Free Kick count?

[Bulldog Joe]

Haha. Pretty much the same result as the ‘16 grand final. i.e we should have had MORE free kicks given to us!

Just confirms the sour grapes amongst lions fans and bizarrely amongst neutrals and the media.

Better sweep this under the rug else people will have to admit we deserve and earn our success despite being up against even greater odds than their entitled teams.

The alleged neutrals are mostly jealous of our ability to play to the interpretation when their's teams are unable to manage that skill/tactic.

The media lack any feel and just look for something to make a story.

The perception that frees should be awarded equally is simply lacking on understanding.

[Grantysghost]

It's an overall disdain for authority, I'm sure there's some father issues with most of them.... it's insane to think in a game where there are so many decisions made 1 or 2 can make a difference.

I know a very good psychologist quite well!

[hujsh]

I'll just say that maybe some on here should be a bit careful before claiming that all complaining about umping is just whinging. I'd wager attitudes were different in 1997.

[jeemak]

I'll just say that maybe some on here should be a bit careful before claiming that all complaining about umping is just whinging. I'd wager attitudes were different in 1997.

1997? I'm all about 2009 thanks.

[bornadog]

1997? I'm all about 2009 thanks.

Yeah that free to Riewoldt

[HOSE B ROMERO]

As my Grand pop used to say "The man in lemon/lime is always right".

[jeemak]

Apologies if this has already been posted but here is a good short recount of the free kicks by a neutral reviewer from reddit. Good complement to the Twitter guy up-thread.

Summary:
Attachment 1034

As I said in the game day thread, I thought the umpiring was abysmal throughout, really inconsistent and also insistent (ie there were way too many things being called). Inconsistency is bad for the viewers, but it's worse for the players. It's the real problem.

In general my feeling is that the Umps are part of the 'terrain' and need to be accounted for rather than complained about. Our guys seem to account for the umps better than any other team in the comp, and give very few frees away. I used to coach my students the same way when I was a fencing coach - if your ref won't call your attacks on preparation, you need to switch tactics and do something else - because they will never work. The answer to the whims of umpiring is capitalise on it by playing to the ump's bias. The best player - the one with more tactical depth and discipline - will succeed.

To put it another way, you wouldn't complain about the wind, you'd capitalise on it. Umpires are like the wind - capricious and unavoidable.

Saying your team lost because of the umpires is a sign of a tiny, feeble mind. This is the image I think of when I see anyone sooking about the umpires:

Hey Boots, do you have a link to that reddit post?

[Happy Days]

Hey Boots, do you have a link to that reddit post?

Click on the word “here”.

[jeemak]

Click on the word “here”.

Ha, thanks I didn't notice that or read it properly!!! Cheers.

[Twodogs]

Click on the word “here”.

How many other posters have been clicking on the 'here' above?

[Flamethrower]

It's all just confirmation bias now...any loss to the Bulldogs is now immediately blamed on the umpires and some fanciful AFL bias.

We could beat Port by 100 points on Saturday night, with the Power winning the free kick count 50-1, and all we would hear is how that 1 free kick the Dogs got won them the game.

[bulldogtragic]

It's all just confirmation bias now...any loss to the Bulldogs is now immediately blamed on the umpires and some fanciful AFL bias.

We could beat Port by 100 points on Saturday night, with the Power winning the free kick count 50-1, and all we would hear is how that 1 free kick the Dogs got won them the game.

I can live with that. More than fine.

[Cyberdoggie]

The ruck free at the end was technical and while probably there, regularly doesn't get paid so can understand it causing frustration. What I can't understand is the bleating that it cost the Lions the game.

It was given in the middle of the ground, not the goal square. Lions defenders still had an opportunity to set up and kill it or win it back and rebound to set up a win. They did neither and coughed up a point through some excellent contested work from our guys.

It gets paid when the offending players doesn't actually touch the ball. You can do it and if you get the tap they don't pay a free kick.

[Cyberdoggie]

We usually win the free kick count because we are first to the ball, we have some smalls that put themselves in a position to get those high free kicks (sometimes deliberately), and because the opposition are trying to put the pressure on our mids to cause turnover and prevent our style of football.

When we had a 3 game run of losses we were not doing as well in the free kicks because we weren't cracking in first and we were letting the opposition win the contested ball. Pretty simple.

[Raw Toast]

On a related side-note, it's ridiculous that umpiring hasn't been made a full-time job. As well as our hearts and souls, a huge amount of $ is at stake.

Giving umpires more time to prepare for all facets of the game (fitness, positioning, film work, analysis, team-work etc) would surely help bring some more accuracy and consistency to what is a very hard task.