35.12 (222) to 9.11 (65), or, Terry, Giesch & Goodes.
Richmond actually won the very first centre clearance of the match and scrambled a kick to their centre-half forward position. From there, of course, Geelong rebounded the ball and kicked a goal. And then another one. And another.
The Cats ended up with 7 goals on the board before Richmond scored. Good start, thought Mrs. W and I, who had been hospitably invited to watch the game with some sympathetic foxtel subscribers (they put on a nice spread too), but surely it will slow down. Nope. 10 goals in the first quarter. 10 more in the 2nd. 9 goals in the third quarter. I lean over to Mrs. Watson before taking a pull on my Corona, how good is this?
It’s not every day you see your favourite team score over 200 points (it’s the first time it’s been done since 1995). And it’s not everyday you watch em get within a couple of goals of the all-time scoring record (239, held by Geelong against Brisbane in 1992). It was actually quite bizarre to watch, the Cats just did not slow down. (Well, not until the umpires had seen enough and started paying Richmond every free kick they could muster in the 4th quarter.)
It was good to ‘Dog’ Johnson back kicking goals and opposition players in the coin-purse (see photo). Good to see Nath and Hatchet get amongst the goals again and Varcoe too. It was good to see Joel Bowden kick it directly to the man on the mark from a kick-in and it was good to see Mark ‘William’ Blake (Mrs. Watson’s new favourite player) continue his good form. What else is there to say? Everyone was good, Richmond were shit.
The only disappointing thing was, due to him staying in the rooms with his players longer than usual, foxtel was unable to stay with the coverage long enough for us to see Terry Wallace’s press conference. We sat through what felt like hours of uncomfortable post-match rubbish, hoping to see the self-deflecting excuses and distractions Terry Wallace would come up with. We were quietly hoping for a spread sheet or a pie graph. Not to be. (By the way, the Tiges face back-to-back trips to AAMI stadium in the next two weeks. Good luck with that.)
---------------------------------------------------
It’s not often that us Big Leaguers publicly complain about umpiring. We know and accept that they are imperfect and prone to the odd mistake like the rest of us. What we don’t like seeing, however, is when they are put in a position to fail by ridiculous, over-dictated laws put in place by a back-stabbing, failed coach who seems to be intent on feeding his ego at the expense of the quality of the game itself. Yes, I’m talking about head of umpiring, Jeff Gieschen.
The whole ‘hands-in-the-back’ rule didn’t need to be introduced – we already have a ‘push-in-the-back’ rule – but I don’t think he’s gone far enough. We don’t have a ‘legs-in-the-back’ rule, so can you kick your opponent under the ball? And remember the Mark McVeigh screamer a few weeks back? The media were pointing out that his hands did actually go to the back of his opponent. Gieschen came out with some sort of ruling, saying that the hands were only touching for 0.3 seconds, and that was ok. Ridiculous, just ridiculous.
As I’ve said before, the game needs less strict interpretation and more leeway allowing umpires to pay a free kick for common sense ‘infringements’, be it high contact, impeding a player without the ball, incorrect disposal, a genuine push in the back or some grey-area combination of the three. We all know what’s fair. Let the physicality of players play some part in the contest.
And just recently, the Giesch has come out and said that the league’s top players may be getting better treatment from the umps. I, however, tend to think he’s put the cart before the horse there (not to mention caved-in to an off-hand comment made by a coach immediately after a loss and also completely undermined all AFL umpires). No, perhaps the best players in the league are getting the free kicks because they are the best players in the league. And if you’re a great player you get to more contests, you get in first and you don’t have to cheat to be effective (hello Steven Baker). Maybe now the umpires are just finally giving them the free kicks they have deserved all along.
So thanks, Giesch, thanks for your petty, useless contribution to football. The sooner the AFL fucks you off the better.
---------------------------------------------------
The other body of the AFL we rarely touch on is the tribunal. In recent weeks, however, the hypocrisy has gotten to Gieschen-like proportions. Apparently the whole ‘head-high contact’ thing is out the window, I mean, we all knew the first reportees of this new rule would be dealt with harshly, (see Stokes, Matthew and Kelly, James) but to just disregard it completely, after only 6 rounds, seems beyond absurd.
Likewise, it seems that if your name is Adam Goodes and you run and charge a completely unaware player, with his back to you, 15 meters behind play and knock him to the ground you will be alright to play next week. No suspension, no fine, no worries. Of course, if your name is Byron Pickett and you lay a perfect, textbook tackle on a player who then happens to knock his head on the turf, you will be reported immediately. And Paul Roos wonders why people boo Adam Goodes.
Richmond actually won the very first centre clearance of the match and scrambled a kick to their centre-half forward position. From there, of course, Geelong rebounded the ball and kicked a goal. And then another one. And another.The Cats ended up with 7 goals on the board before Richmond scored. Good start, thought Mrs. W and I, who had been hospitably invited to watch the game with some sympathetic foxtel subscribers (they put on a nice spread too), but surely it will slow down. Nope. 10 goals in the first quarter. 10 more in the 2nd. 9 goals in the third quarter. I lean over to Mrs. Watson before taking a pull on my Corona, how good is this?
It’s not every day you see your favourite team score over 200 points (it’s the first time it’s been done since 1995). And it’s not everyday you watch em get within a couple of goals of the all-time scoring record (239, held by Geelong against Brisbane in 1992). It was actually quite bizarre to watch, the Cats just did not slow down. (Well, not until the umpires had seen enough and started paying Richmond every free kick they could muster in the 4th quarter.)
It was good to ‘Dog’ Johnson back kicking goals and opposition players in the coin-purse (see photo). Good to see Nath and Hatchet get amongst the goals again and Varcoe too. It was good to see Joel Bowden kick it directly to the man on the mark from a kick-in and it was good to see Mark ‘William’ Blake (Mrs. Watson’s new favourite player) continue his good form. What else is there to say? Everyone was good, Richmond were shit.
The only disappointing thing was, due to him staying in the rooms with his players longer than usual, foxtel was unable to stay with the coverage long enough for us to see Terry Wallace’s press conference. We sat through what felt like hours of uncomfortable post-match rubbish, hoping to see the self-deflecting excuses and distractions Terry Wallace would come up with. We were quietly hoping for a spread sheet or a pie graph. Not to be. (By the way, the Tiges face back-to-back trips to AAMI stadium in the next two weeks. Good luck with that.)
---------------------------------------------------
It’s not often that us Big Leaguers publicly complain about umpiring. We know and accept that they are imperfect and prone to the odd mistake like the rest of us. What we don’t like seeing, however, is when they are put in a position to fail by ridiculous, over-dictated laws put in place by a back-stabbing, failed coach who seems to be intent on feeding his ego at the expense of the quality of the game itself. Yes, I’m talking about head of umpiring, Jeff Gieschen.
The whole ‘hands-in-the-back’ rule didn’t need to be introduced – we already have a ‘push-in-the-back’ rule – but I don’t think he’s gone far enough. We don’t have a ‘legs-in-the-back’ rule, so can you kick your opponent under the ball? And remember the Mark McVeigh screamer a few weeks back? The media were pointing out that his hands did actually go to the back of his opponent. Gieschen came out with some sort of ruling, saying that the hands were only touching for 0.3 seconds, and that was ok. Ridiculous, just ridiculous.
As I’ve said before, the game needs less strict interpretation and more leeway allowing umpires to pay a free kick for common sense ‘infringements’, be it high contact, impeding a player without the ball, incorrect disposal, a genuine push in the back or some grey-area combination of the three. We all know what’s fair. Let the physicality of players play some part in the contest.
And just recently, the Giesch has come out and said that the league’s top players may be getting better treatment from the umps. I, however, tend to think he’s put the cart before the horse there (not to mention caved-in to an off-hand comment made by a coach immediately after a loss and also completely undermined all AFL umpires). No, perhaps the best players in the league are getting the free kicks because they are the best players in the league. And if you’re a great player you get to more contests, you get in first and you don’t have to cheat to be effective (hello Steven Baker). Maybe now the umpires are just finally giving them the free kicks they have deserved all along.
So thanks, Giesch, thanks for your petty, useless contribution to football. The sooner the AFL fucks you off the better.
---------------------------------------------------
The other body of the AFL we rarely touch on is the tribunal. In recent weeks, however, the hypocrisy has gotten to Gieschen-like proportions. Apparently the whole ‘head-high contact’ thing is out the window, I mean, we all knew the first reportees of this new rule would be dealt with harshly, (see Stokes, Matthew and Kelly, James) but to just disregard it completely, after only 6 rounds, seems beyond absurd.
Likewise, it seems that if your name is Adam Goodes and you run and charge a completely unaware player, with his back to you, 15 meters behind play and knock him to the ground you will be alright to play next week. No suspension, no fine, no worries. Of course, if your name is Byron Pickett and you lay a perfect, textbook tackle on a player who then happens to knock his head on the turf, you will be reported immediately. And Paul Roos wonders why people boo Adam Goodes.
posted by the captain at 2:12 pm
3 Comments:
Haven't heard from bulk run ray for a while. Things a little bit quiet over in Tigerland?
In consecutive weeks coaches have complained about the number of free kicks the "Bald Headed Eagle" (Judd) has received. If any team had a player who consistently put their head over the ball the way he does, while being tagged by half the other team, they would be spitting chips at the number of un-paid infringements. These players should be protected, they make the play. The Umps are finally realising this!
As for Byron Pickett’s' tackle...
Neil Daniher should be pointing that out to the whole team. Showing them what it means to give your all and to go hard. Unfortunate that he hit his noodle, that's footy.
If another 17 Melbourne players gave 1 effort like that in the game, they would be 1 and 5.
Anyone got a space ticket? I'm thinking about flying over for this one
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