Ack!!

You can just hope it's a mild aberration and they will be back at their best next weekend.

I was very pleased we managed to keep it together long eneough to get over the line. Chrisso your boys played well without their Captain and Rioli, I admit I was very very pleased to hear Hird would not be playing and then even more pleased when Rioli didn't take to the ground either. Hird has the uncanny nack of lifting a team that appear totally gorn e.g against WCE. In my eyes he's almost as good as Vossy!:) Much to be happy about if you're a Bombers fan, plenty of good talent coming through.

REB, like me, you must have been waiting for Geelong to go 'click but they did not seem to get out of third gear. Is pace a problem for Geelong?

Yeah, the whole joint was ravaged with sickness and was very happy with the way we fought hard in the face of adversity. A lot of teams would have just layed down and died. I saw a team do that two weeks ago.

As for Pace Bird, normally Geelong is quite a quick side but I reckon the Dogs would have most sides covered for pace. While Ling is no speedster a few that are are Wojincksi and Byrnes who were not in the side. Tenace has pace but his foot skills are dodgy. Kelly, Bartel and Corey, while not superfast usually run hard to create space and I think that was the real problem for the Catters. They just didn't work hard enough. The players have got ahead of themselves in the worst way and this season could turn out to be a real waste.

Bring back Mackie Jase :)

regards,

REB

Welcome to the world of up and down performances.

As with every week the crap victorian teams are given a free ride.

The stats make for interesting reading. Don't they Hawka. Hawka??

regards,

REB

2 of those games were interstate.

come on hawka find out the frees for and against stats.

Err....because there is absolutely no connection between the amount of frees and the result?????

Radical I know, but surely worth a look?

Either they are always in front and deserving the free and on the bottom of packs etc and are deadset unlucky they keep getting belted or they receive favourable treatment.

Benno, I agree, cricket's a much more intersting game ATM, but it's already looking a whole lot less interesting than it was on Thursday.

Team		For	%For	Agst	%Agst
Carlton 	311	55.7%	247	44.3%
Richmond 	310	55.7%	247	44.3%
Kangaroos 	294	53.7%	253	46.3%
Collingwood 	307	53.5%	267	46.5%
St Kilda 	315	52.7%	283	47.3%
Western B'dogs 	295	52.1%	271	47.9%
West Coast 	291	50.7%	283	49.3%
Fremantle 	289	50.2%	287	49.8%
Geelong 	291	49.3%	299	50.7%
Essendon 	269	49.3%	277	50.7%
Brisbane Lions 	270	48.6%	285	51.4%
Melbourne 	279	47.5%	308	52.5%
Adelaide 	256	47.5%	283	52.5%
Hawthorn 	289	46.0%	339	54.0%
Port Adelaide 	285	45.5%	342	54.5%
Sydney 		282	45.3%	341	54.7%

Pretty Close i'd say, with Port, Syd and Haw being worst free kick giveawayers and the HAWKS being a Victorian Team ... those ruddy umpires advantaging all the Victorian sides except Hawthorn. They must still be jealous because their teams didn't win many grand finals in the 80s.

cheers

jsa ... as for "carlton with a +60 freekick count" divide that by 17 games and you get 3 and a bit more free kicks between all the teams. Given that the majority of free kicks are given in backline or centre that is not that much difference.

Then you could go on for ever about the umpires not picking up the little throws, the new interpretation about slapping the arms away and numerous other contentious issues .... but now is not the time or place.

regards,

REB

But still doesnt answer how a side winning 2.5 games could possibly be receiving more freekicks than other sides who at least win.

Thanks for the freekick stats.

Funny how 2 of the top 3 sides are in the bottom for receiving freekicks and thay happen to be interstaters.

Dont tell me those stats dont clearly show that umpires either cheat or are instructed to help the victorian clubs.

Team		Avg F	Avg A	Diff
Carlton 	18.3	14.5	3.8
Richmond 	18.2	14.5	3.7
Kangaroos 	17.3	14.9	2.4
Collingwood 	18.1	15.7	2.4
St Kilda 	18.5	16.6	1.9
Western B'dogs 	17.4	15.9	1.4
West Coast 	17.1	16.6	0.5
Fremantle 	17.0	16.9	0.1
Geelong 	17.1	17.6	-0.5
Essendon 	15.8	16.3	-0.5
Brisbane Lions 	15.9	16.8	-0.9
Melbourne 	16.4	18.1	-1.7
Adelaide 	15.1	16.6	-1.6
Hawthorn 	17.0	19.9	-2.9
Port Adelaide 	16.8	20.1	-3.4
Sydney 		16.6	20.1	-3.5

I am still of the opinion that an average of 3.8 free kicks per game is not that significant. I believe that umpires do have a tendency to give "softer" free kicks to teams that are behind with very little bearing on the game, except when Hawthorn lost to Carlton in the early rounds. ;)

I believe this is the only reason that some of the "Victorian" clubs are in front and the interstate clubs behind.

If I did some digging I reckon that the clubs from other states would be in front when they were having ordinary years and not playing well. I certainly wouldn't call this cheating, I would call it being more favourable to teams getting flogged (most of us love the underdog - with the exception of a few footy teams). It just so happens that the last few years it has been Victorian teams getting flogged.

As for making a difference in matches REB, you are quite correct. One or more bad calls can turn a game, however, I believe this to be rarity rather the norm. You could then ask the question, as Chrisso pointed out, why aren't Essendon on top? or why are Carlton on the bottom?

Remember that 87.5% of statistics are made up on the spot.

regards,

REB

I repeat from an earlier thread: the time span for whining about umpires without sounding like a complete tool is about 3 and a half minutes after the match. Or at least it should be. Lazy club officials like nothing better than to have the fans blaming the umps rather than themselves for their club losing games.

It's no coincidence that 'conspiracy' starts with 'con'.

Cheers
Lucy

they help no doubt, but even the cheating umps cant save the Vic clubs from interstate domination.

The swans concede plenty because of the 1000 tackles a game, you are going to have a few high and in the back.

But yep, get over it. Although there are times I do wonder if the Umpire should kick the goal as well, after giving the soft free 20 metres out (to Lloyd - *Cough*)

You are pretty much on the mark.

Each Teams Record after playing Brisbane