gustiger12 said:
However I think that half the rule changes result from poor umpire interpretations in the first place.
Gustiger, you are TOTALLY SPOT ON, and that sentence sums up 90% of the gripes we are having with our game today!
The hands in the back rule was put in place to take away the interpretation problem that umpires struggled with. The issue was where a player with his back to an opponent is pushed out and whether the ball was within a certain distance etc etc, so they make the rule more black and white!
Suddenly umpires are paying it when a player has taken the correct position only to have an opponent back into him. The player in the correct position instinctively puts a hand out, no push, just holds ground and yet he's pinged! Yet Buddy Franklin can push players over before the ball is even within the TV frame and not get penalised! He often gets pinged, but for some reason only half the time despite how often he does it.
The rule for not riding a player into the ground is there for exactly that reason - so players don't get ridden into the ground and injured! Now however, everything is paid, even when the player with the ball throws himself forward to milk a free kick! Where are the umpires that will say, "well that's not against the spirit of the game, so i won't pay it"! Yet Fev's tackle on Richo when Waite ran on to goal from the square - Fev grabs Richo, makes no attempt to turn him over and drives him face and shoulders into the ground and rides him down, landing flat on his back - no free kick! Late Thursfield makes a tackle, and lands next to his opponent doin geverything to not land on his back. Free kick, and 50m penalty for just asking why - goal from the square!
This new 50m penalty rule is going to effect the results of a lot of games this year! It wasn't just us that copped some incredibly soft decisions. Barry Hall copped one last night that wa as weak as anything i've ever seen. I'm no Hall fan, but he cops it as bad as Richo does from the umpiring fraternity!
The arm chopping rule should be in place. I think it's a good rule, but it's another rule made to look bad when umpires start penalising defenders who punch the ball and might take an arm at the same time. Umpires are too stupid to realise the rule is in place to get rid of the deliberate chop of an arm, not incidental contact which is bound to happen.
If its against the spirit of allowing a player the reasonable right to contest the ball ,or if it's truly dangerous, you blow the whistle. If not you let play go on! How hard is that?
