Essendon coach Brad Scott has revealed that the AFL contacted him on Monday to admit to several mistakes made in the controversial clash against Geelong in round 16.
The footy world went into a frenzy on Saturday night after several controversial decisions made in the third quarter saw the Dons let slip the momentum of the game, consequently falling to a heavy loss to the Cats.
Despite no public message from the AFL on Monday, Scott revealed all on an explosive episode of Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
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“I was pleased, the AFL got on the front foot and contacted me directly,” Scott said.
“Yeah (got told that errors were made), but it’s not a witch hunt, it’s not about seeking vengeance, mistakes are mistakes.
“I wasn’t intending on contacting them, unless there was something that our players needed clarity on going forward. Their explanation really helped. I don’t necessarily agree with all of it but whether I agree or not is irrelevant, what I really want to know is, particularly around holding the ball is what the umpires are looking for, how they want to adjudicate the rule and how do our players need to play to that. I think we can get caught up in the debate, I’m not interested in the debate anymore, I’m interested in how they adjudicate it.”
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Scott said that the AFL “made it really clear” that the controversial rushed behind decision against Jye Menzie in the third term “was a mistake”.
“If they’re really clear, the deliberate rushed behind, the AFL made it really clear that that was a mistake. Ok, we all make mistakes, now I can provide absolute clarity to our players that that was a mistake. Some of the other decisions, particularly helped us around holding the ball. Under my understanding of the interpretation of the rule, the umpires had a different view on.”
With no public comment from the AFL, AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley pleaded with Scott to “tell us what we need to know as observers of the game”.
One decision that has been put in the limelight over the weekend was a holding the ball decision against Essendon defender Jordan Ridley.
“The Ridley one for example, no prior opportunity but in the umpire’s view, insufficient intent to dispose of the ball. It’s an incredibly tough game, that’s a mistake, umpires have said that,” Scott said.
“Stewart one, he had prior opportunity and had attempted to dispose of the ball, so it’s play on. I think the fans would be a bit confused by those.
“If you don’t have prior opportunity and you’re tackled and you make an attempt, it doesn’t have to be a correct disposal.
“The Ridley one’s interesting, I find it very hard for him to make an attempt to dispose of the ball with two arms pinned… if Ridley dropped the ball there and threw his foot at the ball and missed it would be play on.
“My concern with that is the fans in the stadium would all think that is holding the ball.”
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Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge preferred not to comment on the specific decisions made in the Essendon-Geelong game, but implored the AFL to “protect and uphold the player who’s trying to win the footy”.
“I’d rather stay within the confines of what I’ve spoken to the AFL about,” Beveridge said.
“You need to protect and uphold the player who’s trying to win the footy… from a performance perspective, especially for young players who are just starting out, it has a pretty significant effect on them.”
AFL360 co-host Mark Robinson posed the question to Scott whether the AFL have an issue with umpiring.
“I’m a big one for explaining to the fans, the fans are the lifeblood of our game. Bevo and I can seek clarification and get it, but the fans need clarification as well,” Scott said.
“I’m in the fortunate position now where all I care about is controlling the controllables for our club and our players and seeking clarity from the umpires, I got that today. I can be frustrated, disappointed, annoyed, but none of that helps us. I really empathise with the fans who would be really frustrated. Our fans also need to know that we have the clarity that we need now.
“I don’t think it’s helpful to go on a witch hunt about obvious mistakes. Mistakes will happen, clarify the mistakes, but clarify the grey areas.”
Robinson replied: “We’ve got a major problem then, because you’re instructing your players one way and the umpires another.”
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Scott was adamant that the game “isn’t in crisis” but said greater clarity needed to be shared with the footy public.
“I don’t think the game is in crisis… mistakes are easy to deal with but it’s the grey area in between that we need clarity with,” the Bombers coach said.
“We’ve all admitted that the umpiring of AFL football is as hard a sport as any in the world, the problem we have, there’s not as if there’s rolled gold depth of a thousand umpires who are willing to umpire AFL footy, there’s not enough of them at all levels.
“I was as frustrated as anyone with our game on the weekend, but I don’t think bashing umpires helps.”
Scott also revealed that the AFL admitted that the infamous Sam Draper illegal marking interference non-decision was also a mistake.
Earlier, Whateley said the AFL had not made public comment on the controversial decisions in the third term because they were not “game-defining” calls.
“They weren’t regarded as game-defining calls and thus no public communication as to whether they were right or wrong today, which leaves us in the space of guessing,” he said.
Robinson added: “I’m surprised the AFL hasn’t come out and clarified some of those decisions, it’s a big game and there’s been a lot of discussion on it. They said two weeks ago they were going to be really transparent with explaining some rules and decisions, we have the biggest weekend of controversial decisions, and the AFL is nowhere to be seen. I don’t think that sits comfortably, I can understand why they don’t want to fuel the debate, but they said they were going to and we’re all open and honest in this industry.
“It’s the prior and the disposing of the ball, which is confusing everyone, it’s not confusing everyone, it’s bewildering everyone from game to game with how different it is.
“I think I called it a royal commission type review at the end of the year… there’s got to be some sort of forensic examination of where the game is, how it’s been played in the last ten years, numbers around the ball, what do we need, what do we want, does prior still exist in the game, do we want it in the game, what will happen if we don’t have it in the game.
“Those questions need to be put in the bucket and spoken about.”
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Whateley highlighted how he thinks the game is “in an interesting moment” given the lack of synonymity between umpires and fans perspectives on decision-making.
“Philosophically we’re at a really interesting moment, there’s three branches to it, the laws themselves, the interpretation which is implemented and then the implementation incident to incident during the game,” he said.
“I feel like we’re in a phase where we’ll have ten holding the balls, ten push in the backs, ten insufficient intents, ten deliberate rushed behinds and five will break either way and we’re in a phase where we go ‘they’re all right’.
“I think the only way to improve the game is to choose what the game wants to be right and what the game wants to be wrong. Identify it, coach it relentlessly, reinforce it. It’ll ruin their numbers as to what correct decisions look like, but I think that might be part of the problem, you can couch everything within the laws – how about we choose a course?
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“When it looks like this, this is the call. We want it paid over and over again so that the umpires know, the players know, and the fans can recognise it from the outside. You’ll still get errors, but I just feel like when you can have five and five…”
Robinson was brutally honest, outlining that he believes “we’ve lost control of the game”.
“We’ve lost control of the game. We need a summit… I want the AFL to bring everyone together. It’s not the AFL’s game, it’s not the fans game, it’s not the coaches, we’re all in this together. We must have a summit and say – where do we want our game to be? What do we want it to look like? Umpires – what are your most difficult decisions? How can we best fix and make it easier for our umpires to umpire the game because right now, it’s inconsistent and its driving people bananas,” he said.
“The evolution of the game has convoluted the game: coaching tactics, swarming on the ball, 70m bubble etc. We need a reset at the end of the year.”