Richmond fury at umpires
Rohan Connolly | April 29, 2007
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/r ... 44249.html
RICHMOND captain Kane Johnson faces a "please explain" from the AFL after launching a scathing attack on the standard of umpiring in the Tigers' 23-point loss to West Coast at the MCG yesterday.
The Tiger skipper spoke to umpires Stuart Wenn, Shaun Ryan and Troy Pannell as they left the ground at half-time, and was still furious after the game when he fronted a news conference with coach Terry Wallace.
Richmond finished the afternoon trailing the Eagles 29-13 on the free-kick count.
"It was standing out. It was just unbelievable, the amount of free kicks they were getting compared to ours, and I just mentioned to them that maybe they should have a look at it … it was out of whack, I think," Johnson said of his mid-game discussion.
Johnson said he thought Richmond subsequently had a "little bit" better deal in the second half, "but not quite what they had in the first half". He was particularly critical of the interpretation of holding the ball.
"A lot of the time with the holding-the-ball rule they were inconsistent," he said. "I think a lot of the tackles we put on them (the Eagles) were just dropping the ball but they just let it go, but when we did it they called holding the ball. It just wasn't right. I think they've got to have a good look at it and hopefully get it right next week."
Johnson agreed with the suggestion that the interpretation of the rule was confusing players. "It's frustrating, because sometimes they let it play on, and other times they call it straight away, and it's just all over the place," he said.
"I just hope they do get it right, because it causes a lot of frustration **** players out on the ground."
Wallace was also clearly unhappy with the umpiring, but more cryptic in his criticism. Before Johnson made his comments, the Tiger coach had said, pointedly: "Any person there that is a non-Richmond person loves to see West Coast at the MCG … I'm talking about any person that's not a Richmond person really loves seeing them at the MCG."
It was a line Wallace repeated when asked specifically about his impression of yesterday's umpiring.
The Richmond camp was as frustrated by another loss of a game it might have won, the Tigers having been in a realistic winning position in every round to date. Again, errors and poor kicking for goal proved costly, with key forward Jay Schulz finishing the day with 0.4.
But Wallace said it was the Tigers' style of play at the critical stage of the game that had cost it a chance of victory as much as the clanger count.
"At times today it (execution) was terrific, at times today it put us in a winning position," he said. "But what it is at the moment is not consistent, and consistency is what wins you games. We've got to learn how to win those games, and there's a way and manner to win those games.
"It was more our style of play. Once we got them under the pump, we really needed to pressure them up. I thought we had a few too many blokes sitting back loose across the half-back line rather than playing that real one-on-one football that wins tough, uncompromising games, and I think they were probably just a little bit more experienced in what it takes to win those type of games."
Wallace said the Tigers had structured a side with an eye on the future. It featured Schulz in the key forward post, Cleve Hughes, who kicked three goals, at centre half-forward, and Graham Polak, who has been forced into relief ruckwork this season, a top performer at centre half-back. The Tigers also rotated Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling more through the midfield.
"Up until this stage, we've fiddled around with the side a little bit through necessity with the rucks out of the team. We just wanted to try to get a structure in place that said: 'Hey, that's where we're going; that's where we're marching forward to'. "