The AFL have ticked off a controversial decision to not award North Melbourne a 50m penalty in the final minute of their heartbreaking loss to Collingwood, but the league says an error was made by the umpire immediately preceding the controversial incident.
After Bailey Scott marked 70 metres from the Kangaroos’ goal, Pies pair Steele Sidebottom and Beau McCreery, believing the kick from Nick Daicos hadn’t travelled 15 metres or that Scott had played on, rushed over the mark, with the umpire allowing them to retreat rather than penalising them.
The incident caused a storm around the footy world, with former great Leigh Matthews describing the miss as a ‘clanger’ on Nine’s Footy Furnace, while fellow past player Jimmy Bartel said it was ‘as basic as it gets’.
However, footy boss Laura Kane has a different view of the decision, saying the umpire was right to not penalise the Magpies – but admitting to a different error made just seconds beforehand.
According to Kane, the real mistake in the ‘confusing situation’ was the umpire not calling play on as Scott stepped off his mark with Sidebottom and McCreery rushing in.
“You can see on the vision, Bailey Scott takes the mark, the umpire blows his whistle and one of two calls could be made,” Kane said on afl.com.au’s Footy Feed Extra.
“It could be play on immediately, or it could be stand, which would indicate the mark had been paid.
“Neither of these two calls were made in the immediate moment after the free kick has been blown, and Bailey takes four steps or so inbound and looks to play on. So the correct call should have been play on initially.
“That has caused confusion for the players in the immediate vicinity, the Collingwood players: that there was a delay whistle-to-message and that communication was the error.
“The important part for the umpire then is to make sure he or she has control of the situation and the decision to regain control from a series of confusing incidents was to pay the mark and bring the ball back.
“The initial call, the initial mistake, was that play on wasn’t called. It should have been called play on.
“Collingwood players anticipating that they were going to hear a call post-whistle -a really common discussion around players is play the whistle and when you hear it, wait for what’s next.
“What’s next didn’t come quick enough so the confusion for those Collingwood players was what to do, as was probably the level of confusion that sat with Bailey himself.
“If the umpire had called stand indicating that a mark had been paid and those Collingwood players continued to contest the player or the ball, it would have been a 50m penalty.
“But what has happened here is (there was a) whistle and no immediate call or instruction. Players have been left confused and that’s what we’re focused on. We are focusing on the time between the whistle and the communication and making sure the umpires understand that the initial call should have been play on, given he took four steps or so inbound and every objective marker of play on was there.”
Kane also defended the failure of the score review system to overturn a Jack Crisp goal in the second quarter of the match that appeared to have been touched by Scott, saying the ARC ‘didn’t have definitive vision or a definitive image’ to overturn the on-field call of goal.
Petracca lifts the lid on ‘traumatic’ injury toll
Christian Petracca has lifted the lid on the brutal aftermath to his serious internal injuries suffered in Melbourne’s King’s Birthday loss to Collingwood.
Petracca will miss the rest of the 2024 season after sustaining four broken ribs, a punctured lung and a lacerated spleen from a stray knee to the midriff from Magpies captain Darcy Moore, controversially playing on in the second quarter before being sent to hospital later in the match.
But as he revealed in an interview on Nova FM’s Jase and Lauren, the injuries themselves were only a small part of the star midfielder’s horror week.
“It’s been pretty traumatic – four or five days in ICU and the last couple of days were just in the ward,” Petracca said of his ordeal.
“It’s been pretty full on. I don’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
Petracca was forced into emergency surgery after being hospitalised following the blow, and was unable to be anaesthetised due to declining blood levels.
“I didn’t realise the severity of it [the injury] until 2am in the morning when I was gassed up and they were doing surgery with my eyes open,” he said.
“I just thought it was a couple of cracked ribs, which is serious, but I thought I could go back and play.
“Had I known now the severity of it I obviously wouldn’t have gone back out there… at the time, I thought and we thought it was a cracked rib, a couple cracked ribs.
“I don’t think we all understood the severity of it, to be honest. I think we got an initial scan around eight or nine o’clock at night. The first scan showed two cracked ribs, and then just a little bit of bleeding around the lung.
“I don’t know what happened. I think 15 minutes later one of the doctors was just checking my blood levels and noticed my haemoglobin was dropping severely, and my blood levels were dropping… that’s when they noticed on the next scan I had four cracked ribs, a grade-five spleen [laceration] and a punctured lung, too.
“It went from being a 4/10, to basically a 10/10, equivalent to a car accident. It seemed pretty full on.
“I had to go straight into surgery at 2am; open surgery. I wasn’t under anaesthetic because my blood levels were so low.”
Petracca admitted he will take time to recover mentally from the ordeal as well as physically.
“I watched a bit of footy on the weekend and I had to turn it off because when you see a simple tackle, you put yourself back in the situation you were in,” he said.
“No doubt with the recovery process and everything I’ll be able to tick off and my mindset, I’ll be able to get back to the player I was. But at the moment, there’s a lot of self doubt. Which is fine, it’s a natural feeling, of course.”
![Christian Petracca suffered broken ribs and a series of internal injuries in Melbourne's King's Birthday loss to Collingwood.](https://cdn4.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Christian-Petracca-Melbourne-Demons-1.jpg)
Christian Petracca suffered broken ribs and a series of internal injuries in Melbourne’s King’s Birthday loss to Collingwood. (Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images)
Cornes claims Daicos ‘umpired differently’ amid outrage over Pies’ win
Former great Kane Cornes has accused Nick Daicos of receiving preferential treatment from umpires, as the footy world unites against a series of decisions that cruelled North Melbourne in their loss to Collingwood.
The Kangaroos led by 54 points before collapsing in the second half, with the Magpies mounting a famous comeback to pinch victory by a solitary point.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast, Cornes took issue with a missed holding the ball call against Daicos in the last quarter that would have given Roo Cameron Zurhaar a shot at goal from inside 50, saying the non-decision was proof umpires have a ‘superstar tax’.
“Nick Daicos is umpired differently… there is undoubtedly a superstar tax when it comes to umpiring,” Cornes said.
“I’ve had this theory for a number of years now, ever since I was playing, because the best players in the game are umpired differently.
“This isn’t a knock on Nick – it’s a knock on how he’s adjudicated. He gets more favourable treatment from the umpires… if there is a 50/50 call, more often than not he gets the benefit of that call.
“The one late yesterday is clearly holding the ball inside forward 50. If that is any other player, who is not a superstar, that free kick is paid against him.”