johntheclaret wrote:By the ump decided that the Central's player shepherded the ball out in order to get the free, when he could have picked it up. So the umps called a throw in instead.
In doing so, the ump must have applied a new interpretation to the rule as the ball definitely went out of bounds of the boot.
The rule was explained in the Budget of round 1 and definitely made reference to the shepherd out scenario and a throw in at umpires discretion.
IMO the mistake Barmby made was to run with his arms out, if he had "made an effort" to get there would of been a free no problem. To me this just adds another layer of interpretation to deliberate out of bounds and implies an opposition player has a duty to keep the ball in to the possible detriment of his team.
BTW I didn't think Barmby would have got to it anyway.