Alex Rance, think of your legacy and stop the divingKane Cornes,
The Advertiser
25 July 2017ALEX Rance is a phenomenal footballer but he has a decision to make and he needs to make it quickly.
Does he want to be remembered as one of the AFL’s greatest and toughest defenders? Or one of the best defenders who is also a diver?
Toby Greene had another brain fade. His jumper punch to the face is indefensible but Alex Rance milked it for all it’s worth and not for the first time this year.
In round 13, the AFL refused to punish the Richmond defender for his blatant acting when hit with a push from Buddy Franklin, which sucked in the umpire, who rewarded Rance with a free-kick.
Disappointingly the AFL chose not to warn Rance under the staging laws at the Match Review Panel.
This behaviour is not exclusive to Rance.
On Friday night, Patrick Dangerfield was able to extract a free-kick reversal, when he collapsed as Hugh Greenwood gently bumped him running by.
The action sucked in the gullible umpire, but not the 50,464 strong in attendance at the Adelaide Oval who were furious with the decision.
Adelaide legend and dual Norm Smith medallist Andrew McLeod took to twitter to show his disgust at the decision referencing a basketball term and describing Dangerfield’s acting as a “flop”.
Melbourne young gun Clayton Oliver has also been guilty of staging this year and the career and reputation of North Melbourne forward Lindsay Thomas has long suffered as the result of trying milk free kicks.
Jordan Lewis spoke of his embarrassment after an acting incident in 2014 involving Brendon Goddard.
He fell theatrically to the ground after being hit in the chest by Goddard and said in the aftermath it was uncomfortable to watch back.
“I don’t want to a get reputation for that.” Lewis said.
Even Chad Wingard, who regularly risks his safety running back with the flight of ball, was guilty of a poor staging effort in Port Adelaide’s round 12 loss to Essendon.
The biggest regret from my own playing career is the staging phase I went through.
As a young tagger I was often the target of physical attention as the opposition tried to protect their best player.
After one particular match in which I was tasked with tagging Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr was on a mission to physical accost me at any opportunity.
Frustrated by the lack of protection from the umpires, my midfield coach at the time, the late Phil Walsh, sat me down and basically said the only way to stop the attacks is to go to ground and exaggerate the contact.
For a number of years this tactic often worked resulting in free kicks off the ball and left the opposition agitated.
However, I got into a habit I couldn’t get out of and later in my career even when I deserved a free-kick the umpires often let it go clearly aware of my reputation.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/expert-opinion/kane-cornes/kane-cornes-alex-rance-think-of-your-legacy-and-stop-the-diving/news-story/659d6cc71a02c22975493f5e16f2ad0c
