North Melbourne coach David Noble has admitted the club will be "making a phone call" about a controversial free-kick paid during Saturday afternoon's clash against Melbourne.
The Kangaroos looked lively for much of the contest under the roof at Marvel Stadium, before a lacklustre fourth term saw them soundly defeated to the tune of 47 points.
The contentious decision came in the first quarter, when Kangaroo Tarryn Thomas was penalised for a tackle on Ed Langdon which subsequently saw the Demon subbed out of the game with a rib injury.
While the call set social media alight during the contest, it was in his post-game comments that Noble admitted that the club would be raising questions about the decision.
โItโs one of those ones thatโs difficult to balance, isnโt it? Iโm not sure of the interpretation, it was front-on, I get the dangerous essence of tackles,โ Noble said post-game.
โFrom my side of things I probably thought it was an OK tackle, I was pretty happy with it.
Noble was quick to explain that he didn't place blame with the umpires, but stressed that the league needed to clarify the interpretation of certain rules.
โItโs a difficult job for the 'umpies' to do, I get it. But there are ones that, as far as the interpretation go, we need to have an understanding of what that looks like for them,โ he said.
โThe frustration is on the sense that I think the guys (Roos players) are working their backside off, not necessarily the decision.
โItโs not necessarily the umpires (Iโm frustrated at) when people flash me on the TV, Iโm a hard competitor and itโs about the level of competition sometimes where I get frustrated.
โI appreciate that itโs a bloody difficult job out there (for umpires), and I think the game has got quicker.
โWe want clarification every week.โ
North Melbourne next faces St Kilda at Marvel Stadium, seeking to get their second win on the board for 2022.
Iโd like to โpick up a phone too.
Except Iโm not subject to โAFLโ (vfl) rules and sanctions. I donโt have to โwatch my wordsโ, phrase things as questions or preface any comment with a preamble trying to soften thingsโฆ..
The umpiring so far this year has been woeful, truly bad. To the point where Iโm not the only one wondering if bets are placed on the umpiresโ behalfโฆ..
The โdissent ruleโ is basically an admission there is a problem. Umpires donโt โfeel intimidatedโ when a mistake is pointed out to them or if a player โcannot understandโ why heโs been penalisedโฆ. but the vfl can decide that it โlooks badโโฆ. and rather than sort the problem out itโs easier to double-down and pretend.
The vfl needs to look at the umpiring in the SANFL and take lessons.
Umpiring decisions will always upset someone โ but when thereโs absolutely NO consistency and arbitrary decisions NOT to award (hard earned) free kicks is the standard state of play โ itโs time to admit that itโs just not good enough.
This is rapidly becoming the worst part of the sportโฆ. a big statement when the โdrawโ is now no more than an orchestrated fixture (or is it simply โfixedโ?) and the whole interchange mix-and-match mess (subs are now in question โ again)โฆ..