Sick of Sydney Whinging about Free Kicks

[bornadog]

Western Bulldogs not afraid of AFL umpiring square-up against Sydney Swans (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/western-bulldogs-not-afraid-of-afl-umpiring-squareup-against-sydney-swans-20170607-gwmkdp.html)


Peter Gordon is not worried about a square up. After they lost to the Western Bulldogs earlier this year – and again heavily lost the free kick count - Swans officials held peace talks with the umpires department.

"I trust the AFL, the umpires and the process," the Bulldogs president said about the prospect of the umpires having been put on notice ahead of Thursday night's return encounter.

The Swans' anger after the round two game prompted talks with the AFL's head of umpiring Peter Schwab to clarify decisions from games and the interpretations of umpires to issues, such as holding the man.

Most controversially in round two, the Swans were penalised in the dying minutes of the close game for the first deliberate rushed behind. Callum Mills tapped a ball through from the top of the goal square while being chased towards goal by Liam Picken. The Dogs kicked a goal and secured a 10-point lead from the free kick.

The deliberate rushed behind rule has been the most contentious this year with Richmond's Jayden Short penalised against Essendon for another rushed behind when deemed he was under insufficient pressure.

Another decision from the Dogs-Sydney game for holding the man against Aliir Aliir was later deemed an error. Tom Boyd kicked a goal from that decision.

Longmire was visibly incensed in the coach's box during the round two game and while the Swans did not complain about the free kicks after the grand final they did protest after round two.

"We just have to look at the way we coach them to be honest. The holding-the-ball decisions with us and them, we must have missed something," Longmire said at the time.

"We need to look into that clearly because it just felt at the time what we were doing around the contest compared to the opposition, they must be doing something different we need to look at."

Luke Beveridge took umbrage earlier in the year at the suggestion his side got a favourable run from the umpires.
"We're a very disciplined team, we pride ourselves in it [and] sometimes you get rewards from that," he said.

"I'd just like people … [to] actually look at vision and try and pull out the ones that we shouldn't be getting, and have a look out for the ones that maybe we should get that we don't get as well, just like other teams.

"If you base your analysis purely on quantities, you're missing the mark by a long way."
While the Swans were alarmed by the free kick count the other statistics also heavily favoured the Bulldogs who had more disposals, inside 50s, clearances and contested possessions.

The Bulldogs have held the wood over the Swans winning the past four matches against them, albeit by slim margins.

The Bulldogs are the top-ranked team in the AFL for tackles, averaging 76.7 per game, a long way ahead of the Swans in 11th position with an average of 67.5 a game.

[macca]

the afl are all they can do Ensure we have a difficult time at winning any games , they have chosen who they want to win the premiership this year

Some of the free kicks are disgraceful example in second quarter :
1. McLean tackle on jones deemed high , he got tackled under the shoulder and jones ducked into it. Jones misses shot infront of goal
2. Jong being pinged for holding the ball when he had not a millisecond of prior opportunity
3. Adams being tackled as soon as he has the ball, result sydney goal
4. Roughead gets pushed in the back in front of Sydney's goal someone sits on him , ball spills free and sydney get goal
The team got deflated one after another of these stupid free

When this happens I just don't bother any more watching footy, i turned off the TV after roughead being sat on
The afl should thank us for wInning the flag last year to spread the message of hope , that any team can do it.

Afl designated TOP 4 :
Adelaide
Gws
Geelong

Richmond , because afl want a messager of hope this year

[bornadog]

the afl are all they can do Ensure we have a difficult time at winning any games , they have chosen who they want to win the premiership this year

Spot on Macca. I may have mentioned this before. I sat next to Bailey Williams at the season launch and he said the 3rd man rule and cracking down on handballs by the AFL, was directed at the club. The whole playing group discussed it and felt the AFL was targeting us. So many times last night the Swans were caught HTB, incorrect disposal, but the umpires looked the other way

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Spot on Macca. I may have mentioned this before. I sat next to Bailey Williams at the season launch and he said the 3rd man rule and cracking down on handballs by the AFL, was directed at the club. The whole playing group discussed it and felt the AFL was targeting us. So many times last night the Swans were caught HTB, incorrect disposal, but the umpires looked the other way

This is exactly my thinking. I've mentioned it in a couple of other posts but the AFEL are going too far with their chase for the almighty dollar.

I am getting less and less inclined to watch anymore as the AFL turns into the WWE. A contrived entertainment source to pull in TV ratings and sponsorships.

The umpiring last night was pathetic and one-sided. Again, disclaimer, its not the reason we lost, but from the outset you could tell how things were going to go the rest of the game. I can't say i was shocked as i predicted this happening before the game after the reports of how sydney sooked to the AFL following our last two encounters. This is on the back of Adelaide getting a armchair ride from the umps a week after their sook at their treatment against us.

This is not a conspiracy theory or anything of the sort. Its just all part of the AFEL chase for money. Football is now a business. It has competitors in rugby and soccer. It chases revenue from sponsorships and TV advertisement. The game as we knew it is finished.

[soupman]

the afl are all they can do Ensure we have a difficult time at winning any games , they have chosen who they want to win the premiership this year

Some of the free kicks are disgraceful example in second quarter :
1. McLean tackle on jones deemed high , he got tackled under the shoulder and jones ducked into it. Jones misses shot infront of goal
2. Jong being pinged for holding the ball when he had not a millisecond of prior opportunity
3. Adams being tackled as soon as he has the ball, result sydney goal
4. Roughead gets pushed in the back in front of Sydney's goal someone sits on him , ball spills free and sydney get goal
The team got deflated one after another of these stupid free

When this happens I just don't bother any more watching footy, i turned off the TV after roughead being sat on
The afl should thank us for wInning the flag last year to spread the message of hope , that any team can do it.

Afl designated TOP 4 :
Adelaide
Gws
Geelong

Richmond , because afl want a messager of hope this year

Can also add that Bonts first holding the ball he was tackled high, the second he didn't so much dive on it as fall onto the ball as he was being tackled. Still maybe a free but not a blatant one and one they'd let go usually. These also set the tone.

There were a couple more later (a mark paid to them where they dropped it, and Mcleans deliberate which I kind of understand them paying but still not sure what his alternatives ere).

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Can also add that Bonts first holding the ball he was tackled high, the second he didn't so much dive on it as fall onto the ball as he was being tackled. Still maybe a free but not a blatant one and one they'd let go usually. These also set the tone.

There were a couple more later (a mark paid to them where they dropped it, and Mcleans deliberate which I kind of understand them paying but still not sure what his alternatives ere).

The McLean one was absolutely pathetic! He had no other option. He actually tried to keep it in, the ball just bounced at an angle that led to the boundary. But even despite that it was a horrendous call. Especially after they relaxed the rule, then all of a sudden its back again (well at least for us it was)

[bornadog]

This is not a conspiracy theory or anything of the sort. Its just all part of the AFEL chase for money. Football is now a business. It has competitors in rugby and soccer. It chases revenue from sponsorships and TV advertisement. The game as we knew it is finished.

Although they are chasing the all mighty dollar, they are at the same time trying to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. This game is so far superior to Rugby, Soccer etc, and can attract supporters no matter what. In other words, it doesn't need to be tinkered with and will make the dollars anyway under a fairer system.

If you go back to the start of when this forum started, I have carried on about rule changes and all for good reason, and now people are starting to think the same way. We are ruining a great game, by changing rules, over officiating, trying to think of new ways to rig the fixture, trying to push clubs like GWS, GC to win flags.

Despite everything against us, we won a flag and we were the most watched sporting club in Australia in 2016 - the AFL actually hated us beating GWS in the prelim.

In my 50 plus years of supporting the club, I have seen us almost go down, merged, relocated a number of times by the VFL/AFL trying their hardest to do so. They have never wanted us despite representing the whole of the Western Suburbs. (over half a million people plus).

They have preferred the Western suburbs of Sydney where the residents will never, ever, ever, embrace AFL. God, we even outnumbered them at the prelim, despite the AFL trucking in so called supporters, giving them free tickets and sporting gear to pretend to follow the club.

The AFL made some good changes by bringing in salary cap and drafts. Prior to the 1990's only 4 clubs won the premiership in about 20 years. We don't want to go back to that. But the tinkering of rules and fixtures and who plays who, once more they are going backwards.

Note: Of the 8 Friday night games this year only 2 are home games - yeah the AFL looked after us. :mad:

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Although they are chasing the all mighty dollar, they are at the same time trying to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. This game is so far superior to Rugby, Soccer etc, and can attract supporters no matter what. In other words, it doesn't need to be tinkered with and will make the dollars anyway under a fairer system.

If you go back to the start of when this forum started, I have carried on about rule changes and all for good reason, and now people are starting to think the same way. We are ruining a great game, by changing rules, over officiating, trying to think of new ways to rig the fixture, trying to push clubs like GWS, GC to win flags.

Despite everything against us, we won a flag and we were the most watched sporting club in Australia in 2016 - the AFL actually hated us beating GWS in the prelim.

In my 50 plus years of supporting the club, I have seen us almost go down, merged, relocated a number of times by the VFL/AFL trying their hardest to do so. They have never wanted us despite representing the whole of the Western Suburbs. (over half a million people plus).

They have preferred the Western suburbs of Sydney where the residents will never, ever, ever, embrace AFL. God, we even outnumbered them at the prelim, despite the AFL trucking in so called supporters, giving them free tickets and sporting gear to pretend to follow the club.

The AFL made some good changes by bringing in salary cap and drafts. Prior to the 1990's only 4 clubs won the premiership in about 20 years. We don't want to go back to that. But the tinkering of rules and fixtures and who plays who, once more they are going backwards.

Note: Of the 8 Friday night games this year only 2 are home games - yeah the AFL looked after us. :mad:

Never understood that. Reigning premiers and they think they can just pretend to reward us like that. It's pathetic.

GWS may very well destroy this league. I'm just glad we got a flag in before everything falls into a heap.

[Go_Dogs]

The early HTB frees against us, and then the free paid to Wallis when he had marked it highlighted the issues of just looking at the numbers. The count looked even, but at least one should've gone the other way and the Wallis free didn't need to be paid.

It must be quite deflating as a player.

Certainly wasn't what cost us the game last night though.

[WBFC4FFC]

Can also add that Bonts first holding the ball he was tackled high, the second he didn't so much dive on it as fall onto the ball as he was being tackled. Still maybe a free but not a blatant one and one they'd let go usually. These also set the tone.

There were a couple more later (a mark paid to them where they dropped it, and Mcleans deliberate which I kind of understand them paying but still not sure what his alternatives ere).

There's the blue-print. Pay a visit to the umps boss to get a more favourable treatment. In saying that, I do not want Bevo to do that, as he/we are above that.

Bevo has to focus on selecting fewer smaller body players for wet conditions. Campbell should have been in instead of English, given English rucked most of the night and was getting pushed around due to this lack of weight at present.

[SonofScray]

It has been obvious that all the moaning and crying in the off season and early parts of this year have had a priming effect on the umpires. Add that to the rule changes which were pushed through to curb our influence and the degree of difficulty has been turned up a notch.

Last night was a square up, no doubt in my mind. Bontempelli was just about umpired out of the game. The treatment he copped was a disgrace. Umpires are going out of their way to address the perceived, unwarranted #freekickbulldogs bias. The AFL are a disgrace for pandering to that narrative and have participated in efforts to cheapen our heroics.

[LostDoggy]

Yes the umpiring was a joke and the 'square up' they can stick it. It had nothing to do with us laying down like that. It should've drove us harder if anything, but it didn't, we whimpered and that's more of a worry than the bloody umpiring.

[S Coast Simon]

Well said I couldn't have said it better. The only thing I will add is the taggers are getting a free run at stifling the best players in the game. Bont is tackled before he gets the ball. How is this allowed to happen. You want people to come and watch the game then let the stars play the game

[merantau]

As a spectacle, the game was practically unwatchable. Sydney is a horrible venue for football. Yes, the umpiring was terrible but our performance was just so poor. I hope the message is driven home: this must never happen again. It was a collective failure to adapt and respond to Sydney's aggression and I could not stomach to see that ever again.

[macca]

We need to rediscover the form and drive some highlights to hopefully stir inspiration from

May 2015 massive In in the wet
HC and hrovat were good that day

https://youtu.be/wD8BxMGc3HA

Round 15 , 2016 win with last kick by JJ