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Luke Walker gives back to local footy

Luke Walker gives back to local footy

Luke has never been conventional.  He has been unpredictable at best.  It’s why his closest colleagues were bowled over when he retired from the AFL panel at the top of his game last year after another grand final and All Australian award. It didn’t deter Luke from calling time on his outstanding career.

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Round 11 shorts: How many free kicks is too many?

Round 11 shorts: How many free kicks is too many?

How long is a piece of string?  Eleven 50 metre penalties is a record in a game of AFL football said the statisticians who have been measuring everything in football forensically for the past few years.  Dane Rampe from the Sydney Swans probably summed it up best when he was caught on field umpire, Nick Foot’s microphone wanting to know if he’d also had a coffee with “Clarko”, after Nick awarded Dane’s opponent a free kick for being held in the game against Carlton.  Who said banter was dead?

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Round 10 shorts – Goal umpires continue to perform to the elite standards expected

Round 10 shorts – Goal umpires continue to perform to the elite standards expected

How do we separate the score review system from our elite performers, the goal umpires? This is the vexed question the AFL needs to grapple with as the score review comes under extreme pressure from key stakeholders.  Coaches, players, commentators and supporters are becoming increasingly frustrated with the apparent inequities in the system.  General Manager Football Operations, Steve Hocking ticked off two controversial score review decisions in the Richmond v St Kilda match saying that the score reviewer had more camera angles and better vision than that of the broadcaster in making the correct decisions on Sunday.  Then 24 hours later the AFL reversed one of these decisions. The goal umpire was correct!  Sadly, the crowds at games, who appear to have a limited understanding of the process take their frustrations out on goal umpires and umpiring in general at games.

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Michael Saunders – a remote 200!

Michael Saunders – a remote 200!

When Michael stepped onto Spotless Stadium last Saturday he did so with little fan fare and even less recognition of the milestone that has taken him 9 years and 45 days to achieve, 200 AFL games.  Michael becomes the 137th umpire to achieve the feat and only the 47th boundary umpire in the games history to come this far.  However, what is even more remarkable is that Michael becomes only the 8th boundary umpire from interstate to reach the 200 game milestone.

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Round 9 shorts – Mollison travels to China for his 200th game

Round 9 shorts – Mollison travels to China for his 200th game

Congratulations to Jacob Mollison on achieving his 200 game milestone but he had to travel further than any other umpire in the history of the game to achieve it, Shanghai!  Jacob came onto the list in 2008 from the VFL via Albury in the Ovens and Murray Football League after umpiring 3 grand finals in that competition, then two senior VFL grand finals.  Jacob has umpired one AFL final in 2011.

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