Former Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney believes AFL umpires coach Hayden Kennedy must take more accountability.
Officiating has been a major talking point this season following the introduction of new rules and how it has affected the state of the game.
Speaking on AFL Nation, Cooney argued that Kennedy should come under the same scrutiny as what John Worsfold has in recent weeks for his side's poor performance.
“We don’t ever hear from the umpires on a Monday,” Cooney told AFL Nation.
“We don’t hear from Hayden Kennedy.
“I think we need a weekly Monday press conference to explain some of the decisions that happened over the weekend.
“Who should be under more pressure as a coach?
“John Worsfold as he was coming into this week, Simon Goodwin, or should it actually be Hayden Kennedy as the coach under the most pressure this year.”
Peter Donegan and Sam Hargreaves also weighed in on the contact below knees rule following a contentious free kick paid against Collingwood's Tom Phillips on Saturday night.
“From a players’ point of view, it’s against the spirit of the game and against the way we were all taught as kids to go about it in a way that was if you are first with the footy and put your head over it, the umpire will protect you,” Hargreaves told AFL Nation.
“Not if you’re second there and you fall over the back of someone that you’ll be able to con them into giving you.
“I think it’s cheapened the game, it doesn’t look good on any measure.”
Donegan believes the rule was brought in as an "overreaction."
“It was a complete overreaction, in my opinion, to the situation with Lindsay Thomas and Gary Rohan,” he said.
