Michael Christian

And so we were able to reduce that penalty to two weeks.

I think there's probably not quite one a week over nine games but there's been certainly plenty to look at and a lot of them are in marking contests where a player is trying to edge another player sort of out of position but has his eyes on the ball and is genuinely looking to contest the ball and so we haven't suspended anyone this year under that particular action so that's been a real positive and I think the

The changes at the start of the year and the focus on it last year and certainly at the start of this year has, I think, players become aware of it.

And again, I can see that there's been a real change in player behaviour on the back of that.

So I think that's been a real positive as well.

It's very challenging, I must say, because I'm trying to sit watching a video and determine the level of impact or force used on a player.

So the guidelines talk about if a player excessively exaggerates contact.

So it's an assessment of the force of, say, a push.

And then from that moment, how the player reacts.

And look, you know, it's a real...

area of the game which I don't like and I'm sure the football public is in the same boat.

It's just games are really hard to umpire and to add that layer of a player staging for a free kick and getting a free kick, it just makes it incredibly difficult for umpires

So, yeah, it's something that we don't want in the game.

And I'm trying to be objective and hand on heart and trying to make an assessment about whether a player excessively exaggerates.

And just in the last couple of weeks, there's been three where I've thought that that's in fact the case.

So they've been charged, those players have been charged as a consequence.

Yes, it is.

But again, it's very subjective.

So there's been a couple that at the start of the year and even last year, in fact, more relevantly last year, where I charged players, they put a written submission in and challenged that charge and a couple of them were dismissed, which sort of

you know, I need to take into account in terms of going forward.