Veteran AFL umpire Simon Meredith is adamant the controversial new four-umpire system is having a big optimistic affect on officiating regardless of rising scrutiny
A fourth umpire was launched this season and has turn out to be the topic of criticism amid claims of over-umpiring.
Meredith, who will turn out to be simply the fifth discipline umpire to succeed in 450 AFL video games on Friday night time at Marvel Stadium, mentioned the additional umpire on the sector had closely lowered the bodily burden on the umpiring crew.
While errors will nonetheless be made and officers will nonetheless have blind spots on the sector, Meredith mentioned the adjustments had been serving to umpires stay in the perfect positions to make requires longer.
“It’s changing my life in terms of how much less intense running you have to do during a game,” he mentioned.
“You recover well, you can do two games in a weekend, I did that round 1 and people have been doubling up so far … the option to do that is a great thing, and you’re always in a good spot to adjudicate.
“Having an umpire in both forward lines, it prevents a lot of holding and scragging because the players know we’re there, so they are not as likely to give away those free kicks that would’ve been harder to see in the past.”
Among the numerous rule adjustments applied by the AFL over his 20 seasons within the recreation, Meredith joked the hands-in-the-back rule was one in every of few that had made life simpler for umpires.
“It made it very easy for us to adjudicate marking contests … obviously it turned out it wasn’t the best thing for the game, but it made things clearer,” he mentioned of the now scrapped rule.
He advised a sensible change that may assist umpires and enhance the standard of video games could be to convey ball-ups close to the boundary line again to 9m inside the sector of play because the AFL has performed for defenders who take free kicks or mark the ball near the aim line.
“It gives that extra space that might provide another scoring opportunity … usually ball-ups around the boundary line just end up out of play and it creates another stoppage,” he mentioned.
Former umpire Shane McInerney’s report of 502 AFL video games is more likely to come beneath risk from Meredith, who mentioned the brand new system would “absolutely” extend his profession.
“You can wake up the next day and it feels like you’ve just been for a jog,” he mentioned.
“If you can keep your form up and keep on the park, definitely it could help a few of the older guys to hang around a bit longer.
“It’s also given an opportunity for a whole lot of young umpires to get experience and get in at the elite level, and it’s opened up pathways for a lot of other groups to see that you don’t have to be this elite athlete, you can still make it if you’re a great decision-maker, you can potentially get through as well.”
Source: www.news.com.au
