(mis)Interpretation rules

Fresh from our mid-season R&R, AussieRulesBlog watched the Saints-Hawks game on television with renewed interest. The mixed blessing of access to the umpires’ audio feed provoked a number of questions.

 

Time to kick

Not for the first time, we noticed that a defender gets barely five seconds to compose himself and plan his kick before an officious voice (imagination required for Steve McBurney here) solemnly intones, “Move it along; play on!” and the umpire does a comical impression of an albatross taking off.

 

As the ball moves further toward the attacking goal, players seem to get more and more time.

 

Once there is a shot for goal involved, in contrast, the time allowed magically expands to twenty seconds before the player is called to start moving.

 

No doubt The Mikado (Jeff Gieschen, for those who haven’t followed the Gilbert and Sullivan association threads) will remind us that goals are important in the game and that players should have a reasonable chance to maximise the effectiveness of their kicks. Nor argument from us there, except that it’s reasonable to apply the same rule across the whole field.

 

‘Natural arc’ and moving off the line

An umpire in the aforementioned Saints-Hawks game penalised Leigh Montagna for taking a step toward Franklin who had run substantially off his line in taking a kick. The umpire did not call “play on!”, so we have no difficulty with the decision.

 

What did puzzle us though, was the explanation offered to Montagna by the umpire — that Franklin’s “natural arc” saved him from a play on call. Now, we wonder how much natural arc is allowed. If the Grand Final final siren has sounded and the Hawks are down five points with Franklin taking a kick from the right-hand behind post (that is, the behind post is on Franklin’s right side), how much natural arc will be allowed before “Play on!” is called and the match finishes before the kick is taken?

 

Once again, by way of contrast, some defenders seem to do little more than raise an eyebrow before being called to play on.

 

Five-metre zone

We also noticed that Hawthorn have modified the Collingwood tactic of blocking the man on the mark to facilitate a play on move. The Hawks’ method involves stationing someone fairly close to the mark who can quickly come in and block as soon as “Play on!” is called. Invariably, in our observation, the blocking player is within five metres of the player on the mark. When 50-metre penalties are being almost routinely awarded for players infringing the five-metre protected zone, it seems the umpires aren’t a wake-up to this variation on tactics.