What will the umps do when we play Brisbane?

[Enrico_Misso]

Here is the cumulative net free kicks per side since (including) 2010

Rank - Club - Surplus Free Kicks
1 West Coast Eagles 293
2 Port Adelaide 167
3 Western Bulldogs 61
4 Fremantle 55
5 North Melbourne 55
6 Collingwood 49
7 GWS Giants 15
8 Essendon 6
9 Carlton -2
10 Sydney Swans -21
11 Gold Coast Suns -31
12 Geelong Cats -32
13 Adelaide Crows -60
14 Richmond -77
15 Melbourne -82
16 Hawthorn -94
17 St Kilda -147
18 Brisbane Lions -156

[Beekay]

that's outrageous !

and it doesn't even take into account how costly each individual free against was...

maybe they're good sports and want us to receive a high draft pick.

hahaha sheesh *staggered*

[mr six o'clock]

it's there home game , so i will be surprised if we were to win that stat by a large amount !

[Stillwaiting]

They are amazing stats, it goes well beyond ps being no good which is what I attributed a lot of our problems before the beagles game. At least now it's starting to get highlighted, not that anything will happen as the geischan and dumberiou see no problems.

[stevie]

We haven't lost at the Gabba since 2008 (I think). So it's virtually a home game for us, so the maggots treat us like the Egirls in Perth, lol

[Enrico_Misso]

So why do West Coast get such a good run, and we get such a bad one?

The WCE theory is that they cheat!
Or maybe they are very smart and just exploit the rules?
They were the ones - obviously led by the Duckhead family - who pioneered the "bore in to packs with your head down and you'll attract a head high free kick" theory.
So Selwood(s) would often crash into even a stationary opponents knee and then receive a free for high contact!
That worked well in 2010-11 but the umps were sort of on to it by 2012.
But they still seem the best team at milking frees.
If you watch them, whenever they are tackled they collapse their knees so that a tackle that was applied at their waist slips up to their head.
The umps are NOT a wake up to that.
That should be treated as "Collapsed his knees so the tackle slipped high" = "ducked his head" = "No free kick Selwood"
They exaggerate - look at Priddis.
And they gang-appeal.
So returning to the first point - they are cheats and Giesha girl/Sooky-boy Bartlett and Co are tooooo stupid to realise.
Good news is that it finally seems The Giesh is on the way out - currently on long service leave in the middle of the season!!

At the other end, I've heard it suggested that StKilda give away frees because their defence is undersized and their small forwards are risk takers.
First point is that if your opponent is bigger and stronger then you need to push the rules in order to not get outmarked.
Second point is that if you can get past that opponent ahead of you then it is a clear goal - high risk strategy but high return e.g. Milne, Saad, Milera.
Re our defence, it is only since 2012 that our defence has been undersized, worse now with Fisher out.
But the stats don't support this, most of our free kicks in defence are not for holding/chopping arms but rather HTBs and In the Back.
To stop this we have been training to do a variant tackle where the defender grabs the opponent's jumper on the ground but rolls over the top of him applying the tackle from the side rather than on him, hence (in theory) not giving away a free. Dempster is said to be the best exponent of this but he still got pinged.
I may be biased but I can't see why we attract so many of these situations against us, but when we are similarly tackled we don't get the corresponding free, hence the imbalance.
And what really Shytes me is that they give these lineball decisions against us in defence so it costs goals.
Then there seem to one quarter umpire power plays where they "change the interpretation" or basically set out to victimise us
E.g. the Coll game in 2011 when they paid 8-0 free kicks in the last quarter including the infamous Harry O'Brien one in the goalsquare to collect their Collinwood bets.
And last Sunday in the last qtr where in particular 5 abominable decisions (which we have "sought clarification" on - all incorrect) cost us the game.

All I want is consistent interpretations - for FOUR quarters and for BOTH sides.

[SainterJ]

Perfectly stated Enrico

[stinger]

Here is the cumulative net free kicks per side since (including) 2010

Rank - Club - Surplus Free Kicks
1 West Coast Eagles 293
2 Port Adelaide 167
3 Western Bulldogs 61
4 Fremantle 55
5 North Melbourne 55
6 Collingwood 49
7 GWS Giants 15
8 Essendon 6
9 Carlton -2
10 Sydney Swans -21
11 Gold Coast Suns -31
12 Geelong Cats -32
13 Adelaide Crows -60
14 Richmond -77
15 Melbourne -82
16 Hawthorn -94
17 St Kilda -147
18 Brisbane Lions -156

.....flower........you saying that the west coast has had a staggering 440 more free kicks awarded to them than us in 3 1/2 seasons of football.........un f****** believable.....

[spert]

Interesting to see Hawks -94 and Geerlong -32..two teams who may be playing off in this year's GF

[Harvey To Hayes]

We haven't lost at the Gabba since 2008 (I think). So it's virtually a home game for us, so the maggots treat us like the Egirls in Perth, lol

Jesus wept, talk about selective use of stats!! I moved up here in 1992 and it took me 16 years to see us win a game at the Gabba, I thought we were cursed. Even in '97 when we were eventually minor premiers we lost up here by 100+ points. So freaking far from a home ground it's not funny, even if we have strung together a few recent wins

[gringo]

A mate who follows Richmond hated us under Lyon and thinks we were a s*** team that cheated the system with flood like tactics. I have spoken to others that have the same idea- they nearly all hate Milney too. Sometimes the way you play can influence the way you are perceived - ours might be negative.

Probably more likely the umps are getting kick backs. I said on the forum ages ago that the performance enhancing drugs would be a major AFL issue and said corruption in the game from bookmakers match fixing will be a huge issue. I still stand by that. The umps are the most likely ATM. If I was a bookmaker that held a heap on a particular margin why wouldn't I look at the umps as a way of controlling that. So easy to manipulate especially on non free to air twilights.

[BigMart]

Pay 4 kicks against Milney
3 against Schnieds if he plays
2 against Gwilt
2 against Dempster
2 against Joey
2 against Saad

You get the picture

[bergholt]

Interesting to see Hawks -94 and Geerlong -32..two teams who may be playing off in this year's GF

Three of the four best teams of the last three years are in the negative - Hawks -94, Geelong -32 and Sydney -21. Does that mean that free kick differential isn't the be all and end all?

[Dis Believer]

The obvious answer to the question posed in the OP is that they will be so frustrated by the lack of opportunity to blow their whistles that their heads will simultaneously explode late in the first quarter......

[Harvey To Hayes]

Interesting to see Hawks -94 and Geerlong -32..two teams who may be playing off in this year's GF

Three of the four best teams of the last three years are in the negative - Hawks -94, Geelong -32 and Sydney -21. Does that mean that free kick differential isn't the be all and end all?

My main gripe with the frees isn't always the numbers but where they get them and the context. Like all the soft frees that E-girls got right in front of goals in that last quarter hurt us so much, as do the ones they get in our backline which stop us getting a near certain goal (like Hurn's last game, or Harry O's last year). So costly... If they're there they're there, but we don't seem to get those ones the other day and ultimately all you can really ask for is consistency...

[bobmurray]

The umps still haven't forgiven GT for slighting them..

we are forever to be farked over my whistling maggots

[saintspremiers]

The umps still haven't forgiven GT for slighting them..

we are forever to be farked over my whistling maggots

I think they've moved past that and are onto another thing.

Anyway, with fwits AA and hopefully Geish gone lets hope it becomes professional.