THE PENDULUM has swung too far toward rewarding the tackler, rather than the ball winner, according to Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster.
Following Hawthorn’s eight-point win over Carlton on Saturday evening, in which 42 free kicks were paid, half of which were for holding the ball, the coach expressed his concern about the new interpretation of the rule.
Prior to the season the AFL tightened up the interpretation of holding the ball, and free kicks have increased off the back of that shift.
“I kind of understand what the AFL are trying to do with it, and understand that umpiring is very difficult. I don’t like it when the ball-carrier is not getting rewarded, when the tackler is now getting rewarded. I really don’t like that,” Webster said.
“And some of those decisions today were way too hot. I think what we’re asking the player to do, in that sense, is like we’re better off not trying to win the ball sometimes now, just tap it on, and I don’t think that’s the way the game should be played.
“Like, there is a contested part of the game, and I understand they’re trying to get the ball moving, but at the moment I think it’s gone a little bit too far one way and I’d like to see it pulled back… a lot of times today the ball is out and trying to get it in motion, and then a free kick is actually paid to slow it back up again.”
Captain Emily Bates gave away six free kicks for the match, most of which were for holding the ball, while fellow midfielder Laura Stone gave away four.
Hawthorn was seriously challenged by Carlton’s defensive, high pressure game, and almost gave up the lead during the final quarter, but ultimately fought out the gritty win, helped along by a late Aine McDonagh goal.
“I thought that Carlton brought a lot of heat, I thought they were probably stronger in the contest a little bit. Obviously, we controlled that game I think from a territory standpoint, couldn’t score, they got us out the back a couple of times. But I think in terms of what we want to do and what we want to be, we were a fair way away from that,” Webster said.
For Carlton coach Mathew Buck, the disappointment of the loss was broken up by the pride of how his developing team fought against a highly fancied opposition.
“You’ve got to take the good with the bad. So, the resilience of the team to keep turning up at a contest and persist, persist was great. We’ve worked on our resilience, it’s been a big piece that we’ve worked on, and to see it get implemented tonight was good, but we’re also disappointed,” Buck said.
“You’ve got to take your moments, so there’ll be a lot of learning (to) come out of it as well.”
