Where does the Viney decision leave us?

[Cairnsman]

Bump them.... But you must try not to hurt them?!

Haha

Funny stuff

You and me can agreee on something.........

If I had one those "Like" buttons the kiddies used I would have hit it!.

[Con Gorozidis]

[url]

See right there is the problem - football is not played in slow motion or freeeze frame. This (and all other cases) need to be judged at the speed at which they occurred. Sure, use slo-mo to clarify a point, but the never ending slo-mo replay creates the impression in the mind of the viewer that these guys have time for a sandwich and a cuppa in the time between making the decision and collecting their opponent. The game at the elite level is played at very high speed and the primary objective is still the ball. The opponent is secondary unless he has possession of the ball.
I can honestly say that if that had been a Saints player Viney collected I would not have an issue with it, and I would be VERY annoyed if a Saint got rubbed out for it.

Answer this. If a Saint had been going for the ball in that scenario and pulled out to avoid contact - what would your reaction be? Because that was VIney's only other option and I doubt that even then he would have been able to avoid contact other than perhaps trying to take actual evasive action. Surely you're not advocating that for our game?

Well I think the Sainter in that situation - if he was unlucky enough to have that happen where someones jaw connected with his shoulder and the jaw was busted - id probably just take the two weeks and put it down to bad luck for both parties. I mean Tom's head was down because he was genuinely collecting the ball at that point.

Liam Jones looked like a week to me too - but his was a bit different to Viney. Jones stopped going for the ball and dropped the shoulder into a bloke also leaning down to collect the ball.

I'll be howelled down by the bring back the biff brigade

I dont think anyone is saying ban the bump - just dont collect a dudes head when he is bent over picking up the ball.

But I do agree with what you say about slo-mo and that when ur both going for the ball at a million miles an hour and the thing is a weird oval shape and deviating all over the place- it is completely unavoidable at times.

But Viney is what 20? So 'never playing again' is a long time. I can think of a few Sainters who play week in week out and probably might have shimmied out of the way of that one - or just even stood or rolled in the tackle or something.

[bergsone]

What I cant understand in all this rubbish ,are comments saying you should tackle instead of bumping.You cannot tackle an player unless he has already take possession of the ball,so instead of bumping to get the ball,you should WAIT for opponent to take the ball then tackle

[stevie]

Sorry to bump this, lol, but just saw the Roughead one and well, our game is becoming embarassing isn't it?

[kalsaint]

This may be controversial to say but this all stems from the original decision to not want to upset mothers so they let their sons play AFL.

Tongue, cheek, firmly planted...

No way this should be tongue in cheek. Its the way the AFL is going pandering to those who obviously don't value the original skills of the historical game. The speed has made the bump the problem it is now to some extent. Guess who earns the stripes fort he speed injection to the game, The AFL. They are now covering the back door and sweeping up the mess they initiated.

I have watched the game in some of the footy flashbacks and no one is going to sell me that the game is better now. It's clearly not. Its ruined by the continual push for speed and rule changes. The changes keep coming to offset the coaches strategy to bind up the game because the AFL has created the mayhem in the first place and are now suffering peer pressure on contact. The older game was open, full of good marking (screamers) and kicking skills, strong contested footy that isn't necessarily within a 10 metre squared area. The footy commentator forget the skills when they say some of the things they see in today's footy are the best ever. Jeremy Howe is a great mark but no where near the best ever as quoted last week. Marks like that occurred weekly before.

The game has now become a lost cause based on inequalities in fixtures, venues, blockbusters a blight of rule changes to out strip coaches defensive structures. It hasn't worked. All these changes are to help the business not the game. Mention some one has a name they don't like from the sidelines and the AFL put out the equality point of view. Equality is where it suits them is my point.