Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has weighed in on yet another controversial umpiring non-call, after the league’s footy boss Laura Kane admitted another mistake was made in round 13.
It came after North Melbourne’s Bailey Scott was not given a 50 metre penalty in their one-point loss to Collingwood on Sunday.
With just seconds remaining in the fourth term, Scott took a mark just outside the Roos’ forward 50 and moved to attempt to kick the ball quickly.
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Collingwood pair Beau McCreery and Steele Sidebottom immediately moved with Scott, encroaching the mark.
However, the act was not deemed a 50-metre penalty by the on-field umpires.
Seconds later the siren blew and the Pies held to to take the win, after trailing at one stage by a whopping 54 points.
Kane moved to explain the umpiring blunder on Monday, admitting that there could have been a free kick paid to Scott, which would have resulted in a likely goal and win for the Kangaroos.
“It was a confusing situation and I understand why people … are left wanting to understand what happened,” Kane said on AFL.com.au on Monday.
“One of two calls could be made – it could be ‘play on’ immediately, or it could be ‘stand’, which would indicate the mark had been paid.
“Neither of those two calls occurred in the immediate moments after the whistle was blown and Bailey takes four steps or so inbound, and looks to play on.
“The correct call should have been ‘play on’ initially – that has caused confusion for the players in the immediate vicinity, being the Collingwood players, that there was a delay.
“The communication was the error, I guess.”
Kane admitted that if the umpire called “stand” immediately after blowing his whistle to indicate it was a mark, the 50m penalty would have been paid against McCreery and Sidebottom.
“The initial mistake, if you like, is that play-on wasn’t called,” she said.
Buckley has called on the AFL to make the rules as “black and white” as they can, to avoid yet another call, or non-call deciding games.
“We try and make a grey game as black and white as we possibly can,” Buckely said on SEN radio on Tuesday.
“I’ve always been an advocate for the difficulty of umpiring.
“(But) that was pretty clear (a 50m penalty). People in the stands, people watching at home, I thought that was a 50. There’s nothing wrong with saying that, is there?”
Buckley admitted he feels the game has changed drastically in 2024, which means that umpiring decisions in the dying stages of games are more intense than ever before.
“It seems like there is a greater proportion of games decided by one or two kicks. So a decision in the last two or three minutes, seems to carry a lot more weight,” he said.
“You’ve got to come back to something that is as black and white as possible.”
It may be the heat of the moment getting to the on-field officials, Buckley suggested.
“When Sam Draper (Essendon) jumped on the ball (against Adelaide earlier this season), that was a free kick, but it wasn’t (paid). Players freeze potentially the same way umpires freeze,” Buckley said.
Buckley has called on the AFL to continue to force umpires into uncomfortable and high pressure game situations to ensure hey can learn the correct decisions to make.
“In the end, you’ve got to keep coaching the … umpires through that, and making sure the ones that can handle that are pushed up and reinforced,” he said.