Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has questioned the double standards of umpires when it comes to high contact free kicks, following a number of dubious calls at the weekend.
Cornes used highlights from Collingwood’s match against Adelaide on Saturday where Magpies youngster Jack Ginnivan was denied a number of free kicks while other players, including his captain Scott Pendlebury, were given frees for identical tackles.
Ginnivan’s penchant for dropping his knees and coaxing defenders into tackling him high has been well documented this season, but Cornes says it shouldn’t result in him being penalised by the umpires.
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“I just think we’re the only league in the world that changes its interpretation mid-year and doesn’t tell the fans,” he told Nine’s AFL Sunday Footy Show.
“How can you have a competition that pays this for two-thirds of the season and then all of a sudden decides that’s not a free kick anymore?”
Cornes suggested that umpires had begun to rule against Ginnivan in recent weeks simply because his ability to draw high contact had been highlighted in the press.
“I just find it really frustrating that as a league we change interpretations … just because it’s in the news he doesn’t get them,” he said.
“You look at some other players in the same game that got free kicks for exactly the same thing. Just because Scott Pendlebury is a good bloke and a star player, he ducks into a free kick and he gets it whereas Jack Ginnivan doesn’t.
“The confusion around this rule continues to boggle the mind really. We’ve all of a sudden decided that’s not a free kick when it has been for 17 rounds, but hang on, it is for some players, but it’s not a free kick for others just because they’ve been in the news.
“It’s just not good enough. We’ve spoken about it with Toby Greene in the past, but I think the AFL needs to clear it up once again and alert the fans to the way it’s going to be interpreted.”