Analysis of last quarter umpiring decisions

[Fidelis]

Left the ground furious about the last quarter umpiring. This morning I went to the tape to see if my frustration had been misplaced. Was surprised to find that after a careful look I'm more dumbfounded now than I was then.

Here are the hard stats:

Last quarter frees to StKilda: 2 (both in the centre of the ground)

Last quarter frees to Collingwood: 9 (6 within 55m of either goal)

Subjective stats:

Last quarter frees not paid to StKilda: 12 (9 within 55m of goal)

Last quarter frees not paid to Collingwood: 2 (both in centre of ground)

Of the 9 frees paid to Collingwood, I would judge 6 of them to be soft or wrong.

Of course, umpiring isn't the only story of the night. I was surprised to see how many simple chest marks we dropped and poor disposals made in the heat of the battle.

Nevertheless, we have good cause to feel hard done by.

[Jacks Back]

Now those stats are pretty damning towards the umpires.

[Hawkesbury Saint]

I'm not impartial. I'm a Saints supporter. Even trying to be objective a little I think there's validity to each point you've made. Many decisions and non-decisions were baffling. I think this is a view shared by many. Even Plugger thinks O'Briens free was just 'technically' there.

[Fidelis]

I'm not suggesting conspiracy theories. I think that that our umpires find it impossible to keep the frenzy of a full flight Collingwood crowd out of their heads. There were a couple of decisions earlier in the game which had the stadium erupt in vitriol and I think that leaves its mark.

[Junction Oval]

Umpiring 50/50 situations in tight last quarters, makes the umpires the key influence on the end-result. Umpires should be told to let things run, unless there are "blatant" free kicks - let the players decide the match - not the umpires!!

Television footage of Watters shows what he thought of the O'Brien decision !!! I wonder what the Club will do ??

In the end, too many skill errors in the last quarter cost probably cost us the match.