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Umpiring controversy hits GMHBA as Cats get the cream in a wet-weather thriller over Adelaide
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‘We would be happy to have him’: Scott on Thilthorpe
By Roy Ward
Cats coach Chris Scott has playfully left an open invitation for Adelaide key forward Riley Thilthorpe to join him at Geelong.
Scott praised Geelong defender Sam De Koning for his efforts against the Crows star, adding: “We were really impressed by his game tonight, and I’m glad you brought it up.
“Their forward line has been potent for long time, and it was tough for our defenders.
“They didn’t have much help, [and] just had to do the job one-on-one most of the time. I was really pleased for Sam – that is as well as he has played for a long time.”
And as for Thilthorpe?
“I don’t want to be too effusive of the opposition, but if Thilthorpe ever wants to play anywhere other than Adelaide, we would be happy to have him,” Scott said with a smile.
‘If it is completely wrong, bring it back’: Dunstall
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Fox Footy commentator Jason Dunstall believes the arc should be getting umpires to bring back decisions like the Tom Atkins’ last touch decision.
Dunstall was not happy that an earlier, more contentious decision was changed from a throw-in, to a free kick but the Atkins one was left to stand, in part because Atkins took the footy quickly and restarted play from the boundary line.
“As a procedural rule, it’s a farce,” Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy about ARC helping with the last-touch rule.
“It doesn’t matter if the ball has gone back into play. If it is completely wrong, you tell the umpire to blow the whistle, pull it up, and then you make sure the free kick is decided the right way.
“What is the point of having it otherwise?”
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Nicks dismisses controversial out-of-bounds decision
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Matthew Nicks dismissed a question about the controversial Tom Atkins out of bounds decision, although it seemed like he didn’t know that the free kick should have been awarded to his side, and not led to Jack Martin’s goal.
When asked about it, Nicks said he didn’t think there was any umpire decision that stood out in the final term, and he was more focused on his side losing the contested possession game.
But listening back to his answer, it’s possible he didn’t know about it.
“There is nothing that stood out from that point of view,” Nicks said.
‘We were still on the bus’: Nicks
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Crows coach Matthew Nicks has turned his focus on his side’s poor start tonight and he seems pretty certain that it cost his side the match.
“It’s the first 10 minutes of the match that was the issue; we were still on the bus,” Nick said.
“It was 0 to 10 inside 50s. That will be the one we have to look at and go through the why. It’s all good to plan for something but you’ve got to execute.
“To come in at quarter time and have to look each other in the eye - we were all disappointed.
“But again, we showed we can fight back. Unfortunately, doing that against the best teams, we are going to walk in after the game disappointed in a close loss.
“We’d like to be better than at.”
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‘Everyone is trying to learn it’: Stewart
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Acting Cats skipper Tom Stewart was surprised to hear that Tom Atkins last touch decision late in the match should have gone to the Crows.
“There you go,” Stewart exclaimed.
But Stewart was animated about another facet of the new “last touch” out-of-bounds rule.
“It’s a unique rule. The thing I can’t get my head around. I had a discussion with an umpire on the field about when a player makes a conscious effort to get the hand on the ball and force it out of bounds, that should be deliberate, I think, people trying to slap it out of bounds to make sure it’s not a last touch free kick,” Stewart told Fox Footy.
“It’s very fresh, very new and everyone is trying to learn it. But the one I find interesting is someone trying to deliberately knock it out of bounds, so the lasso doesn’t come into play.”
‘Stooged the umpire perfectly’: King on the Atkins incident
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Fox Footy experts David King and Jack Riewoldt have fired up over the out-of-bounds decision that was missed by the umpires and the ARC in the lead-up to Jack Martin’s late goal.
King said Cats star Tom Atkins “stooged” the umpires on the boundary in claiming a free kick after his boot was clearly the last to touch the ball.
“It was an obvious and clear boot of Atkins who stooged the umpire perfectly,” David King said on Fox Footy.
“It comes off the left boot of Atkins, and he charges over and says, ‘That’s my ball’. Clever play and, in the end, he outsmarted the men in green.”
‘You have the best role in footy’: Dempsey all smiles
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Cats wingman Ollie Dempsey was all smiles when he discussed his go-ahead goal in the final minutes of the match.
Dempsey managed to come up with the footy and snap the ball over his shoulder, and it proved the match-sealer.
“I feel like we had stoppages for about 50 possessions in a row there, and it was bound to come out at some stage,” Dempsey told Fox Footy.
“We put the pressure on and finally got away with one.”
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FT: Geelong 9.14 (68) d Adelaide 9.6 (60)
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The Cats have outlasted the Crows in a brutal final term, with the home side kicking the key late goals and then trapping the ball in their own forward half for much of the final stages.
It was frustrating for the Crows, but brilliant pressure play from the Cats.
The Crows haven’t won in Geelong since 2003, and that wait will go on a little longer.
That last-term umpiring howler that led to Jack Martin’s goal will get some attention post game too.
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