I think someone has to put their hand up and say enough is enough because with these rolling scrums we are seeing around the stoppages I don’t even recognise the game anymore.
Please umpires, blow the whistle, pay a free kick or throw the ball up.
I understand some of the thinking behind letting the play go on because the AFL -through the umpires - want to keep the game moving.
The AFL is also able to control the speed of the game to a degree through ball-ups because fewer breaks in play mean the players have less time to rest.
The players tire quicker as a result and aren’t able to operate at top speed for as long as they otherwise could.
Fewer ball-ups and free-kicks also mean the ball is in play more often and at the end of the year the AFL will be able to sell to people how great the game of modern footy is because of this statistic.
The AFL will point out that the game is free flowing and exciting because there are fewer stops in play, but the reason is because the umpires aren’t blowing their whistles when they should.
The umpires aren’t making the call to say, ‘hey, the ball has stopped now. Let’s throw the thing up’ and I’d like to think that we would review those non-decisions very quickly.
Prior opportunity, in regards to holding the ball is a good rule and players should have prior opportunity, but now even if you don’t have prior opportunity you have to make an effort to get rid of it or you’re deemed holding the ball.
Sometimes it appears as through the umpire is about to ping a player for holding the ball, but then it pops out and a player jumps on the ball and another 10 people jump on top of him.
Then the ball might slide out between someone’s legs and what it does is encourage 20 people to get around the ball.
Instead of blowing the whistle, saying the ball has been held up and throwing it up quickly, so not as many people can get around the contest the umpires wait until there are 20 people around the ball before they throw it up.
This makes it almost impossible for the players to get the ball out and the result is nearly always another scrum… and then another.
It looks like a rugby maul and enough is enough, so Jeff…let’s get to it.
While we’re on the subject of improving the game and enhancing the experience for the spectators I think it’s time we considered naming the goal ends of AAMI Stadium - while it’s still in existence.
Collingwood and Essendon have the Gordon Coventry and Matthew Lloyd end at Etihad Stadium and I’m sure we could have the Warren Tredrea end at AAMI Stadium.
The name of the other end is up for debate. It might be Eric Freeman or Rex Johns from the past and Timmy Evans also deserves consideration, but it probably should be the Scotty Hodges end considering his goalkicking record in South Australia.
The Crows would have an opportunity to attach Tony Modra’s name to one end as well and I think that would be pretty special for the Adelaide people.
The great Darren Jarman should also be recognised for some of his brilliant antics.
There are some great naming traditions around the league.
At Etihad Stadium the Western Bulldogs have named the western wing after Doug Hawkins because that was his wing at the Western Oval and in Perth they have the Chris Mainwaring wing.
The whole concept allows the home clubs to be more inclusive.
It gives some of our past greats more recognition and it really does add to the fans' experience and the history of the club.
This got me thinking about some of the other areas at AAMI Stadium that we could name.
We could have the Burgoyne pocket down at the Grange end of the ground where Shaun dived and smothered Brent Guerra’s soccer in a preliminary final to get us into the grand final.
It could also be remembered for when Peter marked the ball in a final and played on and got caught, which meant we didn’t move onto the next round of the finals.
That pocked would hold a special meaning for both Peter and Shaun I would expect.
The scoreboard pocket at the other end could be the Gavin Wanganeen pocket because he kicked some wonderful goals from there.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
