So Richmond’s Jayden Short is in a race to the goal line with Essendon’s Josh Green.
Short, with superior pace, enters in front of Green as the ball tumbles inside the goal square and stops about four metres from the goal line.
Short desperately lunges and pushes the ball through for a behind.
Unbeknownst to Short, Green decides to give up and puts the handbrake on.
Common sense should tell us that Short had every reason to believe he was under physical pressure from the presence of Green breathing down his neck.
The players are so confused with this rule and what pressure is any more that young Essendon defender Andy McGrath, when only centimetres from the goal line with players all around him, handballed wildly back into play instead of rushing a behind.
For he didn’t have faith in what the umpires call would be and of course it cost Essendon a goal.
It seems the simplest remedy for this lack of common sense and total confusion is that when a deliberate rushed behind is paid, it stands as a point and then the ball is bounced five metres from the top of the square.
With that, everyone, players, spectators and umpires would all be on the same page and not confused.
I’m KB, that’s my take.