Was at the MCG yesterday, bloody ripper it was too. Awesome effort by the boys, great game from Gibbs and I thought Walker was fantastic.

But those umpires were atrocious.

I didn't have a record, but I remember their numbers 7, 9 and 26.

That 7 was unbeleiveable - apart from paying free kicks behind him as he fell to his arse (big arse too), and obviously guessing (quite often incorrectly) - cause he couldn't have seen,, he spent the better part of the afternoon on Fev watch. That meant watching Fev and paying free kicks against him every time he went near the ball, and studiously ignoring Fev when he was being mauled.

He would then have the gall to go and have a chat with him afterwards. What the hell was that all about?

Frankly, I reckon Fev showed great restraint in not knocking his block off.

I hadn't thought Fev was targeted by the umpires until yesterday, but it is clear they are out to teach him a lesson. Who else has to put up with the rodents being in their ear the whole time, after having denied them obvious free kicks. Those yellow pussbags can see whatever they choose to - we all know that.

And bloody hell, what does Murph have to do to get on that list? He was mugged time and time again. That last goal he kicked, he had earned three frees before the one he was given. I got home to watch the last quarter, and "Timmy" said he milked it!!! What @#$%&! crap.

Anyway I discover one of these gits is Kenenedy with some unbelievable number of games under his belt (and that looked quite big too).

The players didn't get it either. if they don't get it, you know there's a problem.

It was bewildering, and despite the win I still feel really pissed off for Fev.

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"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

I hate to say it but Fev is the new Camporeale. He mouths off and even though it shouldn't make a difference to "professional" umpires it obviously does.

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"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." - Gene Hill

Gotta agree - although Fev can be his own worst enemy at times. That free kick given against him for "kneeing" was very, very soft.

More to the point, what does Murphy need to do to get a free kick?

Here is a guy that only ever makes the ball his option, yet he gets bugger all protection.

In the last qtr the umpire missed 3 free kicks for him in row before he finally received a "fair" go.

Gieschen needs a shot up his a#$e! Its kids like Murhy that need protection and by that I mean any player that solely makes the ball his object should be looked after. That's what this game was built on. Forget about the "hands in the back" rule. Bloody protect the guy who wants to get the ball!

I definitely agree that Fev can be his own worst enemy when it comes to umpring decisions, and have been critical of him before, but yesterday was a new low as far as umpires go I reckon.

The club should be getting in the media and harping on about it, send a please explain to Gieschen etc...

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No point wasting time or energy on the umpires at they will do what they please and say flower off to the rest of us.

The Gish is a moron of epic proportions so it stands to reason that his umpires are as well.

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

I think the problem with the umpiring is that they are hard on the in the back but let all manner of holding the man go - Fev was getting held from behind rather then pushed and the umps didn't care.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

As much as Fev can sook a bit when he gets some stupid treatment, look at him in comparison to Barry Hall. Hall gave away more frees on Saturday against Essendon* than he had possessions. And that was a match that Sydney lost by a solitary point. Admittedly, Sydney butchered their own chances of winning from the very start, but it sets the tone.

Fev is right to be frustrated by the treatment he got on Sunday, and I think in general he was pretty contained.

Either way, he played his role perfectly, drawing defenders to him allowing players like Lappin, Fisher and Waite to have some freedom to damage.

Surely even the bozos at AFL house have to be seeing how much damage Gieschen is doing to umpiring in general, and I'm hoping his time is coming to an end.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

He's been getting a rough go all year. The umps will pay a free if you put a fingernail in someone's back but they ignore some of the full back's wrestling maneuvers.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

love Fev and umpires shocking yesterday -2 classic holding the ball -aker and bentick unrewarded for perfect tackle by tackler
Fev fell into trap of playing for free kick yesterday instead of attacking the ball -we needed him to attack the ball -nearly cost us

I agree he gets a raw deal. But he's brought it on himself to a large degree.

It was very unwise for him to smile and laugh with Mal Michael after playing for and getting a soft free kick for hands in the back at the beginning of the NAB Cup. It was shown in close up on the TV . The umps tend to remember being conned or mocked in that fashion. Fortunately, the same thing is happening to Lindsay Thomas now. You could hit him over the head with a sledgehammer and he won't get a free kick.

Unfortunately, he's exacerbated this by going over the top in his whinging about the failure of umpires to pay a free to him. By failing to go after the ball, he's let them off the hook as the umps would know that he would be the object of derision from non-Carlton footy fans rather than them.

He now needs to do his time and take it on the chin. Hopefully after a while, he'll be back in the good books and get the soft free-kicks that Lloyd gets.

That's ridiculous! Be a good boy and we'll give you free kicks. How about they just umpire by the rules?

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

I generally give the umps a fair bit of slack during the game and think that eventually the decisions even up at the end of the game...... however today the umps were ridiculously bad. Now i was at the game with my brother and his mate who are both former umpires and are very understanding of the umpires perspective, but even today they were both bewildered by the umpiring standard.

Murphy gets a raw deal for a young player who generally plays in front and attacks the ball, got absolutley hammered yesterday with very little protection from the umps.

Fev gets scrutinised i think more than any other player going around, gets pinged for every minor misdimeanour he commits but receives nothing when infringed upon. Now i thought he showed great restraint yesterday, the umpires job is to judge each incident on its merit and they are clearly not doing that in regard to Fev.

P.S What happend to the holding the ball decision yesterday? Neither team got rewarded for tackles.

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The glass is neither half full nor half empty. Rather the glass is twice as big than required.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm so sick and tired of bullshit grandstanding from the umps. The umpiring has gone to shit since they put numbers on their backs and gave the little pricks an identity.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Agreed. That would be ideal. But we know that in practice this sort of stuff happens. You have to deal with the reality.

I listened to MMM at the game, and IIRC Kouta wasn't paid a mark in the goalmouth and then ran away from goal and was tackled and didn't dispose of the ball correctly. We grabbed the loose ball and kicked a goal. Dunstall was asked about whether Kouta should have been pinged. He said it was one of those 50/50s, and the umpire probably gave us the benefit of the doubt because he didn't pay the mark. To the comment that this isn't how decisions to be made and that the rules had to be applied independently of previous incidents, Dunstall said he accepted that but it is the way that umpires think and always has been. I reckon he's spot on.

So Fev can tilt at windmills and complain that things aren't ideal, or he can get on with business and do the best thing by the club and himself.

I listened to that call Indie and boy does Dunstall hate us, it was like he got his pants pulled down when he played us for most of his career.
I couldn't listen to it anymore and changed the station to rex and that's saying something.

IMO Pagan or someone has to visit the umpiring boss, it's worked for plenty of others.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

#9 was Matt Stevic and he was clearly the worst of it.
2 howlers:
(1):
Fevola giving away in the back on Boyd I think, where he locked in a pack in our forward line in the last(?) where he leant on the pack and his knee touching Boyd - no impact at all, and the umpire paid in the pack for kneeing him (Note: no umpire saw Eagleton's fair dinkum knee on Joey Anderson when he laiud a goal-saving tackle in the 3rd - sniper - didn't hurt him, but that's not the issue);
(2):
Fev slipped high with an errant hand tackling Hargraves, giving away free kick - no dramas - free kick, accepted. Hargraves then handballed back to another player, forget who, who Fev tackles to the ground. Umpire pays 50m penalty, as he said, you heard the whistle, yada yada yada. Hargarves chose to play on in my opinion, Fev just laid the tackle. At worst, Fev tackled the player to avoid the umpire paying advantage. This cannot be construed as time wasting, though it certainly would have served tha t purpose, had it been adjudicated correctly. Umpires, as with barry Hall, are so Fevola-conscious they are jumping on everything they can construe as a penalty against him.
Yet, when he plays 'normally, he is having his hands & shoulders chopped incessantly, is being held in marking contests and getting the big Krispy Kreme.

That is all not mention the succession of free kicks that the umpires attempted to ignore on Marc Murphy in the last quarter.

Thank Christ we destroyed the Rubbish Bulldogs, or I would have been livid. I feel better now, I have vented.

Only 'concern' is that the Priority Pick looks to have dissolved.
Now we hope that Richmond take Kreuzer at 1, leaving Cotchin to Carlton at #2.
Please.

Agreed again. Hopefully it already has happened and will happen again. If pressure can produce some benefits for us, no expense in time or money should be spared.

If a public outing of the umpires would work, then hopefully Pratt and the Board would be more than happy to foot the bill.

But if the better view is that more will be achieved by keeping it out of the public arena, then so be it. By definition, we'll never know if this is the way the club is going.

The Kouta incident was the umpire flapping his arms in the air to denote play on and unfortunately players show them no zip respect [and rightly so] that no one noticed the flowering moron when he did mean for the game to play on.

The umpiring is BAD EVERY WEEK - so we should not be shocked and nor should Fev.

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Not a truer word has been uttered today.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

At the other end of the spectrum we had Lappin who is one of the leading stagers for free kicks in the league - and by and large, bless him, he gets rewarded for it.

He got at least two in-the-back frees yesterday simply from falling to the ground when tackled and bringing the opposition player down on top of him.

Yet that all goes to prove is the theory that umpires are idiots.

Yet we can't deny that the umps abuse their power and play favourites / scapegoats. Look at the deal James Hird got when he criticised McLaren on TFS, versus the treatment he got after donating $25 grand and coming out and saying how fantastic they all were.

Fev probably thinks he has done his penance now, but he's mistaken. He'll need to be a good boy for the rest of the season and then, maybe, he'll start getting a better deal next year.

And he can forget all hope of winning a Brownlow. Some of the games biggest thugs (Lockett, Dipper, Libba) have won one, but not too many whingers have...