West Australian Football

The following clip highlights two great examples of the umpires letting a contest unfold before correctly calling play on.

In the first example, Mitchell Clark's (Brisbane) sole objective is to contest the ball. He legitimately jumps over the top of his opponent to tap the ball and the umpire correctly calls play on. A player can jump as high as he wants in a ruck contest provided his intention is to contest the ball and not block his opponent.

In the second example, Matthew Kreuzer (Carlton) is correctly called to play on as the tackle from Jed Adcock (Brisbane) does not stick. Adcock's hands slide down the side of Kreuzer knocking the ball free.

It is important that umpires let the entire contest unfold in front of them before making a decision to award a free kick. Remember, we must pay what we see, not what we think we are going to see. By letting the entire contest unfold in front of us and staying calm and composed, we will make the correct decision more often than not.