AFL Finals: Leigh Matthews joins calls to ditch bounce after Chris Scott umpire outburst
Calls to get rid of the bounce have gathered steam with legend Leigh Matthews labelling it a ‘useless part of our game’. The bounce is back on the agenda after Geelong coach Chris Scott questioned the tradition. TAKE OUR POLL
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Football legend Leigh Matthews has lashed the centre bounce, labelling the action a “useless part of our game”.
Matthews said he questioned field umpire Ray Chamberlain’s decision to bounce the ball off centre in Thursday night’s qualifying final, asking “how could you possibly do that?” and said it was time for the bounce to go.
“I didn’t even notice, to be honest, that for a while (on Friday night) they threw the ball up instead of bounced it,” the 332-game great and four-time premiership coach said on 3AW on Saturday.
“It is a useless part of our game and the only reason we do it is because we’ve always done it. You might as well throw it up – it’s a mess in there.”
He also questioned why it had to be a defining feature of umpiring.
“Post-playing ... I would never have even thought about having a go at umpiring because they were learning to bounce the ball – why do you need a skill to be a good official?,” he said.
Former umpires boss Peter Schwab says it’s time for the AFL to move on from the bounce, claiming the league is just clinging “to tradition” retaining it.
The bounce is again under the spotlight after Geelong coach Chris Scott zeroed in on the umpires at halftime of Thursday night’s qualifying final against Port Adelaide, appearing to take exception at the standard of umpire Ray Chamberlain’s centre bounces.
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The umpire had appeared to favour one side of the centre circle – and subsequently one ruck – with his bounces late in the game.
The incident involving Scott will be assessed as part of the AFL’s football department wrap of the weekend on Monday, where it will be determined whether the Geelong coach faces any requirement to explain his actions.
Schwab said the answer to any issues involving the centre bounce was simple – throw it up.
The former head of the AFL’s umpiring department said ditching the bounce in favour of throwing up the ball was the only way for the game to achieve true consistency and fairness.
“It’s the same old issue, if you throw it up, you don’t have the issue,” Schwab said.
“What are you after? Are you after the historical element of the game or are you after getting consistency?
“They have battled with that all the way through. There are just some people that just hang on to the bounce because why? Because there is a historical fact in the game and that’s the only argument for it.
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“Everytime I believe it goes to the commission they continue to vote to keep that traditional element in the game even though they have changed a lot about the game.
“I’ve always been an advocate for throwing it up, I think the argument is it’s consistent. But it always gets beaten because people hang onto tradition.
“Is this such a big tradition that it can’t change? I would never vote for anything like hitting the post is anything other than a behind or six points is worth a goal.
“But I’m not hanging onto tradition with this one.”
Former Essendon skipper Jobe Watson highlighted on Channel 7 during the coverage that by not bouncing the ball in the middle of the circle, it created bias.
“The idea is you have a centre circle and both players get an even opportunity because the ball is bounced in the middle of that centre circle.
“If you take it to one side, you immediately disadvantage one of the teams.”
Turn down the volume Ray. He is making the right decisions but finals are not about umpires.
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) October 1, 2020
Scott maintained that he “didn’t have a problem with the game was umpired” and said he had been asking “a genuine question”.
“I’m not just saying this to pump them up, but it’s been a tough year for everyone,” he said.
“They’ve performed under adversity as well. It’s a hostile environment here (at Adelaide Oval) and it was a genuine question that I was asking them. It wasn’t a criticism and I don’t have any criticisms of the way they umpired the game. I don’t think they had an influence, really at all ... you can always look back on it (and there’s some) 50-50s.
“We’ll draw 50 conclusions about the game before we start looking at a decision here or a decision there.”
Scott said he was simply trying to be heard above the raucous Power crowd at Adelaide Oval, but it could see him forced to explain his actions to the league.
“I wasn’t animated – it was loud out there, so it was hard to make yourself heard,” he said after the game
“I was just asking, ‘Who bounces the ball’. What the process there was for centre bounces.”
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said on Friday morning that Scott’s actions had not come across his desk.
“I haven’t heard that he is (in strife),” McLachlan said on 3AW.
“I didn’t see the incident — I saw it afterwards.
“I’ve had a meeting this morning and it wasn’t raised, but again, I’ll leave that with the footy department if there are any issues. I certainly haven’t heard of any.”
Scott said he considered the umpires to have had “a pretty good night, overall” as the Cats went down by 16 points to face an elimination semi-final next weekend.
Scott’s actions were questioned by former Richmond and Western Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace, who said he was “really surprised why a coach in a final at halftime would have his focus on how an umpire is bouncing the ball”.
After every goal, the ball is bounced in the centre square to restart play. But if their initial bounce travels outside the perimeter of the centre circle, umpires are instructed to recall the ball and throw it up.
The condition of the centre circle can also dictate whether a bounce is attempted, with teams informed before the game if bounces will be abandoned for the entire game.
Former umpires boss Wayne Campbell called for the bounce to be ditched earlier this year.
“If you are a player or an administrator … my response was always (the bounce) is pretty cool,” Campbell said on SEN in April.
“Once I got involved in umpiring, I saw just how hard it was and the psychological damage it did to umpires and the physical damage.
“I suppose with all these changes going on, shorter games and not as many games, that is one I would definitely trial – to get rid of the bounce for 2020.”
Campbell said that only bouncing the ball in the centre – not at stoppages – was what “does so much damage” to umpires.
CATS OVERPOWERED IN ANOTHER FINAL
Geelong’s premiership window threatens to slam shut on its ageing stars after it failed to overcome its qualifying final hoodoo against Port Adelaide.
The Cats went in with the oldest team on average per player in the game’s history but they will need to win three consecutive finals to send champion Gary Ablett out with a premiership.
It was only Port Adelaide’s fourth win over Geelong from their past 23 meetings as the Cats slumped to their fourth qualifying final defeat in eight years.
That record will leave many fans frustrated as another brilliant home-and-away campaign fizzles without the ultimate prize.
With its best 22 available, supporters cried during the week there would be no excuses.
Chris Scott may also land himself in hot water after an outburst at the umpires at halftime.
Scott stormed onto Adelaide Oval and appeared to express his dislike at the standard of some of the centre bounces.
The 16-point defeat means Geelong will have to become just the fifth team this century to win a Grand Final after losing a qualifying final.
The game turned in the third term when Port Adelaide took control in front of nearly 25,000 fans at Adelaide Oval.
A run of four unanswered goals either side of halftime gave the Power a game-high 21-point lead.
Geelong rallied to close the deficit to seven points midway through the final term, only for Todd Marshall to provide the sealer as the Power booked a preliminary final berth.
Ex-Cat Steven Motlop had a hotfoot with three goals from his first three kicks, while spearhead Tom Hawkins had some inexplicable misses.
The Coleman Medal winner had six shots at goal for 0.5, including a miss from 20m out on a slight angle and a bizarre checkside from effectively directly in front, and another difficult chance that failed to score.
It was the first time Hawkins had gone goalless in a game since Round 7.
Brisbane (2003), Sydney (2005), West Coast (2006) and Hawthorn (2015) are the only other premiers to win a flag after dropping the first final.
Geelong will meet the winner of the West Coast-Collingwood elimination final.
SCOTT: CATS FINALS CRITICS ‘A BIT LAZY’
Geelong coach Chris Scott said criticism of the Cats’ finals record is “a bit lazy” as they attempt to avoid a straight-sets demise.
The 16-point defeat against Port Adelaide on Thursday night was Geelong’s 12th loss from its past 16 finals matches.
It has also lost four of five qualifying finals in the past eight years — and the only victory in that time was because Hawthorn’s Isaac Smith missed a chance after the siren.
Scott dismissed questions about his side’s finals performances and record off the bye.
“We consistently come up with reasons that we think are much more valid than any of those,” Scott said.
“Bar Richmond, if you include teams that don’t make the finals, not many teams have good finals records.
“You play the best teams at the end of the year in high pressure situations. If you win it, you come away with a good record.
“The other option is you have a really good year one year and you miss the finals three years in a row. That helps your record.”
Geelong was on top in the second quarter when it led possessions (82-61), marks (15-12), contested possessions (38-22), inside 50s (11-5) and clearances (9-7), but four consecutive Port Adelaide goals either side of halftime helped the Power book a preliminary final ticket.
Tom Hawkins was uncharacteristically inaccurate in front of goal, booting 0.5.
“We probably had control of the game for large periods (and) certainly had our chances to win the game,” Scott said.
“I wouldn’t say we were the dominant team, I’d say it was pretty even.
“They took their chances, got some easier shots than we did but we certainly had enough scores.
“The way they played around the ball was obviously a focus for them and they executed that really well. They deserve their win but we had our chances.”
Geelong will meet the winner of the West Coast-Collingwood elimination final and now faces the possibility of meeting Richmond in the preliminary final if the Tigers defeat Brisbane.
Scott said the 9.4 (58) to 5.12 (42) defeat was a “bitter pill to swallow”.
“I don’t think we’ll come away from the game thinking we’re off the pace,” he said.
“My gut feel is it was a high pressure game, two pretty good teams around the ball and they were just a little bit better than us on the night.”
COURAGEOUS KIDS
Xavier Duursma’s tears and Todd Marshall’s smile showed exactly what this meant to them.
As the Port Adelaide huddle broke from three-quarter-time Duursma made his way to the bench in tears, clearly having been told he wouldn’t be going back on.
It was a minor miracle he was walking around at all given 20 minutes earlier he lay face down in the turf having been knocked unconscious.
Duursma typified what Port Adelaide was about in the qualifying final. He had eight touches – the second most of any Power player in the first half – then set up a goal early in the third with a brilliant chase-down tackle on Jack Henry.
Then moments later he ran back with the flight of the ball inside 50m and ran straight into Mark Blicavs, hit the ground and did not move before eventually being helped from the ground.
Then there was Marshall who came back from what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder which forced him from the ground in the first term.
He returned with it heavily strapped as Lachie Henderson bumped into it and whispered in his ear. But at every opportunity Marshall forced a contest and his set shot goal in the final term sealed the win.
CAT ATTACK BLUNTED
Tom Hawkins kicked 6.2 against Port Adelaide in Round 12, mostly on Tom Clurey, but we never got the rematch.
Instead Ken Hinkley sent Trent McKenzie to the Coleman Medallist who did everything but assert himself on the scoreboard.
At halftime he’d had four shots on goal for 0.3 including two misses from the scoreboard pocket, then having out-marked McKenzie 20m out he nonchalantly turned onto his left foot and missed the snap around his body.
Hawkins finished with 0.5 and his team an inaccurate 5.12 with Rhys Stanley posing the most dangerous threat and Patrick Dangerfield’s running goal from 70m threatening to drag his team back into it just before three-quarter-time.
But overall Port Adelaide’s undersized defence stood up well with Tom Jonas on Gary Rohan and Clurey on Stanley. But it was thanks to the efforts of their teammates including Ryan Burton and the brilliant Hamish Hartlett who often went second and third man up to help.
COOL HAND SAM
What a final from Sam Powell-Pepper.
When he didn’t have the footy his pressure was immense but when he did have it he moved with manic speed yet didn’t make rushed or poor decisions.
He had five contested possessions and five clearances in the first quarter, had a classy give-and-go with Connor Rozee on the boundary in the second then his biggest moment arrived in the shadows of halftime.
Having just conceded a goal to Joel Selwood with one minute to go, the Power won the clearance and Powell-Pepper took possession at half-forward, shrugged the tackle and got it to Ollie Wines who found Brad Ebert for a morale-lifting goal after the siren.
Even his pressure to force Jake Kolodjashinij to kick out on the full in the final quarter was important in the win.
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 2.1 4.2 7.4 9.4 (58)
GEELONG 1.4 3.7 4.8 5.12 (42)
BEST – Port Adelaide: Hartlett, Powell-Pepper, Wines, Rockliff, Boak, Motlop, Jonas. Geelong: Selwood, Parfitt, Dangerfield, Bews, Guthrie, Duncan.
GOALS – Port Adelaide: Motlop 3, Ebert 2, Dixon, Rozee, Ladhams, Marshall. Geelong: Stanley 2, Tuohy, Selwood, Dangerfield.
INJURIES – Port Adelaide: Duursma (concussion).
At Adelaide Oval.
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Originally published as AFL Finals: Leigh Matthews joins calls to ditch bounce after Chris Scott umpire outburst