Which still doesn't mean he was trying to help Geelong in his time at the AFL.
Do we think Shaun Grigg wants to help Richmond win when we play Geelong?
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The stand rule???
- Thread starter yandb
- Start date
Which still doesn't mean he was trying to help Geelong in his time at the AFL.
Do we think Shaun Grigg wants to help Richmond win when we play Geelong?
If I remember correctly, this Stand rule change was brought in without consultation from the Rules of the Game committee, or whatever that body was. They were just as miffed as everyone else.
It was a personal knee-jerk reaction from Hocking after the 2020 Grand Final. Lepper, on SEN, pretty much said Hocking told him that he has something in mind to stop Richmond's tactics when manning the mark.
It was a personal knee-jerk reaction from Hocking after the 2020 Grand Final. Lepper, on SEN, pretty much said Hocking told him that he has something in mind to stop Richmond's tactics when manning the mark.
fair enough, those at the AFL have always shown themselves to be beyond reproach, appointed on merit, and have always behaved with the utmost integrity.
Apart from all the stuff they did, that it turns out they didn't actually do, of course.
Well, your argument falls over then. I won't bother going over old ground, the case has been presented already, Richmond opposition to rule, observers saying, or implying the rule was brought in to impede our style of play, the quick and ham-fisted way it was introduced. And even though you have argued against that, and I suppose somebody might think those arguments have merit, the word 'slightly' here makes it impossible to argue against, and therefore, logically, demolishes your argument. Thanks TBR, and goodnight.
We all know it is a sh!t rule, we all know it was brought in without consulting even the rules committee, we all know it was brought in without enough notice.
We all know all of this, well, everyone except the AFL cheer squad.
DS
We all know all of this, well, everyone except the AFL cheer squad.
DS
November 2020: Stand rule announced
March 2021: 1st AFL game with new stand rule
May 4th 2021: Umpires boss Hadyn Kennedy suddenly resigns after being in the role since 2013.
"Multiple football sources have indicated there has been growing friction between senior umpires and league football boss Steve Hocking" The Age May 4th 2021
July 5th 2021: SHocking resigns and leaves the AFL 3 days later. He announces he will take up the Cats CEO position in October.
"Hocking said he simply could not pass up the opportunity to become Geelong CEO, given his long-standing relationship with the club, and admitted the constant public scrutiny and criticism caused him to “lose a bit of bark” along the way" The Age July 5th 2021
A lot of circumstantial stuff, but Kennedy suddenly resigning, and then SHocking pulling the pin mid-season to go to the Cats. Would love to get the inside word from from Kennedy, would be very interesting IMO.
March 2021: 1st AFL game with new stand rule
May 4th 2021: Umpires boss Hadyn Kennedy suddenly resigns after being in the role since 2013.
"Multiple football sources have indicated there has been growing friction between senior umpires and league football boss Steve Hocking" The Age May 4th 2021
July 5th 2021: SHocking resigns and leaves the AFL 3 days later. He announces he will take up the Cats CEO position in October.
"Hocking said he simply could not pass up the opportunity to become Geelong CEO, given his long-standing relationship with the club, and admitted the constant public scrutiny and criticism caused him to “lose a bit of bark” along the way" The Age July 5th 2021
A lot of circumstantial stuff, but Kennedy suddenly resigning, and then SHocking pulling the pin mid-season to go to the Cats. Would love to get the inside word from from Kennedy, would be very interesting IMO.
There are always exceptions to the rule. sHocking the prime example. Cheating, corrupt, pooncy, prick. And they’re his good traits.
His ego wouldn’t let him entertain the thought that others would see him slightly conflicted.
TBR it’s the afl and sHocking we’re talking about. “Optics” only matter when the afl can’t sweep things under the rug or ignore issues they don’t want publicised.
I don't dispute the second sentence in terms of the AFL, they are like most corporations who favour optics over all else.
In terms of Hocking specifically though, I find it hard to see any evidence he was anything more than a bloke doing his job. It seems just about every whinge about him doesn't actually stand up to a factual analysis.
Take the stand rule for example, a rule that speeds up the movement of the football no end. Did anyone think that would help one of the oldest sides in the competition when it came in? I certainly didn't and I don't think many deep thinkers about the game would have. It certainly wasn't helping Geelong when they were run off their feet and humiliated by Melbourne in the 2021 preliminary final.
Same year as the stand rule he sliced rotations and allowed the ball to be kicked in deeper, which again speeds it up. Both of those things are the last things Geelong would have wanted.
It seems the only basis for much of the stuff about Hocking is him 'watching Richmond on the mark and bringing in the stand rule' which when drilled into was a throw away line by a middle rung journalist in one article and a whisper on SEN that no-one has ever been able to locate. It's hardly water tight.
People shoot me down for defending him all the time but I'm more than happy to lay the boots in, I'd just like someone to give me a legitimate reason to do so that isn't speculative nonsense.
When’s McLachlan getting the flick? Nothing can change for the positive until this muppet is gone.
It is the single dumbest rule in football I've seen in 50 years. It makes a mockery of defence, looks terrible, lacks feel for the game and is an artificial design of one person with an axe to grind.
100% Making a player freeze until the umpire says unfreeze I thought was a kids game played to music. Not AFL.
And there is the problem. The lack of feel for the game. What if you go to handball, or kick and then change your mind because it's not your best option, or someone moves to cover your intended recipient ? You would see this 20 times in a game. People going to play on then changing their mind. Now, the morons will call play oon and we're going to see people standing there with the ball and being tackled saying 'hang on! I didn't play on'.
The stupidity of the stand rule is shown up by the pathetic attempts to fix it, solve it, make it more clear, minimise the interpretations...on and on justifying the unjustifiable instead of scrapping the idiotic rule and simply firming up what you can do standing the mark.
All they had to do was say you can still defend the mark by taking one step either way only. All of these new rules, make no mistake, have been designed to increase scoring and we all know why.
Then the Cats win the flag in 22 by 15 goals. It was just a coincidence.
I'm a neutral on the stand rule in that I'm not sure if it is a good thing or not because I'm still not totally convinced of what if any impact it has on the game, but I do think the game is in excellent shape right now.
Your arguments on the stand rule are typical of what I hear from 99% of the people who are against it. They don't like the look of it, the general feel of it, feel like it is too dramatic a change to the manner in which the game is played.
Personally I don't care for the aesthetics argument. I remember when the second ruck circle came in and similar comments were made about making the game basketball and when is the three point line going to follow etc and that is in the mix as one of the greatest injury prevention rules in the history of sport now. The instances of ruck on ruck PCL injuries has dropped by over 80%.
The thing I would like is for an argument to be prosecuted about the actual merits of the rule. What does it do to the game in real terms, not just in terms of personal taste. What has it changed about the game, what have been the impacts and what is positive of negative about them.
I haven't seen that from anyone at all in the football world, media, punters, clubs or otherwise.
He's certainly in a position to influence the team he works for. If we assume Steve Hocking can't help but conspire to help Geelong, why not everyone?
Go have a chat and present this argument to Neil Balme and see what he thinks about your hypothesis. Or go read the Anson Cameron biography "Neil Balme - A Tale of Two Men" where Neil can tell you in his own words his thoughts about Hocking now (Hocking having spent years as Neil's understudy in the football dept at Geelong where they got on well) when he states that he can hardly bear to talk to him because of the implementation of the stand rule and the others.
I thought it was common industry knowledge that SHocking and C Scott had lamented for years the "state of the game" and then further cheered on by Whately. People were literally scared where the game was heading with Richmond's chaos football. (Why do I feel like I am RE repeating this for about the 20th time?)
This is believed to have originated with Worner (the disgraced former Ch7 Chief Exec) who constantly berated and cajoled Gil and Friends about scoring diminishing and the difficulties his sales execs we're having selling the ad packages to sponsors and advertisers because nobody wants to pay top dollar for ads that appear in pre game, QTR time, half time, three quarter time and post game.
The only value for money tv spots are live IN GAME where you get a solo 30 second break to yourself. In the big breaks, everyone gets up for a beer or to pee or to get a bag of chips. Harvey Norman and McDonalds and Toyota like those solo 30 second breaks in game because they have a captive audience. That's the sell.
The numbers on subscriber telecasters like Fox and kayo are still minimal compared to free to air coverage on 7. Particularly in the non Vic markets because Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney viewers get to see all 22 of their team' games (if they like 90% from those cities support a local team) plus finals for free.
SHocking was terribly conflicted by both his previous Geelong history and the fact that he dropped everything once he'd changed all the rules he wanted to scurry back down to Corio Bay. He is Geelong through and through and despite your protestations I'd argue that the team that stood to gain the most from the rule changes, particularly the stand rule was and is Geelong. That is evident when you look at last year's final series. Nobody got within 10 goals of them.
Its my firm belief that the rules changes were hatched and incubated by SHocking in C Scott's office over many, many coffees, lamenting what the game was looking like going forward. sSHocking was then given Gil's imprimatur as he was copping it from Worner and the broadcasters. It provides the perfect opportunity for SHocking to kill two birds with one stone.
You would now be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the game is in a healthy state. I'm a progressive type of person but these changes have taken us closer to netball and basketball and regressed us back to school days. It's AFLX abomination by stealth. If it suits you to sit by and back slap these decisions don't be surprised when you're watching AFLX in 10 years wondering what the *smile* just happened.
Ask yourself this simple question - why DID SHocking change the rules so fundamentally?
Why indeed.
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