Essendon players singing the song - it was deflating.
Eventually I watched the match (I stayed up until 4am that night). Something caught my eye; it was an occurrence that infuriated me. This anger was hardly a spur of the moment emotion because I had already digested the result. What angered me was an umpiring decision that clearly kicks common sense in the nuts.
So let me set the scene, the Tigers are beginning to apply scoreboard pressure on the Bombers in the third quarter. We kick a few, we’re dominating possession and suddenly Ivan Maric jumps at the chance to attain the ball.
Hey I assume in this sport you’re job is to get the ball?
Brent Stanton comes after him, big Ivan’s being pinged by another strong body who is purposely trying to dig that ball in between Maric’s legs. Ivan’s arms are free, waving in the air, almost like an inflatable arm flailing tube man. Clearly this was Ivan letting the umpires know “Hey, Stanton’s purposely holding the ball onto me”. The umpires ignore the fact that Ivan’s not even on the ball, his arms aren’t locking it in and Stanton’s clearly dictating this play. They reward Stanton a free kick that was not there; obviously Maric’s ticked off and goes nuts. Stanton kicks a goal from the 50 meter penalty that was paid against Maric for umpire abuse.
Damien Hardwick nearly knocked someone out in the coach’s box; I don’t think he was angry at Maric giving away the 50. I think he was angry at the umpiring decision.
It’s not the worst I’ve seen either. Earlier in the season when Port Adelaide played Adelaide, there was a specific play that caught my attention. Patrick Dangerfield attacked the ball like a lunatic. He was running from contest to contest, bowling over players twice his size. This kid was being tackled, he was tackling, struggling, shrugging, persisting and pouncing at every chance he could to get the ball. He landed on the ball and it was held onto him, Port Adelaide got the free kick. That’s not in the spirit of the game, that’s utter tripe. He fought for that Sherrin, he demonstrated what the true spirit of this game is, however he was penalized for it.
I won’t blame Stanton, it’s probably been done to him before. These questionable calls seem to work against the whole competition. I won’t blame the umpires either. They’re not even working full time, how can you improve your KPI’s when your job’s more of a hobby than a real line of work. I won’t claim that we lost because of these decisions, the truth’s that we shouldn’t have to fight back from 40 points down. I won’t be asking for that goal back. What I will do however is ask a question.
Where did common sense go?
That’s it for this week girls and boys. The Tigers are improving, this’ all part of the learning curve. One day we’ll figure out how to beat these top teams, when we do…we won’t forget easily.
Go Tiges!
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