Collingwood came away victors after an extremely hot contest with rivals Carlton, securing a goal in the final minutes to win the game 85-79 in front of 88,362 at the MCG.
Following Nick Daicos’ stunning game-winner, Scott Pendlebury came away from the centre bounce with the ball in hand and cleared the contest with a kick directly towards the boundary line.
The umpires ruled it a throw-in, as a number of players had closed in on the footy by the time it crossed the boundary, however it has already sparked media controversy as to whether the Collingwood star made sufficient attempt to keep the ball in play.
The controversial call was discussed on SEN’s Crunch Time, with former AFL stars Luke Hodge and Phil Davis, alongside Gerard Whateley, weighing in on what they believed to be a definite incorrect call from the umpires.
Hodge: “If you just kicked a goal with a minute to go, who would you want in the centre bounce?
“Last night, they had the right people in there, they had Daicos, they had Pendlebury, who gets the clearance, Scotty Pendlebury… where does he go with it?”
Davis: “You always go wide. Save the game Hodgy, you kick it to the 45, you try and hit the junction.”
Hodge: “So what’s your mentality, if it trickles out, you’re okay, because if it’s deliberate you can set up?”
Davis: “Yep. No matter what, you go junction and wide.”
Hodge: “So, with this new rule Gerard, it used to be deliberate, and then we thought no, we need to be harder on that, so now it’s insufficient attempt to keep it in.
“If I’m in the middle of the ground and I kick it on a 45 towards the boundary line, I don’t care what the rule is, it’s both. It’s deliberate, and insufficient attempt to keep the ball in.
“This is twice in the space of three weeks on Friday night football, we’ve had umpires in critical times of the game, make the wrong decision.
“The AFL are going to come out and say we were wrong, we were incorrect again, because, rightly so, with 45, 50 seconds to go, Carlton should have the ball in their hands on the back flank and charging towards their three-pronged attack.”
Whateley: “Kicked it a long way off the axis, which we are told is the differentiator and no one anywhere near it.”
Davis: “You could go to any club, and the stoppage structure within reason at centre bounce will be defensive triangle, so no one is coming out the front.
“If you win it, because your wingers are back, you go directly, either side, towards the junction, your forwards set up in the middle so they can push it out.
“That’s what every club within reason will do if they are trying to save the game.
“So, it’s as if the umpires should have been given that card before the game, look out for this. This is really important information that umpires should be exposed to, what teams are trying to do.
“It’s like leading a camel to the water.”
Hodge: “This was an understanding of the game.
“Every umpire should know, if you’re coming out of the centre bounce and your goal is to your right and he kicks it straight ahead of him… come on.
“The umpires got scared of 88 thousand people, they got scared of the occasion, on a big Friday night game of football. It’s the same as what happened two weeks ago with the Draper one.”
Collingwood find themselves back in the top eight following last night’s win, ahead of their contest with the Eagles next Sunday. As for the Blues, their tough fixture run continues, with Melbourne to follow next Thursday night.
