This year is turning into the most depressing year of them all
If you ask me

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

@#$%&! I hate it when I agree with you...

I have two very close friends (one deceased) who are/were Pies supporters. They've lived through a bit of heartache in their time.

They occasionally argued about where the club was at but the one thing they definitely agreed upon was that losing wasn't actually so bad - it's the hope that kills you...

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

I could handle when I knew we were rubbish but I seriously thought this year was it
Bloody terrible watching this junk every week and you cant see it ending any time soon

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

And the hope you have instilled in your children who really only remember the 1995 Grand Final because they have played the DVD on high rotation.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I'm sorry - how can possession be irrelevant when you're discussing a holding the ball decision? I'm really not a Joseph fan but he clearly moved the ball on, it passed through a WCE players hands and ended up with Jamison. Saying that he's responsible for what happens to it when he's no longer in possession of it is bizarre.

The ball wasn't even touching Joseph when the free was paid, the umpire was on the other side of the contest and guessed.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

I reckon you could offer this explanation for many of the many poor decisions you see, and it would be fairly accurate

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I'm not saying its fair, I'm telling you thats the interpretation the umpires are instructed to adjudicate on.

15.2.5 Diving on Top of the Football
Where a Player is in possession of the football by reason of
diving on top of or dragging the football underneath their body,
the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player
if they do not immediately knock the football clear or Correctly
Dispose of the football when Correctly Tackled.

Did he knock the ball clear or dispose of it correctly? ie. kick/handball? No.
The rule was introduced to stop all the stoppages and keep a continual flowing game which is what the fans are after. The players should know the rules. Its their bloody job!

As I said, I disagree with the rule but I understand why it was introduced and I wont excuse the players for not knowing it.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I'm sorry - how can possession be irrelevant when you're discussing a holding the ball decision? I'm really not a Joseph fan but he clearly moved the ball on, it passed through a WCE players hands and ended up with Jamison. Saying that he's responsible for what happens to it when he's no longer in possession of it is bizarre.[/quote]

I'm not saying its fair, I'm telling you thats the interpretation the umpires are instructed to adjudicate on.

15.2.5 Diving on Top of the Football
Where a Player is in possession of the football by reason of
diving on top of or dragging the football underneath their body,
the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player
if they do not immediately knock the football clear or Correctly
Dispose of the football when Correctly Tackled.

Did he knock the ball clear or dispose of it correctly? ie. kick/handball? No.
The rule was introduced to stop all the stoppages and keep a continual flowing game which is what the fans are after. The players should know the rules. Its their bloody job!

As I said, I disagree with the rule but I understand why it was introduced and I wont excuse the players for not knowing it.[/quote]



Was he correctly tackled?

wasnt there a rule introduced a year or 2 ago that was to penalise the 3rd or 4th body in the contest for trapping the ball in, rather than the poor bugger on the bottom of the pack?

Jamo was the one that licked it in

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

As Riewoldt said this morning on "Game Day" maybe it is time for some accountability amongst the umpires. Players tweet in disgust and they are made accountable. Unfortunately those at the root of the problem are never accountable. Sure they need some protection, but not when they are coming off such a substandard performance.

The decision against Joseph was clearly wrong. Even if he did pull the ball in or dived on it ( he did neither, merely took possession of the ball) the incorrect decision was made. Rule 15.2.5 does not come in to this decision as it is applied when the ball is dived on or pulled in. Even if this rule was applied in this situation Joseph actually does dispose of the ball immediately anyway and should never have been pinged.

The umpire made an assumption here as he was on the blind side. Put simply, imagine being done for speeding and the cop has not actually seen you but made the assumption you were speeding just because it looked like it!

This was clearly an umpiring error and I have to disagree with those insinuating otherwise here. The umpiring was as bad as I have seen and this decision is indicative of how the night was umpired.

Were losing the plot when we focus on the umpiring.
Players can tweet all they like.. but they live in glass houses and they shouldnt be throwing stones.

The umpires are not the reason why were struggling.
Its a nice deflection though.

Focus should be on our players , coaches and organisation.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

No diving or pulling the ball under occurred. Rule was incorrectly applied.

+1

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

This is just a sideshow to the terrible situation we're in, nobody is saying the umpires are the reason why we're sliding downhill.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

BV the free was actually paid against Jamo, why it was paid has me stuffed as Jamo came in with the WC players, ball up IMO, but I must admit the HTB rule has me completely confused and I have only watched/played the game for 40 years, I can understand the tweets.

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We are the maybe blues

Stef, the only reason I can see for AJ getting a game over Bootsma was body size, I am thinking that they thought AJ would be able to handle the Physical pressure a bit more and had more chance of getting contested possessions and creating stoppages, it is also the only reason I can come up with as to why he gets a game over Lucas, unless Lucas is doing something that makes the MC think he is not worthy of a senior game.

BTW I would have played Bootsma over AJ on Thursday night.

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We are the maybe blues

Victory coach, Ange Pusticoglou this morning on ABC Offsiders had an interesting view re. scrutiny of officials (all sports) as opposed to players and coach's.

His comments were discussing thugby league SOO but the Blues were also mentioned.

He claimed, we demand apologies and reviews when umpires/referees make mistakes but to a much lesser degree for players and coaching staff.


Anything to distract from our very own incompetence I suppose... people that dwell on AJ's holding the ball as opposed to his turnover (to Jamo) need a dose of reality.

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

And soccer is a much easier game to referee than footy.
The rules in footy are such that the umpire must be a mind reader too!!!

I hate it when people bring up umpires all the time. Its such a soft cock mentality

Everyone has his day with the umpires.
I laugh sometimes at what Juddy gets away with.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

This!