Bulldogs top the AFL’s free kick ladder by a MILE with one of the comp’s best teams getting absolutely dudded by the umpires – so where does your club sit?
- There have been free kicks galore in the 2022 AFL season – to fans’ dismay
- Product of an umpire crackdown on everything from dissent to striking
- How is your club faring? Check all of the data from the first 10 rounds
- Includes 50-metre free kicks, which have been a contentious issue
Who’s a good doggie, then? The Western Bulldogs might be struggling to emulate their grand-final success of last season in 2022, but they have certainly been well behaved in the eyes of the officials.
SEN has compiled a list of free kicks issued for and against every club in the AFL and the Western Bulldogs are runaway leaders, with 247 free kicks coming their way and just 192 blown against them.
That gives them a differential of 55, which is 22 higher than the next-best club, Carlton. The Blue Baggers have received a very healthy 241 free kicks so far this season while only having 208 blown against them.
Something to smile about: The Western Bulldogs are the most disciplined team in the AFL so far this season when it comes to free kicks for and against
Not bad going considering we are in the middle of an umpire crackdown and the pea is getting blown out of the whistle on many occasions.
Take the Hawk’s win over Brisbane in Tasmania on the weekend for example. Either the players were extremely ill-disciplined or the umpires were just blowing the whistle because it made a sweet sound, because a staggering 63 free kicks were paid in that match – the highest in a single game since 2012.
At the bottom end of the table sits Richmond, who are often accused of being favoured by the officials, with just 183 free kicks for and a whopping 249 against. Sydney aren’t much better with 216 free kicks for and 248 against.
| Position | Club | Frees for | Frees against | Differential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Bulldogs | 247 | 192 | 55 |
| 2 | Carlton | 241 | 208 | 33 |
| 3 | Adelaide | 250 | 218 | 32 |
| 4 | Collingwood | 228 | 207 | 21 |
| 5 | Melbourne | 220 | 206 | 14 |
| 6 | Fremantle | 239 | 227 | 12 |
| 7 | Hawthorn | 226 | 220 | 6 |
| 8 | Essendon | 215 | 210 | 5 |
| 9 | North Melbourne | 231 | 228 | 3 |
| 10 | Geelong | 218 | 219 | -1 |
| 11 | GWS | 209 | 214 | -5 |
| 12 | Brisbane | 225 | 237 | -12 |
| 13 | St Kilda | 218 | 232 | -14 |
| 14 | Port Adelaide | 213 | 228 | -15 |
| 15 | West Coast | 199 | 216 | -17 |
| 16 | Gold Coast | 202 | 221 | -19 |
| 17 | Sydney | 216 | 248 | -32 |
| 18 | Richmond | 183 | 249 | -66 |
The umpire crackdown on dissent in 2022 has been a hot topic this season, largely because of the inconsistent application of the 50-metre penalty for players remonstrating with officials.
The simple act of raising your arms to question a call is not a hangable offence in AFL land and some clubs just aren’t getting the message.
Richmond have been the worst when it comes to getting on the umpire’s bad side here, surrendering the whopping penalty 28 times. That is 14 times more than Hawthorn, St Kilda and West Coast who share second spot.
Shining the apple for the umpires before each game is Gold Coast, who have managed to only surrender five 50-metre penalties so far this season. Carlton are going well with only seven while Fremantle has only given away eight.
| Club | 50s against |
|---|---|
| Richmond | 28 |
| Hawthorn | 14 |
| St Kilda | 14 |
| West Coast | 14 |
| North Melbourne | 13 |
| Port Adelaide | 13 |
| Adelaide | 12 |
| Sydney | 12 |
| Brisbane | 11 |
| Collingwood | 11 |
| Geelong | 11 |
| Essendon | 10 |
| GWS | 10 |
| Western Bulldogs | 10 |
| Melbourne | 9 |
| Fremantle | 8 |
| Carlton | 7 |
| Gold Coast | 5 |
While these figures are good pub banter fodder, so punters can towel up their mates and show how good their club is going, the high volume of penalties is wearing thin with fans.
Former North Melbourne champion David King told Fox Footy the entire umpiring system was ‘lost’.
‘It’s causing a lot of angst amongst the fans and I think at club land too now,’ he said.
‘We really have no idea what a 50 metre penalty is with dissent, we really are lost with basic umpiring decisions now.
‘Some of the free kick goals today were just ridiculous. I’m not going at the umpires, I’m going at whether it’s the decision makers above them, whether it’s the guidance they’re given, from the commission down — let’s just put the whole lot in there, not the absolute umpire, all the people that make a setting if you like.’