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Round two was billed as a round of sub-plots in every game, and that’s exactly the way it worked out. All nine matches had headlines of their own and gave us some sort of indication of how ths season will pan out.
Ross Lyon has Fremantle playing the fanatical defensive style of footy that saw St Kilda dominate the 2009 home-and-away season.
In this column last week I wrote that it couldn’t get much worse for Melbourne after a terrible start against Port Adelaide.
Well! The Demons are even lower than the lowest ebb now, if that’s possible, after their second worst defeat in their history, by a margin of 148 points at the hands of Essendon.
There is no way this week that I will write statements saying this is the worst it will get for Melbourne now. But if it does get worse, look out!
The club will certainly have nowhere to hide then.
Hawthorn bounced back in eye-catching fashion after another Geelong heartbreak to belt West Coast in the heat.
Even though they weren’t up against much, Essendon showed no mercy against the Demons, while Carlton and Collingwood lived up to all the pre-match hype with the Magpies eventually prevailing over the arch enemy after trailing for large portions of the day.
The closest match was at the Docklands, with Geelong coming from 41 points behind to beat North Melbourne with a goal in the last minute.
This contest was shrouded in controversy with the roof open all day. The clouds closed in after a bright sunny beginning and eventually produced rain in the second half.
Everyone bar the ground management could see and feel that rain was on its way.
Didn’t North Coach Brad Scott let the ground manager know his feelings in no uncertain terms after the match that the roof had to be shut!
This thriller also saw a number of goals scored by free kicks, with Geelong kicking five, including the clincher by Jimmy Bartel, from a 50 metre penalty.
To me it seems the 50 is far too severe a punishment for many of the offences it’s awarded for.
That penalty was given against Michael Firitto, who kicked the ball away after the free kick had been given to Bartel.
It could be easily argued that with the ball close to goal and near the loud North Melbourne cheer squad Firitto, who is very experienced, didn’t hear the whistle or call.
The error could have cost the Kangaroos 15 metres at the most, but in my opinion the umpires should use more common sense and just let it go.
I understand that generally they are just obeying the laws of the game, and kicking the ball away under the current rules is a 50 metre penalty.
But the umpiring coaching hierarchy should be encouraging their umpires to give the benefit of the doubt to a player who did what Firitto did in the dying stages of that clash.
He has played almost 200 games. I wouldn’t would have thought he deliberately kicked the ball away in frustration at that decision when his team is two points in front, less than a minute remaining with the ball deep in their backline.
There was also the shot at goal in that frantic last quarter, when the rain was at it’s heaviest, and North’s Daniel Wells had a shot at goal and the ball seemed to slip out of his hands as he got ready to kick.
Mitch Duncan of Geelong seemed to think Wells was trying to play on and step around him, so he approached him.
But the umpire deemed he had encroached over the mark and penalised Duncan 50 metres, and Wells kicked the crucial goal late in the last quarter to put his team back in front.
That incident could have decided the match, and the replay showed the ball probably did slip from Wells’ hands.
You can understand Duncan thinking otherwise.
I felt a penalty wasn’t required, but if one had to be given, new laws and rules should be in place to make it a maximum of 15 metres.
The 50 metre penalties should only be given for deliberate acts like late spoils when attempting to stop an opponent from marking and crashing into an opponent when arriving late at a contest.
Also for abuse towards an umpire. That act is unforgiveable.
Everything else, particularly just touching an opponent to stop them from playing on, or accidentally going over the mark should be like the good old days; 15 metres.
I even think there should be warnings given.
For example, if a player commits a minor offence for the first time in a game, and again I emphasise that it’s more than likely not going to be deliberate, there should be a warning.
Under the current arrangement it’s just too costly.
Yes, the free kick to Bartel was there and he may have still kicked the goal, but it wasn’t going to be the certain outcome it ended up being courtesy of the 50 metre penalty.
This interpretation and law is one the AFL’S Laws of the Game Committee should consider changing, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be a priority. It needs to be.
These decisions and subsequent penalties are influencing the outcome of too many games, and that’s not good for footy!
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