Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick has received a warning regarding his umpire criticism following last week's game.
Greg Swann, AFL executive head of football, phoned Hardwick on Monday to discuss the comments and express the league's disappointment.
Geelong beat the Suns by 45 points on Friday night and Hardwick had some choice words regarding the outcome.
Hardwick critiqued the lasso rule, saying, "They (the AFL) change a lot of things, just change that", before jumping in to attack calls made by umpires.
"It was like the Roman Colosseum. I reckon they (the umpires) were waiting for the crowd to do this one (thumbs down) then all of a sudden, free kick,” Hardwick said.
“At the end of the day it is what it is, home-ground advantage, we understand that, we know you're up against it from the start, but a couple of them I thought weren't there.”
Speaking to The Age's Real Footy podcast on Monday, Swann explained his disappointment.
“I didn't have a problem with his issue around the lasso, but probably the next bit was a bit overstepping the mark. We'll have a chat, and hopefully we can move forward from there,” Swann said.
He also emphasised that excessive umpire criticism could ultimately deter officials from making calls during the game.
"My personal view is there is a lot of media now around the game, and I just think it's lazy journalism to focus in on umpires,” he said.
Hardwick is learning what it’s like not to be a victorian “selected”………. but here’s another instance of pure deception, misinformation and conceit from “the league”.
“He also emphasised that excessive umpire criticism could ultimately deter officials from making calls during the game.”
Rubbish….
(1) Hardwick has made issue with the fact that umpires choose not to enforce the rules of the game – particularly when it comes to tackles (some might remember him claiming that if a player lays a tackle and is not rewarded, they have no option but to “continue” or “finish” the tackle….. with players “taken to the ground”). He’s pushed the concept of enforcing the rules of the game.
(2) the very non-defined definition of “excessive criticism”…. what he means to say is ANY criticism” – if he was honest rather than deceptive.
Conversely – and more to the point of Hardwick’s statements, watching the SANFL, one does not always agree with an umpire (and inevitably one always needs to provide “advice”) BUT it’s near always obvious what the decision was for … in the “AFL” it’s almost never obvious what the decision is for….. or why the umpire chose not to reward/penalise a player.
Perhaps the league might train the officials to actually umpire to the rules…?
Criticism by the coaches might actually be of benefit to improve the umpiring?
If the AFL umpires adjudicated the game to the same standard as the SANFL the number of complaints about the umpiring would dramatically reduce.
“My personal view is there is a lot of media now around the game, and I just think it’s lazy journalism to focus in on umpires,” he said.”
Actually it’s a lazy league that makes no effort to improve things but rather pretends “it’s never been better”……
The fact is that Hardwick’s comments were not only correct and pertinent but also very restrained.