Didn't really notice them Monday, and noticed a couple of barely there ones in our favour, so a tick.
Across the round thought I did again notice a lot of throws. While Footscray were probably the worst, it was across all sides and games. I personally would hate for it to become a Footscray thing and for them to be scapegoated, because its rife across the comp. The level of clear professional throws when the ump was blindsided and the player knew it, yesterday really stood out. I don't blame the umps for this, they are clearly executing unofficial policy from above. It has been so consistent for so long, with the occasional rein-in or soft crackdown, that I can't come to any other conclusion.
I'm mostly just getting used to it, but in the sense that its just another factor in my general disappointment with the way footy is going rather than accepting it.
What did drive me nuts though was a couple of times when there was an obvious throw and the commentator said 'great hands from Player X'. There was one in our game in the last Q when Oliver did his best Andrew Johns impersonation at a centre bounce and Darcy said 'great hands by Oliver '. And there was a similar one in the Anzac game yesterday. Its one thing to ignore it or briefly question it like 'ump OK with the HB' of 'gives a little flick' etc, but its another thing altogether to praise and encourage it.
