Thanks to the Herald-Sun...

[3rd generation saint]

The other rule they have to sort out is the sliding rule. The free kick that was paid against Maister in the first quarter when he put his body on the line to get the ball, and the Weagles player ran into him and fell onto his back, then rewarded with a free kick courtesy of a poor interpretation of the sliding rule.
For as long as I have been going to the football, the idea was to protect the player going for the ball, Maister was doing exactly that, and for the last 40+ years he would have earned the free due to a clumsy Weagles player who could have avoided the contact.
The sliding rule should only apply in respect to what it was introduced to stop, and that was what Adam Goodes did when he slid feet first into his opponent on a wet SCG.

[gringo]

The other rule they have to sort out is the sliding rule. The free kick that was paid against Maister in the first quarter when he put his body on the line to get the ball, and the Weagles player ran into him and fell onto his back, then rewarded with a free kick courtesy of a poor interpretation of the sliding rule.
For as long as I have been going to the football, the idea was to protect the player going for the ball, Maister was doing exactly that, and for the last 40+ years he would have earned the free due to a clumsy Weagles player who could have avoided the contact.
The sliding rule should only apply in respect to what it was introduced to stop, and that was what Adam Goodes did when he slid feet first into his opponent on a wet SCG.

That is seriously a dumb rule. I have only seen it paid once properly. It gets paid so randomly that it's only contribution is to make it more lottery like.

[MrCordz]

It is a combination of things.
The Dean Cox free was very soft, that sort of contact happens in every ruck contest and didn't impair Cox at all.
Priddis's free for the whack from Roberton, fair enough it was there no complaint.
The second Priddis free was one of the worst I have ever seen.
He was dead to rites caught holding the ball in what was the perfect tackle by Dempster.
It was however "bettered" by the last minute free against Saad it was an absolute Barry Crocker.

The problem is reputation and experience.
It is the Gary Ablet or Chris Judd call, both are champions of the game which is why they can be spun around 720 degrees and the umpire will not call them for holding the ball. In fact it is likely that the player tackling them will be pinged for some imaginary infringment that the umpire believes must have taken place as they are champions and would not have been beaten fairly.
We suffer from a team variation of this as we are a financially poor team, read unimportant, with a history of failure.
We play a powerful, rich successful team like West Coast or Collingwood and we can expect to be rogered silly by the umpires not because they cheat but because they truly think that we couldn't have won fairly.
We also do not accentuate every minor touch that we receive unlike the eagles and especially Priddis, Selwood, Shuey and now sadly Cox.
We also do give away more than our fair share of sloppy frees due to poor technique and lack of size and strength.

+1

[MrCordz]

Umpires must be instructed not to call any player by name but to their number and team they must treat every player like player x. No name no reputation no preconceived ideas of what the crowd wants what expectations are just a completely objective view of what they see in front of them as it occurs.

[saint6709]

It was a breath of fresh air to see these articles written - no mention though of that toss pot DRussell who started on this line of the saints being given a an armchair ride from the umps and how many things where going our way - unlucky eagles etc etc - what is wrong with that guy - did a saints player marry the love of his life back in the day or something????

[gringo]

Mick Malthouse has busted a boiler after getting the Sainters treatment. Watch what happens when a big club cops this s***. Carlton will want Gieshen lubricated and wearing a pig snout crawling laps of Princess park for a week.