Roar Rookie
Joined March 2021
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Passionate sports fan and commissioner of a unique AFL fantasy football game (hence the nickname Commish)
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A dour draw against a well set-up USA team and piles of English pundits have their knives our for Gareth Southgate (I know I've…
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Before we get into this, I know a lot of people are going to have strong opinions about this and will react by wanting…
Another Friday night blockbuster, another heap of talking points for this highly entertaining start to the season. The ladder leaders got found out as…
The number of times we’ve all heard “teams just haven’t been able to cope with the Tigers”, and “the Tigers are head and shoulders…
A quick correction on the Fernandes goal – VAR weren’t involved in the decision. The decision was made by the referee after consulting with the assistant referee.
Now for something more detailed.
The one-eyed, red-eyed statement from Paul Scholes that Rashford “was interfering with no one” could not be any more laughable or inept.
The point that nobody anywhere has made yet,(so far as I can ascertain) is about why and how the opportunity for Fernandes arose in the first place. How could Marcus Rashford not be interfering? The ball was passed to him!! By default, from the instant the ball was played, he was interfering with everyone in that area of the pitch!! To expand further, Rashford was the primary attacking player in the move. If he wasn’t there, the through-ball would not have been passed to him or played in that direction. It would have gone a different way, and Fernandes wouldn’t have had the opportunity to steal in as a secondary player to the situation and shoot for goal. Rashford’s run, his presence in that area of the pitch, and his actions towards and over the ball all for several seconds entirely and wholly influenced the play and the opponents near him.
Did limb 4 of the law cover this situation?
Limb 4 of the law states that a player is offside if:
“…interfering with an opponent by:
4. Making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.”
Marcus Rashford’s actions clearly interfered with several opponents. You’ve already cited that it impacted Ederson’s actions. Further:
(a) Rashford’s run through the last line was an obvious action which impacted the ability of Akanji to play the ball. Akanji could not play the ball because Rashford was between him and the ball, and Akanji actively played him offside, meaning Rashford gained several yards of separation between himself and Akanji. When play was allowed to go on, Akanji could not tackle him or play the ball because he was too far away. His ability to play the ball was absolutely impacted by Rashford’s actions and his decisions resulting from Rashford’s actions.
(b) Rashford’s change of direction was an obvious action that put him over the top of the ball, running with it exactly as he would if he had touched it. Although he hadn’t touched it, he was clearly in possession of the ball and active in the play. If he wasn’t on the ball and stopped running, one or more defender would have been able to go straight at the unpossessed ball. As it was, they were all reacting to what Rashford was doing and to his body feints, so their ability to play the ball was impacted – they couldn’t easily play it because Rashford was on it.
There is no way that goal should have been allowed to stand. No way.
Fixing the rule
The rule can be fixed by amending limb 4 as follows, and, if further clarity is required, by adding in a new limb 5 as well:
4. Making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability or decision-making of an opponent to play the ball.”
5. Influencing or impacting the decisions made by the opponents including by reason of:
(i) the player’s position on the pitch;
(ii) the player’s movement on or off the ball (the player can be deemed to be in possession of the ball whether or not the player actually touches the ball)
Offside uproar as United beat City, Everton directors told to stay away after 'credible threat', Liverpool thrashed
I did write them off and I was absolutely right to do so. They were done then, just like they have been ever since and they won’t win another flag under Dimma.
Is this a watershed moment for the Richmond era?
Thanks Chip. Just saw your comment while looking back to see how many people slated me for calling it a watershed moment and ‘writing off’ the Tigers!
Is this a watershed moment for the Richmond era?
😂 Can’t argue with this comment, it made me smile. I really don’t understand the amount of confidence in the Dogs by so many, or how supposed experts like Matthew Lloyd could be saying not long ago that they’d probably been the best team all year and were flag favourites. How, after being thrashed by Richmond, being comprehensively beaten by Melbourne and Sydney (although they did beat the Dees in their most recent contest), and then beaten by Geelong could they possibly be held up as Flag favourites? Every time they’ve faced another top team, except that second game against Melbourne where Melbourne weren’t quite at it, they’ve been belted, well beaten, or beaten. And now they’ve lost to Hawthorn as well, with Port’s inaccuracy making their loss closer last night than the real balance of play. Personally I don’t think the Dogs will win another flag while Beveridge is their coach. He fails to understand or accept the weaknesses in his team, or acknowledge that those weaknesses even exist – whenever they lose it’s because they’re off a bit. It’s actually because they’re not as good as the other sides and they’re not as good as he thinks they are.
The Roar's AFL expert tips and predictions: Round 23
Thanks Peter, really appreciate your comment and fully agree with you about the salary cap.
Grealish transfer is as much City’s owners’ move as Pep’s
I’d like to see Melbourne win it too, or also Port, Lions or Swans (preferably, I’m a Swannie but I think it’s too soon for us this year). It’s going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out. I agree Port are up there but the utter dross they’ve shown a couple of times on the road is potentially a concern. Hopefully (I love watching them at their best) it’s just a bit of ‘we got so close last year, can we just skip to the finals’ mentality that will disappear quickly. They’ll need Butters and his ankle injury isn’t looking too crash hot though. Tigers can’t be discounted either as you say, although I’ve thought since the complete dismantling by Sydney that things would be different with them this year (era over different). The thrashings by Melbourne and Geelong have further fuelled those thoughts for me. We’ll see, but we non-Tiger army need a new premier.
After a third of the season, each AFL team reviewed
A good read but I don’t share your confidence in the Dogs. Richmond’s inaccuracy in the first half flattered the Dogs on the scoreboard and the Dogs were absolutely belted in the second half. The Dogs only beat GWS and Carlton because those two (young and less experienced) sides ran out of steam in the final quarters. Carlton were better for three quarters. A huge home advantage at Ballarat against a Lions team that had been stuck in Victoria for weeks and wasn’t firing can’t be read into too much either. No doubting they’re a good team, but they’re far from a lock for the Flag.
Comparing David Noble to Mark Neeld is also a stretch well beyond snapping. Mark Neeld’s Melbourne were surely the worst AFL team ever and any commentator putting current sides on that lowly step is possibly forgetting just how bad they were. 100pt beltings week in week out, clueless, devoid of just about everything. North, with an ordinary list and injuries to most of their best players, have shown fight and been competitive for reasonable portions of games. They’ve lost by over 100pts only once and only lost to the Dees by 30pts, pushing them for a while in that game. Neeld’s Melbourne would probably have lost by 150pts and kicked about four goals if they were lucky. I reckon you may need to apologise to David Noble 🙂
After a third of the season, each AFL team reviewed
Dealing with the pressure in defence as a plus point? That’s the whole point – they didn’t deal with it. They got smashed. Lost their shape, piled everyone back, panic clearances into Richmond’s hands. Port handled it, the Dees annihilated it and Geelong are now doing the same, so the Dogs have a lot of work to do.
Can we please stop saying “The Tigers are back”? They never went away
I should qualify the second sentence about overpaying players – Grundy has obviously been mentioned and he’s another prime example. I meant it more in a systemic sense.
Buckley isn’t the only reason for Collingwood’s demise, but he’s a chief architect
Good article, enjoyed it. I’d like to add whoever signed off on the pay checks to the list of those culpable. I don’t ever hear anyone mentioning over-paying players but that’s where Collingwood’s list problems start. Travis Cloke went on the Footy Show several years ago and made his money-grab very public, after essentially one very good season. Publicly held the club to ransom and they caved in and paid him! He should have been shown the door immediately.
Instead of moaning about COLA even now, McGuire should accept the consequences of his club overpaying players like Cloke under his tenure and the money-first culture it can foster (and the carrot it dangles in front of greedy agents who then want bigger deals for players under their management). Culture comes from the top. Room for a fresh start now he’s not there.
Buckley isn’t the only reason for Collingwood’s demise, but he’s a chief architect
Swans won in 2020, an abnormal season with the match in a hub, but GWS won the three previous games in 2018 and 2019 (recent means recent) and beat the Swans twice in pre-season as well. Only pre-season and GWS have some top players out but they still have a talented side after years of high draft picks and the SCG is no longer a fortress. As for the rest of it being trash, the Saints tip was but none of the rest of it so we can agree to disagree.
The Roar's AFL expert tips and predictions: Round 5
I agree GWS will get up, their recent record against the Swans is excellent. Also agree with your comments on Brisbane and Richmond. As expected, Damien Hardwick has been in the media saying Premierships aren’t won in April and Richmond aren’t playing their best footy. True, Premierships aren’t won in April, but there’s been nothing wrong with their footy. His comments are good coaching psychology to make his players feel better about their losses but their game against Port was every bit as good as last year’s prelim. This time the best team actually won the match. As for their game against the Swans, they were clueless. Even their best players didn’t know what to do and Dusty was snuffed out. That’s not ‘not playing their best footy’. That’s being utterly out-coached, out-skilled, and outplayed.
St Kilda ran rings around the Tigers last year and beat them by 5 goals. Can they do it again? If they play like they did in the second half last week they certainly can but like many others I’m not sure they’ll bring that level of heat again. Hard to know. But go on, I’ll tip them in the hope that they will!
The Roar's AFL expert tips and predictions: Round 5
Champions don’t cower in the face and fear of defeat.
That’s what Australia did in this game, praying and cheering for rain with the Ashes on the line against an England team getting better every match. If the Aussies had anything about them, they’d have done the right thing by the series, the sport, and all the millions of fans glued to it and declared to make it a deserved 2-2 and give it the decider it deserves. If they were as smug as Steve Smith before the series started, they should have backed themselves to be good enough to put their title on the line. Weak retention of the Ashes, bad press and bad taste for the sport with weather being allowed to destroy everything that has happened to this point, and ruination of what many people were calling the best Ashes series ever.
Weather they like it or not, England only have themselves to blame for Australia being raining Ashes champs