I didn't watch all of the game, but enough to see some very bizarre decisions by the umpire- 2 Geelong players consecutively should have been pinged for holding-the-ball, when the ball eventually spilled out to an unsuspecting Port player, who was gang-tackled (with no prior)- Holding the ball!
It's this lack of consistency with umpires that turns me off the game- sure players make mistakes, but they are made accountable (benched/dropped/given a spray/de-listed even), but not umpires, as they're untouchable.
yeh, there were some strange ones. As an impartial I thought Port got the rougher end of the pineapple but I don't think it made the difference in the final result.
That one you speak of Punk was bewildering. The Josh Hunt holding the ball I thought was let go a few weeks ago when I saw multiple instances of people dropping the ball like that and it was called play on. Because there are so many opportunities to watch games of football, the inconsistency becomes stark. 20 or 30 years ago, with only the sporadic game on TV and not replayed constantly thru the week made inconsistencies seem invisible to the general public.
I sent a message to my Port mates saying "LET IT GO UMPIRES FFS" because again they seem to want to intervene for no reason other than to over-officiate.
There really needs to be a review done at years' end. Hopefully Evans takes hold of the place and gets rid of Gieschen. I feel sorry for the umpires if this bloke is in charge because he blurs any clear lines that have been set by the rules committee (if any!). Push in the back for example.