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I can’t help but think that the AFL finals in 2016 are about renewal.  I cannot remember a series that has captured the imagination of the football public like it in recent years.  

Umpiring your first AFL game is always a highlight of an umpire’s career, so when Steve Piperno was appointed to his first AFL final, it was another positive step forward in only his second year on the list.

NSW based goal umpire, Brodie Kenny-Bell made news last year when he became the first goal umpire since 1995 to be appointed to a final in his first year as a contracted umpire.  Brodie comes into the first semi final, Sydney v Adelaide following a stint as the emergency umpire last weekend, making it two finals in two years.  Brodie is the only new face into the finals line up.

It’s only after the event that a person who equals or break a record has time to reflect on what that means.  You will often hear players say, “When my career is over it will be something that I will sit back and reflect on.  I will certainly cherish it more then.”  The same goes for some long standing records that were equaled or broken on the weekend.  The single focus for all of those men is to make the grand final team in 2016.  All else pales by contrast.

Life member of the AFLUA, Colin Hood goal umpired 311 AFL games in a career that spanned 21 years.

What an amazing first week of finals football we had the pleasure of witnessing.  Teams evenly matched following what was a controversial bye weekend, because they came into the weekend fixtures as fit as they could possibly be.  We believed going into the bye week the only stakeholder that would be happy were the umpires.  “We don’t get the luxury afforded the teams with a week off during the season and while we don’t take the bumps and the big hits we do run further in games than the best mid-fielders in the competition, and we are certainly older,” said an insider today.

Libby performs in the All Stars match

There are 6 running umpires appointed to their first finals appearance after what the umpiring department said was an extremely harrowing selection meeting.  Three other umpires debut in finals as emergencies.

The power base continues to grow in stature.  Four of the eight listed AFL umpires from NSW/ACT have been appointed to the first week of AFL finals.  If we discount Dale Puren who didn’t get onto the field this year due to illness and injury and we have a 57% hit rate in that market place.