Richmond coach Adem Yze says captain and ruckman Toby Nankervis will be "worried" about the outcome of Saturday's umpire contact.
During the loss to Gold Coast, Nankervis can be seen colliding with the field umpire following a centre bounce, causing opposition ruckman Jarrod Witts to almost trip over.
Umpire contact has been a point of contention in the past four weeks, as Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra was the first player to be sent to the Tribunal after four or more offences.
Yze said that the collision was "unfortunate" but acknowledged it was unavoidable given the trajectory of the ball.
“I think that’s probably put a little bit of an exclamation point on that argument.”
- Kate McCarthy on the umpire contact incident involving Toby Nankervis
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— AFL.com.au (@AFLcomau) August 2, 2025
"He'll obviously be worried about it, but when we looked at the vision, he wasn't standing behind that protected space," Yze said.
"The ball's just landed in that spot. It's unusual for the ball to land back on the umpy's head.
"The poor umpy got hit by both rucks … I don't think that's against the rules.
"It's just unfortunate. That's just a footy act, an accident."
It comes as new AFL football boss Greg Swann assesses the necessity of the centre bounce.
Richmond also confirmed that young forward Jonty Faull will miss the remainder of 2025 after injuring his knee during the contest.
Faull is understood to have suffered a medial collateral ligament problem.
"It looks like he has tweaked his medial. That's going to end his season," Yze said.
"It's nothing too sinister...it looks like he's escaped an ACL.
"He was in good form, and it would have been nice for him to finish off the season."
