West Coast celebrates a western derby win as Fremantle's Hayden Ballantyne (pictured laying down) laments what could have been. Picture: Getty Images

West Coast celebrate a western derby win as Fremantle's Hayden Ballantyne (pictured laying down) laments what could have been. Picture: Getty Images


Yes, I understand that, to the very letter of law, Ballantyne came off his "line" to take the kick.

But the game isn't played inside a rule book and the more I watch the replay, the more I think the issue is less about Ballantyne trying to improve his angle for his shot and mostly to do with where Quinten Lynch is standing on the mark.

If Lynch stands where the mark actually is – instead of about three metres to the left - you have to think Ballantyne will go back and take his shot from the correct line.

Instead he ends up kicking directly over Lynch, as you imagine most players would do in the circumstances.

Gieschen alluded to this yesterday when he said: "We can see the man on the mark Quinten Lynch push out sidewards, so that created a little bit of confusion. Had he stayed on the mark it would have been quite obvious what happens next."

OK, so here's a simple solution for next time this situation arises. How about the umpire – who in Sunday's case was standing another three metres to Lynch's left – instructs the man on the mark to actually stand on the mark and makes sure he stays there?

I would have thought that would make things crystal clear for everyone, most notably the bloke about to kick the ball. If Ballantyne runs off the "line" in those circumstance, he deserves to get pinged.

Then again, there remains the contentious issue of a player's "natural arc".

Last year, when questions were raised about Buddy Franklin's set-shot routine, Gieschen explained there was no intent to play on but only the use of a "natural arc".

"Lance has a natural arc, most players have a bit of a natural arc, there's not too many who run directly to the man standing the mark and go straight over the head," Gieschen told the Herald Sun last year.

"Most have a little bit of a deviation, one way or the other, virtually in an attempt to balance. But in Lance's case we've known his natural arc is fairly pronounced."

Is there one rule for left-footers and another for right-sided players like Ballantyne? Does Ballantyne have a "natural arc" as well? Did he overstep that arc on Sunday?

And what about the match-winning goal by Franklin and the game-tying major by Jonathan Brown in the video clips below?

Neither came after the siren but both were kicked as time ran down late in the fourth quarter.

Franklin and Brown, to the letter of the law as explained by Gieschen, move off their "line".

Both goals affected the outcomes of games so it's interesting to ponder what might have happened if an umpire had yelled "play on" just as either Franklin or Brown was about to put foot to ball (interesting also to note the fact the man on the mark for both goals runs all over the place like a lunatic).

Oh, and before anyone accuses me of Freo bias here, yes I'm a Dockers supporter. But I also think the deliberate out-of-bounds free kick that gave Ballantyne his shot at goal was crazily harsh on the Eagles to start with.