We always want to know how our side is faring in relation to the umpires and how many free kicks we are getting.
It’s often a hot topic of conversation relating to a team in a particular game who may have been given the rub of the green from the officiating party.
But what happens as the games build up over the course of a season?
We’ve crunched the numbers so far and looked at the ladders of free kicks for, free kicks against and the overall differential after four rounds in 2020 to try and shed some light on the sides who are in favour with the umpires and those who are not.
Free kicks for
The free kicks for ladder sees North Melbourne comfortably on top with 86 at a whopping 21.5 per game ahead of Adelaide and Collingwood both on 75 with Sydney, St Kilda and Richmond all receiving 70 or more.
Melbourne and Essendon have played one less game than the rest so are naturally at the foot of this table while West Coast, Gold Coast and Port Adelaide are all seemingly out of favour.
| Club | For | For Avg. |
|---|---|---|
| North Melbourne | 86 | 21.5 |
| Adelaide | 75 | 18.75 |
| Collingwood | 75 | 18.75 |
| Sydney | 73 | 18.25 |
| St Kilda | 72 | 18 |
| Richmond | 71 | 17.75 |
| Western Bulldogs | 69 | 17.25 |
| Geelong | 68 | 17 |
| Fremantle | 67 | 16.75 |
| Brisbane | 67 | 16.75 |
| Carlton | 67 | 16.75 |
| GWS Giants | 66 | 16.5 |
| Hawthorn | 66 | 16.5 |
| Port Adelaide | 64 | 16 |
| Gold Coast | 60 | 15 |
| West Coast | 50 | 12.5 |
| Melbourne | 48 | 16 |
| Essendon | 43 | 14.33 |
Free kicks against
The frees against ladder shows the Giants copping 22 frees against per game, their total being seven clear of the next worst offenders in Hawthorn.
The Suns, despite being the darlings of the competition, are being penalised frequently as too are Geelong, the Crows and Tigers.
| Club | Frees Against | Against Avg. |
|---|---|---|
| GWS Giants | 88 | 22 |
| Hawthorn | 81 | 20.25 |
| Gold Coast | 79 | 19.75 |
| Geelong | 75 | 18.75 |
| Adelaide | 74 | 18.5 |
| Richmond | 72 | 18 |
| Brisbane | 71 | 17.75 |
| Sydney | 70 | 17.5 |
| Western Bulldogs | 69 | 17.25 |
| St Kilda | 67 | 16.75 |
| Carlton | 64 | 16 |
| Collingwood | 62 | 15.5 |
| West Coast | 62 | 15.5 |
| Fremantle | 58 | 14.5 |
| Port Adelaide | 55 | 13.75 |
| North Melbourne | 53 | 13.25 |
| Essendon | 49 | 16.33 |
| Melbourne | 38 | 12.67 |
Overall differential
And from an overall differential perspective, the Kangaroos are out in front some 20 clear of the Magpies with the Demons, Fremantle and the Power all well in the positive.
GWS and Gold Coast are infringing on the negative more so than all the other clubs and the old (well, recent) adage 'free kick Hawthorn' no longer applies.
| Club | Differential | Frees For | Frees Against |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Melbourne | 33 | 86 | 53 |
| Collingwood | 13 | 75 | 62 |
| Melbourne | 10 | 48 | 38 |
| Fremantle | 9 | 67 | 58 |
| Port Adelaide | 9 | 64 | 55 |
| St Kilda | 5 | 72 | 67 |
| Sydney | 3 | 73 | 70 |
| Carlton | 3 | 67 | 64 |
| Adelaide | 1 | 75 | 74 |
| Western Bulldogs | 0 | 69 | 69 |
| Richmond | -1 | 71 | 72 |
| Brisbane | -4 | 67 | 71 |
| Essendon | -6 | 43 | 49 |
| Geelong | -7 | 68 | 75 |
| West Coast | -12 | 50 | 62 |
| Hawthorn | -15 | 66 | 81 |
| Gold Coast | -19 | 60 | 79 |
| GWS Giants | -22 | 66 | 88 |
The individuals
From an individual player viewpoint, North ruckman Todd Goldstein has received 17 frees for ahead of Collingwood pair Brodie Grundy (14) and Taylor Adams (11). Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield (11) and Melbourne's Max Gawn (10) round out the top five.
West Coast's Elliot Yeo has the most frees against with 12, two clear of Hawthorn's Jon Ceglar (10) with St Kilda's Ben Long, Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli and Dangerfield all giving away nine.