Glossary of Australian Rules Football - S

S

Sausage roll

rhyming slang for "goal" (also called a snag, from the Australian slang term for a sausage).

Screamer

a spectacular high mark, usually in a contested situation. See specky.

Season

a year of a competition.

Selling Candy

a colloquial expression for a baulk.

Set Shot

an attempt to kick a goal from a mark or a free kick. See shot.

Shark

obtaining possession of the ball, often in a difficult position, particularly from the hitout of the opposing ruck.

Shepherd

a block placed on an opposing player. This can be to stop him tackling a teammate in possession of the ball, or attempting to gather it; to stop him intercepting a ball heading for goal; or just to stop him possessing the ball himself.

Shirtfront

an aggressive front-on bump.

Shot

an attempt to kick a goal.

Showdown

a game between Port Adelaide and Adelaide

Siren

a loud sound used to signal the start and end of the game, and the start and end of each quarter.

Sit

the best position from which to take a mark.

Smother

the act of stopping a kick immediately after it leaves the boot. Generally undertaken with the hands or body.

Snap

a shot at goal, usually executed under pressure from an unlikely scoring position. It is almost invariably a kick across the body (i.e., for a right footer, a kick aimed to far left) and typically exaggerates the natural tendency of the ball to drift slightly right to left from a right footer, and left to right from the left footer. It is in this way the reverse of a "checkside" or "banana".

Soccer

(verb) to kick the ball off the ground, i.e. without first taking the ball in the hands, as is the primary means of disposal in the sport of soccer.

Specky

(or screamer, hanger; also spelt speccie, speckie, etc.) short for "spectacular mark". Generally refers to the act of leaping onto another player's back or shoulders to take a high mark, usually in a contested situation.

Spell, to have a

to be interchanged off the ground.

Spillage

occurs when a ball comes off the top of a pack of players attempting to mark a ball.

Spoil

a punch or slap of the ball which hinders an opposition player from taking a mark.

Stab pass

a kick that travels very low to the ground to a teammate. Until the 1970s this was usually a drop kick.

Stacks on the mill

a stand-alone statement made by commentators to indicate that the ball is covered by a large pack of players on the ground and is unable to move.

Stepladder

colloquially, the player upon whose shoulders another player jumps to take a specky.

Substitute

an interchange player who cannot be freely interchanged, but may be brought onto the ground to replace a player for the rest of a game.

Supergoal

a goal which scores nine points instead of six, earned by kicking a goal from beyond a set distance, usually 50m in AFL pre-season competitions. Seen only in practice and exhibition games.

Suspended

the state of a player who has been refused permission to play by a legislated tribunal. See reported.`

Sweeper

a player who plays loose across the half-back line in order to act as a link between the backline and midfield.

Switch

to move the ball laterally across the ground, hoping to find an easier path to the forward-line.