Damien Hardwick | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Damien Hardwick

We can argue over this until the sun expands enough to swallow the earth and every other planet in the solar system, but the simple reality is this.

The goal umpire had the best view of any being in the known universe, so unless he had a camera mounted on the peek of his hat,, looking right up as the ball passed over, how on earth, or any other heavenly body, do you over turn the decision.

Back to you Gil............ please explain?

So being rather p!ssed off myself over this, it seems there's no better time than now to dust off the monty Python classic......................

 
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I just don't know what else you can do but move on. The bloke in the ARC made a bad call. The AFL says they are happy with the call so they made a bad call as well. Or maybe they just took the heat for the bloke who made the mistake.

The game is done and dusted and the result isn't going to change. You can make a strong point about it, which I think the club and media did, but beyond that it just becomes beating your head against a wall I think.

Ultimately it's just the ups and downs of sport, just this time in the modern age.
There is a very good reason not to move on. It was clear to almost everyone that the AFL chose sub-standard tech to get on the video-ref train. They could have spent years developing specific tech to handle the unique scoring style of AFL. They could have partnered with Hawk-Eye or a local university to create a state-of-the-art solution. It would have been costly and meant that they had to wait years to implement it. They chose instead to half-arse it. But because of the way they seem able to bulldoze their way through bad decisions we have ended up with a situation where their terrible process and bulldozing style has caused it to become glaringly obvious just how bad the tech is. This isn't only about a flubbed decision, it is about bad tech. There is very good reason to call that out. Loudly and constantly.
 
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It’s just a game

We shouldn’t have let Brisbane get so close

The focus should be on how we get better
 
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There is very good reason to call that out. Loudly and constantly.

That's all true but also all clear from the moment the ARC was introduced.

The Indian Cricket team didn't trust the DRS technology when it was first introduced so they refused to have it used in their games and only allowed it when the technology improved, a few years later. That's how this should have been handled but no-one had the spine to do it.
 
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That's all true but also all clear from the moment the ARC was introduced.

The Indian Cricket team didn't trust the DRS technology when it was first introduced so they refused to have it used in their games and only allowed it when the technology improved, a few years later. That's how this should have been handled but no-one had the spine to do it.
I still don't like the DRS in cricket. It is more tactical these days than there for the howler which is what it is supposed to be in place to prevent and still struggle sometimes with the computerised direction of ball travel.
 
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Yes exactly
We had a final won - very, very likely - as certain as you can be. And it was stolen from us, either way you look at it. Decision or process.

We may well have beaten Smelbourne and be still contending for this year's flag with every subsequent final at the G. History has been altered.

Amazed that some are so, to put it the nicest way I can, 'forgiving.'
 
We had a final won - very, very likely - as certain as you can be. And it was stolen from us, either way you look at it. Decision or process.

We may well have beaten Smelbourne and be still contending for this year's flag with every subsequent final at the G. History has been altered.

Amazed that some are so, to put it the nicest way I can, 'forgiving.'

The club can get itself worked up over the ARC decision and lay blame on it for stealing the win.

Or the club can work on the many many basic stupid errors that had us as a sitting duck in those last two minutes

The first is outside of our control and if we allow the focus to continue on that then we are wasting valuable time

The second is within our control and we can fix some if not all the stupidity. The club has already started to fix the center bounce clearance problem
 
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The club can get itself worked up over the ARC decision and lay blame on it for stealing the win.

Or the club can work on the many many basic stupid errors that had us as a sitting duck in those last two minutes

The first is outside of our control and if we allow the focus to continue on that then we are wasting valuable time

The second is within our control and we can fix some if not all the stupidity. The club has already started to fix the center bounce clearance problem

Bit of both in my opinion. We blew it, and we were also robbed. Could only happen to this club.
 
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The club can get itself worked up over the ARC decision and lay blame on it for stealing the win.

Or the club can work on the many many basic stupid errors that had us as a sitting duck in those last two minutes

The first is outside of our control and if we allow the focus to continue on that then we are wasting valuable time

The second is within our control and we can fix some if not all the stupidity. The club has already started to fix the center bounce clearance problem

You know what, we made many basic stupid errors, Brisbane made many basic stupid errors and the umpires made many basic stupid errors. In my 50 years of playing and watching footy, I've never seen a game in which the 3 parties involved haven't made basic stupid errors.

One thing I have never witnessed in 50 years of playing and watching football is a goal umpire believing a goal had been kicked (you know the official who was in perfect position under the flight of the ball) being over-ruled in less than 30 seconds by amazingly inconclusive vision. Did I mention it essentially determined the result of a final? It is now 2 weeks after that game and there is still no conclusive evidence that the goal ump's call should have been overturned. Anyone who believes that the kick was a point with the current available evidence is either A) the AFL, B) an AFL crony toing the party line, C) believes the goal ump lied, or D) is having a laugh.

Wasting valuable time? Please. You don't have a very high opinion of the club if think they can't prepare for next season while also pursuing this "wrong" like a dog with a bone.

It's the #$%^ing principle. Will we be awarded that game? No. Does anyone think we should now be awarded that game? No. Should we fight like hell to ensure this never happens again for any team (bar the Cants)? Absol#$%^inglutely.
 
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What makes the decision so bad is that it wasn't in the heat of the moment, it was a decision which could have been made slower after looking properly at all the evidence.

Just not good enough, standards in adjudicating this game need to improve.

DS
 
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Bit of both in my opinion. We blew it, and we were also robbed. Could only happen to this club.

The club can get itself worked up over the ARC decision and lay blame on it for stealing the win.

Or the club can work on the many many basic stupid errors that had us as a sitting duck in those last two minutes

The first is outside of our control and if we allow the focus to continue on that then we are wasting valuable time

The second is within our control and we can fix some if not all the stupidity. The club has already started to fix the center bounce clearance problem
Do you not comprehend? The ARC decision is entirely UNRELATED to whatever happened before it*.

All that mattered is whether it was a goal or not. Can you, or have the AFL even now, provide(d) indisputable evidence of it being a goal or not. I have seen no such evidence. So what did the goal umpire call provisionally? So why was this over-ruled?

* To use an analogy. You are about to undergo a delicate prostate operation where any error may result in, shall we say, you losing some of your most vital assets. Surgeon is brilliant in theatre, but otherwise an ars: cheats on his wife, over-charges, speeds constantly in his $350k Merc, treats his kids like crap. So, would you like the outcome of your operation determined by all his immoral traits prior to your surgery?

Or purely by his renowned ability with scalpel in hand for the duration of your brief op?
Luckily, the two facets of his character are not connected at all.
 
Richmondy??

Hate that term but we coughed up so many games this year because of our poor defence. Did it again in the final. I’m not sure what else there is to say about it but it was drilled into me as a junior footballer to not let the umps be a factor.

If we’re relying on an umpiring decision to get us over the line we’ve let something outside of our control decide our fate. Both things can be true. We could have iced the game a number of times and a bad umpiring decision was also a factor. That’s sport. Just seems we’re always the team that cops the poo end of the stick in big games
 
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I'd imagine Dimma will be stunned by the revelations in the report aimed at his good friend today.

Our club does a lot right but this is a timely reminder that we need to keep doing better ourselves as a footy club especially given Peggy's recent departure.
 
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The club can get itself worked up over the ARC decision and lay blame on it for stealing the win.

Or the club can work on the many many basic stupid errors that had us as a sitting duck in those last two minutes

The first is outside of our control and if we allow the focus to continue on that then we are wasting valuable time

The second is within our control and we can fix some if not all the stupidity. The club has already started to fix the center bounce clearance problem

Yep.We played like crap for most of that game. Didn't deserve it. Lynch kicking the cover off the ball from 15 out, 5 defenders spilling a ball to Joey Joey Jo Jo FFS.

Really sums up our season.

Focus on getting better.
 
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Yep.We played like crap for most of that game. Didn't deserve it. Lynch kicking the cover off the ball from 15 out, 5 defenders spilling a ball to Joey Joey Jo Jo FFS.

Really sums up our season.

Focus on getting better.
Agree but they still *smile* us over.
 
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I sincerely hope not.

Damien Hardwick was at Hawthorn during the period mentioned in the ABC news investigation - what are the chances of his name being included in the final independent report?