates with the umpire after conceding a crucial free kick to St Kilda opponent Max King.Seven
Not for the first time this year,a decision was made that lacked the right feel for the game. The AFL admitted Sunday that while it understood why the free was paid,it would rather it hadn’t been.
The truth of this free kick decision is that it did affect the result of the match,but in truth St Kilda played better for more of the game. Yes,the game was hard to watch,but the Saints were the better side.
Giants bull Green was marginally late with his bump on the Hawthorn captain Sicily,so the free kick was paid.
Another umpire might have called play on,but paying a free in that instance was not unreasonable.
Some raised their eyebrows that it was Luke Breust who took the down-field free kick not Mabior Chol when Chol was closer. Meh,any score would have put Hawthorn in front with a minute to play,so it’s doubtful the choice of who took the kick changed anything. Breust is the better kick,but it’s fair to assume Chol would have scored.
And the Yeo decision? The call that he dragged the ball in was harsh. Yeo was on his knees when he grabbed the ball. He dragged it towards himself,not under his body,and was upright on his knees looking to dispose of the ball when he was tackled.
Dragging the ball in is ordinarily a free kick because the player on the ground pulls the ball under his body,as Sam Draper did in the howler of a non-decision in the final minute against Adelaide.
Hawks dare,Saints bore
Two teams played higher-ranked opponents. The two teams won with a deliberate plan for how they would do it. One team played bold football. The other one was St Kilda.
St Kilda’s Mitch Owens lays a tackle on Gold Coast’s Sam Clohesy in Saturday night’s dour affair at Marvel Stadium.AFL Photos
St Kilda and Hawthorn both took a tactical approach they felt would give them their best chance to win,and both coaches were successful. Both teams and their approaches were right. The Hawthorn v GWS game was absorbing and thrilling football. The Saints v Suns game will make no highlight reel,save for the match-deciding free kick.
Another Ross Lyon team won a game posting just seven goals. Under a roof. Five times this year they have kicked double-figure goals and two of those occasions were against the bottom two teams.
The interest was that Hawthorn also played a defensive game and sweated on turnovers,but when they won the ball back,they ran hard at the opposition and had them back-pedalling. When St Kilda regained possession in their match they went forward with all the urgency of someone late for the dentist.
They deployed Marcus Windhager again as a tagger,and he shut down Touk Miller a week after he eclipsed wonder-brute Harley Reid.
They flooded the Suns’ forward half of the ground and restricted them to just 45 inside-50s. The Saints had 56,as Lyon pointed out post-game,after Damien Hardwick had his head in his hands in his press conference over the spectacle they had endured.
The speed and depth of the Saints’ inside-50s didn’t help their attempts to convert. Bear in mind the Hawks only had 52 inside-50s in their far more entertaining game. It was the pace at which the ball entered the Hawks’ attacking zone that made the difference.
The Saints were playing a more talented opponent,albeit one with an inability to win anywhere but the Gold Coast or Darwin,and they constructed a game plan that worked.
It was a successful plan in a game they were not favoured to win,so there is no begrudging that,but gee,it was hard viewing.
There were fewer than 18,000 people at the game. Yes,it was the Saturday night of a long weekend against a small non-Victorian team,but the Saints are supposed to be agitating to shift more of their games to the MCG. That sort of crowd does nothing for the argument they have a growing fan base itching for more seats at games. Of course,they would never play Gold Coast at the MCG,especially in that timeslot,but they are not mounting a strong case to suggest they have outgrown Marvel.
Hawthorn,in contrast,played a game any footy fan would want to tune into. Week by week,they are building a case that they are one of the most watchable teams in the AFL.
Sure,they are limited,but they play a game of dare,they put pace on the ball,and they run hard at the opposition,which makes them hard to defend. They scored 54 points from turnovers.
The spirit and vigour of Hawthorn was on full show against GWS in Launceston.Getty Images
They were forced to be inventive after Ned Reeves went down. They used Josh Weddle in the ruck and forward,Conor Nash was used there at times as well.
But what was more telling was that coach Sam Mitchell doubled down to his players at half-time that they were not to play boring football,and that their game is effort-based. Consequently,they had 19 tackles in the third quarter alone. Those tackles,that pressure,were the reasons they could play the turnover game and kick a score.
The Hawks played with dare,St Kilda didn’t. Both teams can say their method worked. One was better to watch.
Roos find their own heroes
Harley Reid was delivered to West Coast last year when North defeated the Eagles. Reid not playing for West Coast probably meant North won their match on Saturday,especially given the final margin.
North’s midfield doesn’t have Reid,but in Perth they had more midfield class than the Eagles.
George Wardlaw had 10 clearances,Harry Sheezel 30 touches and further reaffirmed the idea he needs to remain on the ball and complete his move away from the half-back flank,while Luke Davies-Uniacke was among the best on ground for much of the game.
Tim Kelly also being out for the Eagles didn’t help the hone side’s cause.
The Roos’ effort was marked not just by the excellent Nick Larkey’s bag of five goals,but smaller moments like Charlie Comben running off his man to intercept mark and gallop back into attack,and by Tristan Xerri’s desperate chase on what appeared to be a fool’s errand – a ruckman (Xerri) trying to chase down a speedy forward (Liam Ryan).
Xerri’s desperation allowed him to get a hand on Ryan’s jumper just as he was about to kick,and it was enough to make the fleet-footed forward’s kick slew off his boot.
Getting my back up
The AFL this week spoke to its umpires at training about push-in-the-back adjudications in marking contests. And we applaud them for it.
There also looked to be a few more free kicks paid for pushes his week. We also encourage the AFL to talk to the broadcasters and see if they can talk to their commentators about the rule.
Too many commentators peddle the nonsense that a push in the back only occurs if you use your hands. That isn’t the rule. You can shove someone in the back with your hands … and with your forearms,your shoulder,your backside or your chest.
If you shove someone forwards out of a marking contest it should be a free kick,and it certainly should not be described as “good body work”.
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