DARREN MONCRIEFF
Thursday, July 28, 2011
COLEMAN Medal fancy Lance Franklin's kicking action has again come under the spotlight, this time by a wily coach from another team ahead of his side's crucial match this weekend.
AFL umpires' boss Jeff Gieschen on Tuesday said the Dockers' Hayden Ballantyne's after-the-siren shot on goal against West Coast last weekend should have been ruled null and void, which has handed Fremantle coach Mark Harvey an opportunity to put the focus on Franklin.
The Dockers host the Hawks in a critical match for both side's finals aspirations.
In analysing decisions from round 18, Gieschen ruled Ballantyne's post-siren shot on goal illegal.
Ballantyne was awarded a free kick on the boundary just outside the 50m arc seconds before the final siren of last Sunday's gripping Western Derby. His kick hit the post, handing the Eagles a one-point win.
But it was Ballantyne's run-up to the man on the mark that caught the eye of Gieschen. He arced, he said; an arc Gieschen estimated to be over two metres.
Three years ago, controversy erupted over Franklin's arc, whereby the left-footer wheels around off his line before kicking the ball.
Here's what Gieschen told Melbourne sports radio this week: "Once (Ballantyne) crossed that boundary line and stepped out, probably two, two-and-a-half metres, he'd actually played on.
"Quite simply, it should have been called play on, and what happened after that was all null and void. The game was over once he stepped off that line."
Harvey accepted the Gieschen handball gladly.
"It's going to be interesting when he shoots for goal (against us) ... Buddy," Harvey said of Franklin. "If they've determined that Ballantyne was running off on an angle taking one or two steps, then these guys ... when they take a step or two sidewards then it's going to be called play on."
Franklin, the first Aboriginal man to win the AFL's Coleman Medal and last man to boot 100 goals in an AFL season, has an arc in his run-up to kick from a set shot.
In 2008, Gieschen came out in defence of Franklin's kicking action.
"If he steps straight off his line, and he steps sideways, that's intent to play on, but what we are seeing with Lance is a natural movement towards goal," Gieschen said.
"He is heading towards goal and has a natural curvature in the way he walks in. Under those circumstances, we won't call play on. But where he deviates off the line immediately, or is in his natural approach, then he deviates again, then we call it play on immediately.
"At the moment in that natural curve, we don't see that as a play-on call."
Yesterday, the AFL clarified its stance on Franklin's kicking action.
"It's got to be the normal kicking action. If guys consistently kick the same way, they (umpires) allow some small deviation," an AFL spokesman said.
Buddy on track for Coleman Medal
LANCE FRANKLIN has a one-goal buffer in the AFL's goal-kicking leaderboard.
Franklin booted 5.2 against Melbourne last round to take his season tally to 51, ahead of Richmond's Jack Reiwoldt (50).
Franklin is one of five Aboriginal footballers in the top 10 of the AFL's leading goalkickers.
Carlton's Andrew Walker's four goals against Essendon puts him in equal fourth spot with 44 majors.
Walker's team-mate Eddie Betts, who slotted in a career-best eight goals last round, is equal seventh with another Blue, Jeffrey Garlett (37).
And Melbourne's Liam Jurrah is ninth on the leaderboard with 33 goals this season. Jurrah's best return this season was his 5.1 against Brisbane in round 3.
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Last Modified on 28/07/2011 15:20