Game management is part of the rules of netball, like any other rule. Sometimes, though, it gets viewed — and treated — differently from its equivalents in other sports: yellow and red cards in football are seen as simply part of the game. Game management deserves the same framing. Having it applied to you doesn't make you a bad person — it's just part of how the game is managed.
To be clear, that doesn't include disrespecting umpires or behaving badly towards them — that respect is always needed. Umpires have a job to do and players have a job to do: players are trying to achieve their goals on court, and game management is a tool umpires have to keep players in check while they do. It's simply part of the umpire's role.
This page assumes you know how the system works. If you don't, read Game management explained first — particularly the part about the ladder only moving one way.
Game Management Isn't Necessarily a Bad Thing
Every umpire's threshold for contact and contest is slightly different. Part of playing well — particularly at competitive and elite level — is finding out where today's umpire draws those lines, and playing right up to them.
A team that never receives any game management could just be staying very disciplined — but it could also indicate that nobody is testing where the limits actually are. If your goalkeeper never gets pinged for obstruction, they are probably defending from further away than they need to. If your defenders never concede a contact call in a contest, they are probably not contesting hard enough. And if the opposition are pushing those boundaries while you aren't, you've handed them a competitive edge.
Pushing up against the limit means sometimes you'll end up going past it. A proactive advice — especially late in a match — is sometimes just the price of playing at the edge of what this umpire permits. As we said above, game management is part of the game, like any other rule — it's not a discipline problem, just an indication that you're pushing up to that limit.
Not All Game Management Is Equal
The test is simple: did the thing you were sanctioned for gain your team anything?
Sanctions That Gain Nothing
- Delaying play — receiving an advance for no gain.
- Dissent — arguing with a decision has never once changed it, and it leads to a more difficult relationship with the umpire.
- Intentional infringing — the arm you couldn't resist sticking out to block a pass from the player standing next to you. An intentional obstruction that gains nothing, but means you're now on an advance — which could then be escalated.
The Price of Playing on the Edge
- The GK playing on the limit for obstruction — pinged, adjusts, comes again, and picks up an advance late in the third quarter. The advance is in effect the price of playing on the limit, and they can manage that through the rest of the game.
- Defenders contesting hard for the ball — conceding a late advance because they have pushed the contact threshold all game, without racking up so many penalties that the penalties themselves become the problem.
Game management that comes from chasing a competitive edge is simply the price of playing on the edge; bad game management is ending up on the ladder for no benefit at all.
Timing Matters
The same advance costs very different amounts depending on when it arrives in the game. An advance late in the fourth quarter has limited impact; an advance in the first quarter is expensive, for two reasons:
You've drawn the umpire's eye. An early trip up the ladder can mean closer attention for the rest of the match — which could result in more calls.
The ladder doesn't reset. By picking up an advance early, you're more likely to then pick up a warning — which puts you in the at-risk zone, where another action could lead to a suspension and your team playing with six players. This is the point where a coach might have to consider taking you off.
While you want to gain a competitive edge and push those boundaries, it's important not to do it to excess — drawing too much attention with too many potential game-management actions early in the game. You want this to be a gradual process through the match, so that if you are picking up game management, it's coming later on, where the impact is much smaller and can be managed.
Read the Umpire and Back Off if Required
Umpires will usually give you signals and cues before you reach the formal game management process — longer whistles, a firmer voice, your position named before the infringement. The full set is in the umpire's toolbox. When you hear them, the umpire is giving you the chance to change your behaviour before proactive advice arrives. Take it — and remember the cues aren't only for the player concerned, who may be too caught up in the game to notice them. Teammates and coaches who spot them can pass the message on and encourage the player to change their behaviour.
The easiest practical step is to get out of the umpire's eye for a couple of centre passes. If you've been pinged for obstruction three times in a handful of possessions, stop defending at the limit for a couple of centre passes and break up the pattern — avoid it becoming obstruction, obstruction, obstruction for the umpire, which will often lead straight to a proactive advice. If you break it up and show you've adjusted, you can get a bit of a reset from the umpire. In this informal zone there's more fluidity — it isn't yet a structured process — and you can work your way back in gradually.
This matters even more once you are actually on the formal game management ladder. After a proactive advice, the umpire is really looking for an adjustment — show it visibly, for at least a few possessions, before you come back in and test again. The risk is that if you continue to infringe at that point, you can very quickly find yourself with an advance or even a warning, which puts you in a much more difficult position. Understand the cues from the umpires, respond to them, and show the adjustment — be clever about this, rather than finding yourself launching up the game management ladder for no reason.
Umpires Make Mistakes
As well as the cues above, part of knowing when to back off is working out whether a call is part of a pattern — the umpire setting their limit — or just a one-off mistake, which umpires make like anyone else. An obstruction called from the far side of the court, where the umpire doesn't have a great view and you feel you took your distance, could well be a one-off — don't read too much into it. Multiple obstruction calls where the umpire has a clear view — in the goal circle, say — is the umpire setting out their three feet.
Umpires, particularly at the top level, will really be trying to deliver consistency — it's one of the big things you can ask of them. If an umpire is being consistent, whether you like their limit or not, you've got to adjust to it. The skill is recognising which calls might just be a one-off mistake, and which are a pattern you need to adjust to because that's where the umpire has set their limit.
And if you don't understand what you're being called for, you can ask — see Talking to umpires.
The Coach's Role
It's the players on court who need to change their behaviour in response to the umpire's cues — but coaches still have an important role to play. Players can get caught up in the moment. Coaches have the advantage of not sprinting around the court with their heart rate high, so they can pick up on the cues — for a specific player, or just that the team in general is being pinged a lot.
The coach's role is to encourage players to adapt their behaviour — to be the calm voice. A player may be getting riled up, feeling they're being treated unfairly. It's about explaining: whatever you think of it, this is what the umpire is seeing and this is what the umpire is calling, so you need to adjust to that for the benefit of the team. Coaches who stay alert to this and manage their team can avoid unnecessary game management and keep all of their players on the court.
The other job a coach may have is when a player is really struggling to adapt — completely drawing the attention of the umpire and being whistled out of the game. The coach then has the option of a tactical change to take that player off, maybe just for a minute or two, to let them cool off, reflect, and get out of the eye of the umpire. That's much better than the constant infringing continuing until the player is on a warning and you have to take them off because you're worried they'll be suspended.
Be Ready for Suspensions
However well you manage the match, suspensions happen — usually to defenders, but it can be anyone. Most teams are not prepared for one, particularly at an elite level where the margins are tight. This can be the difference between winning and losing a match. Two things are worth having in place before you ever need them:
A plan for if your Centre is suspended. Another on-court player must move to Centre and their position stays empty (the mechanics). Which player that is — often the Wing Attack — should be decided before the match, not improvised mid-game.
Practise playing with six players. Keeping the ball, slowing things down, winding the clock down with six players — so you're ready for it and understand what you're going to do if it happens during a match.