A crackdown on encroachment has triggered a surge in 50m penalties
IF it feels like there have been more 50m penalties this season, there is a good reason for that and Richmond and Brisbane are on the wrong end while Hawthorn is in the umpires’ good books. SEE THE STATS
AFL News
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FOOTY is in the midst of a 50m penalty blitz.
A record 262 have been paid by umpires across the first 13 rounds of the season - 73 more than this time last year.
The surge follows an AFL enforced crackdown on encroachments in the protected zone.
BAROMETER: EVERY CLUB’S ROUND 13 INJURY LIST
SUPERCOACH: MUST-HAVE BYE WEEK TRADE TARGETS
REPORT CARD: CAN A-GRADE MAGPIES GO ALL THE WAY?
Eleven 50m penalties alone were conceded in the Round 11 clash between Hawthorn and Port Adelaide in Launceston - the most in a match since Champion Data began recording statistics in 1999.
Former AFL umpire Derek Humphery-Smith backed the philosophy of the encroachment rule, but said consistency was the key.
Richmond’s Josh Caddy kicked a crucial second-quarter goal from a 50m penalty awarded against Geelong’s Tom Stewart for entering the protected area at the MCG on Sunday.
“I like the rule - I like the idea of a protected radius - but unfortunately a by-product of it is enforcement,” Humphery-Smith told the Herald Sun.
“The spirit of encroachment is about decluttering our game - and that’s not a bad idea.
“It means that the player with the footy is not crowded unless the player is coming from in front of him - and that’s not a bad thing to open up the game, so I’m OK with it philosophically.”
Ex-Western Bulldogs skipper Robert Murphy recently called for introduction of a 25m penalty for lower-end offences.
“In terms of making the game more palatable, when it’s an encroachment on the mark or a stepping over the mark the 50m penalty is just too harsh,” Murphy said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“It changes the game.”
Just 159 50m penalties were awarded across the competition after 13 rounds in 2014, 196 in 2015, 221 in 2016 and 189 last year.
Humphery-Smith said the decision made in the Stewart-Caddy encroachment incident was the correct one.
“Stewart just needed to go wider and then be seen to deliberately cut in 90 degrees when he’s level with the mark,” he said.
“It’s tricky - even if you are running to the mark and you run through that protected zone, you risk a 50m penalty being paid against you - so you just have to go wider.
“You need to come in on a different angle to what Tom did.
“If Caddy had stepped off his line to his right, Stewart would have been all over him. I understood why that one was paid - he just came in too narrowly.
“Undue encroachment is an issue that really locks down the free-flowing nature of play, and Richmond is a team that will really benefit from this rule because they move the ball so quickly, and their opponents are often coming from behind to get the mark.
“AFL football has become very cluttered and any mechanism that can be enforced by the umpires through the AFL’s direction is not a bad thing.”
Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
Tiger delight as North pays heavy price for final draft night pick
On a night where little caused a surprise, North Melbourne waited until the last moment to pull a stunner, paying a significant price and taking an even more significant risk.
‘Absolute blunder’: Essendon’s ‘staggering’ draft move smashed
The Bombers had a relatively quiet trade period by their standards, with their focus on Isaac Kako. Now after securing the small forward, their method has been whacked by a draft expert.