AussieRulesBlog watched the Weagles–Cats game last Friday night with increasing alarm as one ruck infringement decision after another baffled everyone in the football world. The only person with any knowledge of the reason for these free kicks is the umpire concerned. Certainly the ruckmen themselves have absolutely no idea.
Under Jeff Gieschen, the umpiring department chooses to change its focus from round to round — often from quarter to quarter — and yet the blight of ruckmen wrestling each other continues.
If the rules of the game are applied in the ruck as they are everywhere else on the field — subject to weekly changes of interpretation though they are — we don’t have a problem.
If a defender grapples an opponent in a marking contest the way ruckmen grapple each other, ninety-nine times out of a hundred a free kick is paid. Why not apply the same interpretation in the ruck?
Where are those great saviours of the game, Andrew Demetriou and Adrian Anderson? Do wrestle-style ruck contests do anything positive for the image of the game?
It’s long past time to clean up this aspect of the game. Let both ruckmen contest the ball to their best ability without holding, grappling or shepherding.
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