Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury has been slammed by former great Garry Lyon, for claims the AFL media are overplaying issues around the new umpire dissent crackdown.
The veteran believes the playing group have already adjusted behaviour towards umpires in the early rounds of the season, criticising media for making a mountain out of a molehill.
“I feel like the media is the last group to understand it. The players all have a handle on it,” Pendlebury said.
“The coaches pretty clearly say we know what to expect, but it’s the media and guys commentating games of football that seem to have a big issue with it, and then that goes into the public forum because it gets spoken about.
“As players, we are so clear that anything we do will be 50 [a 50m penalty].”
Responding on SEN Breakfast, Lyon described Pendlebury’s stance as ‘nonsensical’, saying the media are just as entitled as anyone to question the rules, and dismissing the Magpies captain’s stance that the players are fully aware of the current state of play.
“We interviewed James Sicily a minute after the game and asked him – these players that are so clear according to Pendlebury – no idea,” Lyon said.
“That is the most nonsensical thing I’ve ever heard – blame the media for the dissent debate that’s going on at the moment.
“The media – who pay Pendlebury’s wages – it’s incumbent upon us to be able to commentate and commentate right.
“On Thursday night, we hear one umpire say this, and then for the next five games we watch it not being [paid] – so that’s the media’s fault, is it?
“I mean, God help me.”
Media backlash has been swift on the AFL’s crackdown on umpire abuse and dissent, with controversial 50m penalties paid against Brisbane’s Harris Andrews and Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell for raising their arms in protest of decisions.
However, the league isn’t backing down from their new harsher interpretation, with AFL general manager of football Brad Scott adamant the rules are here to stay.
“Our message to players is that when an umpire pays a free kick, accept it and move on,” Scott said on Tuesday.
“Our message to umpires is we encourage you to continue to pay free kicks or 50-metre penalties where players have shown dissent.”
Scott Pendlebury (Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Eddie McGuire reveals radical, multimillion-dollar plan to fix AFL umpiring
Former Collingwood president and prominent AFL media personality Eddie McGuire has unveiled his plan to remake the league always-controversial umpiring system, after a string of controversial recent moments.
According to McGuire, the problem lies in umpires being asked to do too much, with only four on-field at a time required to traverse the length of the playing field.
Speaking on Nine’s Footy Classified, McGuire advocated for the number of umpires at AFL level increase substantially, while scrapping boundary and goal umpires at the same time.
“Stop putting band aids on this and actually come up with a solution,” McGuire said.
“What I’d have is two goal umpires, and then on the ground four umpires and two at the other end.
“Get rid of the boundary umpires, get rid of the goal umpires and as the circles show you there, the umpires then don’t have to run 15, 16, 17 kilometres a day and also bounce a ball for a party trick.
“What it means is you can get better teams – I’d like to see five teams of nine umpires, so 45 umpires, as opposed to what we have at the moment, which is every weekend we send out 99 umpires and only 27 of them can pay a free kick.”
McGuire also argued umpires should become fully professionalised with a substantial pay increase, with most of the current crop working jobs during the week.
“I’d pay them around $300,000 a year, because that’s what the game can hold,” he said.
“And we get the best people in, and we get rid of all this situation that we’re having at the moment.”
“So it is a bold suggestion, but it’s time that the umpires become the 19th team, and if we’re fair dinkum about showing respect, let’s respect them properly and make them a big part of this competition.”
COVID drama hits Dockers as five ruled out
Fremantle are set to feel the brunt of the ongoing COVID-19 spread in Western Australia, with five players entering isolation ahead of their Round 6 clash with Carlton.
Young defenders Hayden Young and Heath Chapman will need to be replaced to take on the Blues, while WAFL players Liam Henry and Connor Blakely and injured draftee Matt Johnson are also unavailable.
Alongside the players, assistant coaches Matthew Boyd and Josh Carr will also miss the match through WA’s virus protocols.
However, goalsneak Lachie Schultz is free to play after his own COVID-enforced absence, while coach Justin Longmuir returned against Essendon after missing a fortnight.
(Photo by Jono Searle/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
“We always thought we would get our turn with COVID, and it seems to be on our doorstep,” Longmuir said on 6PR on Wednesday.
“Hopefully we can limit it to the five players.”
The Dockers’ situation is mercifully less severe than that faced by crosstown rivals West Coast to start the year, who were forced to turn to WAFL top-ups to field a side against North Melbourne in Round 2.
DTM
Roar Rookie
It's the implied threat from Lyon "we pay your wages" which is offensive. I have varying degrees of agreement of opinions with all Foxtel's commentators and I accept that. I can even threaten to cancel my membership but I have no power to influence their commentary. Lyon is implying that "we" (being the media) can say what we like and you (the players) cannot disagree because without the media you would not be earning the money you are earning. There is also the arrogance at Foxtel that as they pay so much for the rights, their commentary team can virtually say what they want. The only way they can lose the rights is to: a) upset their advertisers b) have a competitor outbid them or c) somehow lose a large number of subscribers - if you want to watch AFL, you have little choice so this is not going to happen.
Chris M
Guest
Absolute chaos! Rules and laws provide a structure that allows a somewhat imperfect social order in an imperfect world to exist and the imperfect people commissioned to uphold them sometimes get it wrong. Because everything is imperfect, we try to tweak the rules to make them better, and so we should, to try to make things better, but the outcome is commonly in an alternative way still….imperfect.
Knackaz
Roar Rookie
Imagine a world without politicians, police or umpires ...
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Foxtel pays Lyons wage to give his opinion. Obviously funded by the subscriber's monthly charges. He isn't stating that no one is allowed to disagree with him. Pendlebury also has full right to express his opinion as he did. I think you will find that he used the resources of the media to express it! You don't have to agree with what either of them stated but I don't begrudge either of them stating it.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
It was 70 metres out from goal & the umpire was already running down the field to set the new mark. He doesn't have eyes in the back of his head. In that situation, the other 2 umpires are going to have to their eyes pinned on the offender. Thus resulting in missing more important offences in their own vicinity like that they were implemented to do. As a footy fan, I wasn't disappointed at his instinctive reaction. I was more disappointed with his high diving, the umpire not ruling on it & the AFL's refusal to fine him like other staging offenders have been recently. E.g. Harry McKay in round 5. The game is in a mess.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
You make no point. Change your attitude and I'll read what you say.
DTM
Roar Rookie
What Lyon forgets is that we pay his wages. How do we get rid of him?
DTM
Roar Rookie
Why is it difficult to enforce? If what you say happened, there should have been a second 50m free kick - if not, the umpire erred. The only real "difficulty" is if it happened 20m out from goal, the original 50m is paid but then there is no penalty for the dissent. In that case, if I were the ump, I'd award a free kick in the centre of the ground.
Kevo
Roar Rookie
Don't particularly like AFL's general approach of knee jerk reactions and excessive rules changes, but like even less those in the media who think they and the media are bigger than the game itself. Go Pendles! Eddie will have to change his name to Flash.... saviour of the universe.....seems to come out with "brilliant" ideas publicly on a regular basis where he and he alone can solve complex issues.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
On AFL 360 tonight, they made what I thought was a reasonably valid point. If this major change in how dissent was going to be interpreted & penalised this round, why didn't the AFL make a public statement on this issue earlier in the week? Although the badge on Pendlebury's payslip has the Collingwood Football club on it. I hope he isn't that removed from the real world to realise & understand that it is the fans, the media & the sponsors that are really paying his wages. Not for a moment am I advocating that the AFL should run all issues past the fans & the media to rule on them. But I would like to think they are going to show a bit more common sense next time they start enforcing different levels of infringements in the future.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Don, you are missing the point again Albert Einstein. The rule is going to be too difficult to enforce in so many different ways. Last quarter, Sicily takes a mark and goes back to kick. Hawkins runs into the protected zone so the umpire correctly awards 50 metres. Pretty straight forward wouldn't you agree? So Hawkins throws his arms out to complain & what happens? Absolutely nothing!!! So how do you think Harris Andrews or Tom Mitchell would view that? Interested to hear your informed opinion in 2022.
Alchemist
Roar Rookie
Like every single ruck infringement. Both teams stand there waiting for direction :laughing:
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Table tennis :stoked:
George Apps
Roar Rookie
It wasn't always the biggest sport in Asia.
George Apps
Roar Rookie
Excellent comments that I agree with. Now that you mention it, it was different in the old days and much better. These changes are driving Miss Daisy!
George Apps
Roar Rookie
.
George Apps
Roar Rookie
I try to ignore anything that comes from Eddie's mouth!
George Apps
Roar Rookie
Simplify the rules! That's my idea. The game has become a mess - nobody knows what the umpires are doing half the time - esp. supporters.
1DER
Guest
Western Australian teams now paying price for total lock out with regard to Covid in 2020/2021
RT
Roar Rookie
They market rugby league here as NRL but that doesn't make me ignorant enough to think NRL is a sport and not a league. I am not sure there is some rule that says a great sport can't have a lot of rule changes so it is a silly question. That aside, Australian Football does not need constant rule changes (more accurately, interpretation changes) and it never used to. Unfortunately the current administration are generally clueless and a bunch of control freaks. Footy was much better off when the AFL had to lobby another body to make rule changes. They decided to disband that and take control on behalf of the entire sport. This is very wrong and probably not widely understood. Hopefully common sense will be restored one day, though I don't hold my hopes up.