Holding the ball: Steve Hocking backs genuine attempt to fix rule as ump inconsistencies grow
The holding-the-ball intrepretation has become a dilemma for the AFL with a former umpires boss conceding there was no easy fix to a rule Patrick Dangerfield admits has players confused.
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Former AFL umpires boss Peter Schwab fears holding-the-ball confusion will remain as long as the “philosophical” debate over who gets the benefit of the doubt exists.
As he called for the league to move to four umpires to better adjudicate marking contests, Schwab conceded there was unlikely to be an easy fix for the holding-the-ball dilemma.
“The holding-the-ball rule is just so complex, I don’t know the answer,” Schwab said.
“That’s a philosophical question that we ebb and flow between: who should get the benefit of the doubt — should it be the player who goes and gets the ball or should it be the tackler? As long as they keep struggling with what they should focus on there, they will always have an issue with it.”
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The AFL reached out to St Kilda and Adelaide and apologised for umpiring inconsistencies after 12 holding-the-ball decisions were paid on Monday night.
Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield said players were confused with the current interpretation of the rule.
“It’s incredibly difficult to get a grasp on. I get the game is the hardest game in the world to
umpire ... but certainly this interpretation at the moment has players confused,” Dangerfield told Channel 9.
“The last thing that we want is our players second-guessing themselves when going to get the ball. That’s the point of our game.”
Schwab said it was dangerous to make changes to rules on the run.
“You are always in trouble when you tweak interpretations ongoing because that’s where you start to become frustrated from a coaching point of view and playing point of view,” he said.
AFL CONCEDES HOLDING BALL RULE ‘NOT PERFECT’
MARK ROBINSON
AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking concedes the holding-the-ball rule is “not perfect” and is striving for consistency in the face of mounting confusion and frustration.
Hocking said the dispersal of umpires across the country has meant the collective coaching of the “genuine attempt’’ rule has been missing, which had created that inconsistency.
Hocking dismissed suggestions the ball winner was being overly penalised, and stressed the protection of the ball winner would remain a pillar of the game.
But he said the ball winner had to try to move the ball on when tackled.
Confusion abounds about the controversial change to clampdown on holding-the-ball situations, which was a league directive and not, Hocking said, an Alastair Clarkson initiative.
“The actual adjustments are going to take time to settle,” Hocking said on Tuesday.
“There’s definitely inconsistencies with it, and that’s always an expectation when what you’re trying to do is enforce the ‘genuine attempt’.
“It’s got nothing to do with the prior opportunity, it’s a genuine attempt to move the ball. What we’ve aimed to do is get that decision-making right across the umpiring group, and that will take time.
“Everyone is searching for perfection in this (game). It doesn’t matter if you’re a coach, a player or an umpire, it just takes time. It’s not perfect at the moment, and we acknowledge that.”
He stressed the philosophy of the rule clampdown was right and dismissed suggestions players were now waiting for an opponent to take the ball so they could then apply the tackle. “We’re certainly not seeing that at this point in time,’’ he said.
AFL great Leigh Matthews has said he fears for the ball winner in this current environment.
Hocking: “It’s one of the most important elements of the game, people play for that reason, when you’ve got that opportunity for your moment in time to take possession of the ball and take the game on … that’s what the game is.
“Hopefully, what you’re seeing is ‘in your back’ paid a lot more. If you have a look at that, that’s one of the big improvers, and no one is talking about that.’’
There’s a marginal increase from 2019 to 2020 in push-in-the-back free kicks, but a drop in the past three rounds.
Hocking said the game needed to clamp down on players gathering the ball and then wanting a stoppage. In recent rounds, the football seems to have been more in motion.
“We don’t want to see players protecting the ball and ball security by being tackled and just having a stoppage created,” he said.
“It’s enforcing the rule of genuine attempt, and if there’s no genuine attempt being made, prior opportunity has got nothing to do with it. No genuine attempt is in the rule book, and that is the rule that is being officiated on. There’s no change in interpretations, it’s just enforcing that rule.”
Hocking also dismissed the notion Hawthorn coach Clarkson initiated the tightening of the rule. He said the AFL had tracked trends for several years, and believed the fact the players had been forced to train in groups of nine had promoted more ball security.
He also stressed players who dragged the ball in needed to get it out. “That hasn’t changed,” he said.
WORRYING UMPIRE TREND, OR JUST A BAD NIGHT?
By Chris Cavanagh and Simeon Thomas-Wilson
The AFL has reached out to St Kilda and Adelaide and apologised for umpiring inconsistencies after a staggering 12 holding the ball decisions were paid on Monday night.
The Herald Sun understands AFL umpiring boss Hayden Kennedy has spoken with Saints coach Brett Ratten and Crows counterpart Matthew Nicks, telling the pair that the umpiring group was striving for greater consistency around the holding the ball rule.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, AFL football operations manager Steven Hocking said:
“We acknowledge there were decisions in last night’s game that were either missed or unwarranted free kicks and we will continue to work towards ensuring stronger consistency in decision making, particularly with regards to holding the ball decisions,” Hocking said.
“Like many people in our game, umpires have made significant sacrifices to keep the game going for all fans across the country, including moving interstate at short notice for extended periods of times, and we thank them for their professionalism and commitment throughout this unprecedented season.”
The acknowledgment of errors by the league came after St Kilda midfielder Jack Steele on Tuesday joined Ratten in expressing confusion over the rule, which had its interpretation tightened three weeks ago on the back of criticism from Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson.
Champion Data statistics show that from Rounds 1-4, there were an average of 3.4 holding the ball free kicks paid each game.
That average spiked to 4.9 per game across rounds 5 and 6 after Clarkson’s comments.
However, excluding the clash between the Crows and Saints, the average dropped to 4.1 holding the ball decisions across the eight other games in Round 7.
The AFL circulated a memo to clubs after Round 4 that reinforced the need for players to make a “genuine attempt to correctly dispose of the football when legally tackled”.
Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge described that decision by the league as a “fair stuff up” and a “knee-jerk reaction”, while Steele said he was confused by the rule while playing for the Saints on Monday night.
“I still don’t know what to expect when someone’s tackled with the ball,” Steele said on SEN radio.
“You’ve nearly got to prepare for the worst and expect that it’s going to be holding the ball, because that’s what seems to be happening these days.
“Sometimes you think, ‘It will be a ball up here’, but then it’s a free kick. Especially in your defensive 50, you think you’re sweet and then all of a sudden things don’t go your way.”
Former Crows captain Taylor Walker said the constant changing of the interpretation of holding the ball had made it hard for umpires and players were thinking twice about if they should get the ball and get tackled or let the ball run and make a tackle themselves.
“I actually do feel a little bit for the umpires at the moment with the holding the ball issue,” he said.
“Obviously it has been raised in the industry and now I feel like it is making it tougher and tougher for umpires to officiate the game.”
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Ratten said after his side’s 23-point win on Monday that he felt ball players were being unfairly penalised.
“Sometimes it’d be pretty hard to be a ballplayer and try and put your hands on it,” Ratten said.
“We have to be careful that we haven’t got players just sitting there waiting to tackle players. That’s not how we want to play the game.
“It’s a fine line and you’ve got to be given some sort of chance to get rid of it.”