Farmer and Margetts haven't been that bad to Freo in the last couple of years.
Yes, where art thou Fre_Doh?
I have my own theories in regards to umpiring and I admit they aren't mainstream, so much of the data I present will be motivated by my own theories. So as Morgan (and others) rightly state, it isn't proof of anything. True. Free Kicks are affected by many factors. I am well aware of that. I would not just pluck stats and present them as being unusual if I had not spent so much time closely watching replays, zoomed and in slow motion in a better attempt to understanding some of the umpiring I find questionable. For example, Free Kicks of 8 to 1 in the first quarter to Hawthorn (2015 R15) may just be a random occurrence, even if not probable. But when you closely look at the replay of that quarter, it becomes much clearer that umpiring bias was present. Now is that bias caused by the fact the game was being played in Tasmania? If so, why is Tasmania a setting for greater umpiring bias than a Hawthorn home game at the MCG. My theories would suggest to me it is because the current AFL CEO has recently publicly admitted he sees Tasmania as one of their current marketing targets. Does that make my theory proven? Of course not, it is just my opinion. But what I am very confident in saying is, Free Kicks of 8 to 1 and what I can see on the replay can not reasonably be explained by just bad umpiring. You can each have your own theories, but to just dismiss the 8 to 1 free kicks is a little ignorant (in my opinion). Another would be Round 7 vs the Western Bulldogs when they had 14 Free Kicks in a row. That's not probable. So I watch the replay ... and again it appears there is more involved than just bad umpiring. With Freo 6-0 wins on top of the ladder, we get Fisher, Dalgleish and Stevic as our 3 field umpires ... the perfect storm. That's just two examples.
Anyway, what I'm trying to convey is, I do understand anybody who quickly dismisses my theories and labels them as conspiracy theories. Many people take comfort in that.
However, I do believe many of yesterday's conspiracy theories often become tomorrow's history lesson.
In any case, it does not necessarily mean the statistics I present should also be quickly dismissed.
Since Roly has been coaching Freo (2012 to now), we have had 7 Finals games. We have been on the wrong side of the free kick ledger 6 of those 7 games for a total of -38 (107 Frees For vs 145 Frees Against).
If I look at games played when Freo are in position 1 to 6 on the AFL Home & Away ladder, Freo have played 55 games and won the free kick count in only 15 of those (lost 36, even 4 times).
In contrast, when Freo have been positioned below, in 7 to 18th on the AFL H&A ladder, we have played 30 games and won the free kick count 21 times (lost 8, even once).
