Essendon forward Kyle Langford has declared he and teammates are confused over the deliberate rushed behind rule, after a controversial call on Saturday night.
The Bombers went down to Geelong by 45 points at the MCG, but it was one umpiring decision among a handful, that left coaches, players and fans gobsmacked.
During the third term, Essendon’s Jye Menzie grabbed the footy inside Geelong’s goal square and chose to run the ball through for a rushed behind.
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While Geelong small forwards Ollie Dempsey and Brad Close were nearby, the pair backed off and ran sideways, leaving Menzies to step over the line without disposing of the ball.
Under the AFL’s rules, players in defence can rush the ball through for a point i they are under immediate pressure from opposition players inside the 10 metre goal square, which technically, those Geelong players were.
However, the field umpire called the ball back and paid it as a deliberate rushed behind, awarding Geelong a free kick from 10 metres out, directly in front of goal.
While the Bombers went down by over seven goals, with that decision ultimately not deciding the game, it did change the momentum.
After half time, the Cats piled on 10 goals to Essendon’s two, in a major change of pace, considering Geelong were down by five points at the main break.
Now, key Bombers forward Langford has weighed in on where his side stands with their understanding of the controversial call.
“No, I’m not clear at all,” Langford said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“I think, we all thought if there was pressure within the nine metre area … it wouldn’t be a free kick.
“We didn’t (speak about the umpiring post match). We were obviously bitterly disappointed in the result.”
While Langford refused to divulge his true thoughts on the call, he did openly admit that Essendon were uneasy with the call.
“Obviously I can’t speak too much about the umpiring decisions, but it is disappointing,” he said.
“You see the momentum in footy at the moment. During that third quarter, that momentum really got away from us.”
Langford’s comments followed his coach, Brad Scott’s post-match discussion about the umpiring.
“We clearly lost momentum in the third quarter through a series of unfortunate events,” Scott said on Saturday night.
Langford backed Scott on Sunday, admitting that the one umpiring decision didn’t actually decide the whole game.
“I think Scotty put it in a very political way, the ‘series of unfortunate events’. It’s our ability to drop that and move on with the game,” he said.
“As Scotty mentioned as well, we probably failed in that department (of moving on).”
Scott confirmed his club would not challenge the umpires decisions in their round 16 loss, but expects the league will explain what occurred and why.
“If I thought it would help … if there’s been a change of rule, then we’ll seek clarification, but I suspect what will happen is (the AFL) will say, ‘sorry, it’s a mistake’,” Scott said.
However, Kane Cornes didn’t hold back in his analysis of the decision.
“I thought that was the wrong call,” Cornes said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“I thought that he was inside the nine (metres), under immediate pressure.”
The Bomber dropped to fourth on the ladder after the loss, while the Cats jumped into fifth.