This focus is representative of a wider, and broader, umpiring landscape built on respect, professionalism and competition.
The AFL's umpiring group - consisting of more than 110 umpires, which included field, boundary and goal officials - gathered in Geelong on Friday to set in stone a standard for season 2011.
On Friday night the group was taken through a laws of the game DVD, Saturday saw the squad undertake a five-km time-trial and education programs, and on Sunday the group initiated a leadership model for the season ahead.
The umpires began their pre-season training on November 15. They train twice a week after work - most hold other full-time or part-time occupations - and share the facilities at Visy Park with Rugby Union side, Melbourne Rebels.
The weekend in Geelong, Gieschen said, achieved all objectives.
"We had a number of aims in terms of education, teaching, fitness, socialisation and leadership, and the camp certainly achieved everything we wanted it to," he said.
"With the NAB Cup and home and away season coming up, we are all really confident now that we know what's got to happen and that we're ready for the year."
AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson was similarly pleased with the camp and seminar, and said competition within the group was a healthy measure of how far umpiring has come.
"It's a reflection of the professionalism of the umpiring group: they're a really dedicated group, they work very hard, they're determined to continually improve their efforts on and off the field and I think the way they went about the camp on the weekend was a measure of that," he said.
Improvement is one of the foundations upon which umpiring is based.
During his introduction at the camp, Gieschen stressed that while 2010 was a good year of umpiring, it should aim to get better in 2011.
The umpiring group is highly competitive. Each week field umpires are measured on every free kick - whether correct, missed or unwarranted - and then ranked from top to bottom based on how they go each weekend.
As much as they have external scrutiny from fans, clubs and the media, they are as critical of themselves.
The coaches, led by former AFL umpire Rowan Sawers, last year implored umpires to improve their positioning by making sure end zone umpires were closer to stoppages, so infringements were more obvious.
This year there's a focus on using all umpires to help make the right decision, with boundary umpires covering for goal umpires, goal umpires covering for field umpires.
"That teamwork is one of the key focuses of this year, and as a group they've really worked hard on helping each other out and enshrining teamwork as one of the defining aspects of the umpiring culture," Anderson said.
Anderson didn't foresee any problems with umpires monitoring the new substitute rules coming into effect this season.
Clear and direct instruction, coupled with teaching and development and then attentive monitoring, meant umpires would receive adequate feedback to make sure any new rules were covered without issue, he said.
The umpiring philosophy of constant improvement within a team framework would allow for little else.
