tigersnake said:
Good old Roosy. WHen in dpoubt, he looks to Basketball for the solution.
When a Basketball team is up by a point with 20 secs to go, they will inevitably try to play keepings-off and wait for the siren. The other team immediately fouls them and this generally leads to two free throws for the team that is leading. The idea of the foul is that it forces the clock to stop. The other team gets their shots, if they pop them in, then they win by a couple more (big deal), if they lose the team that is trailing has a 50/50 chance of winning the ball back and getting a shot. Even i fboth shots go in, the team that is losing gets an opportunity to level the game because they gain possession.
The problem facing Bowden was that if he coughed it up, Essendon were only a kick from goal. Essendon had manned up on everyone so he would have been forced to kick to a contest and there was every chance that he would be watching the ball sail over his head. If he made any mistake at all, they would have had an opportunity to score a goal. Why should he give them this opportunity just to keep the crowd happy?
Run over the mark, push him 50m up the ground and he will be more likely to kick to a contest as it will be at least two kicks from goal. This is fair to everyone. Like in Basketball, the odds are with the team that is already leading late into the game, as it should be.
