Treasurer Rita Saffioti believes a captain’s review for lineball AFL umpiring calls is worth considering as she spent a second day venting her anger over the twin decisions that wrecked the Fremantle Dockers undefeated start to 2024.
The AFL has already admitted umpires “missed” the ball ricocheting off the arm of Dockers defender Jordan Clark on the way to being marked by Carlton’s Matthew Cottrell for a goal that put the Blues into the lead with less than a minute to play.
The mistake was compounded by a controversial free kick awarded against Clark for dissent — despite the Docker insisting he was swearing at himself — that handed Cottrell a second kick at goal to push his side’s lead out to an insurmountable 10 points.
The debacle prompted former St Kilda star Leigh Montagna to call for the introduction of a single player-initiated challenge to marks or free kicks awarded in the final quarter of each game.
Ms Saffioti said AFL umpires already reviewed “minor behind decisions” that often had far less bearing on the result.
“The reality is those (two late decisions on Saturday) changed the course of the game,” the diehard Dockers fan said.
“Look, I don’t know whether it should be a captain’s (review). That’s something that may be considered.
“But I just don’t know how you can make that decision, particularly on dissent, with a few seconds left on the clock. I just don’t know how that happens.
“And I don’t know how the Dockers are always at the receiving end.
“It basically makes us very angry, to be honest. Because we’ve been having a good season and it’s just really, really unfair what happened on the weekend.”
Referencing the infamous “Sirengate” match against St Kilda from 2006 and veteran umpire Peter Carey taking a chest mark in the Dockers defensive 50 in 1999 — also against the Saints — Ms Saffioti said her team could not catch a break.
“We always seem to be at the wrong end of these decisions. And, frankly, it just seems to happen to us all the time,” she said.
“I think, on behalf of all Western Australians, but in particular Western Australian Dockers supporters, we’re very, very disappointed (about) what happened on the weekend.
“For both the incorrect call and then the penalty in relation to dissent. We are very, very upset about it.
“As I said yesterday, and I said it flippantly, but as Dockers supporters we have gone through a lot.”
Montagna’s suggestion of a player-initiated review came during Fox Footy’s First Crack on Sunday night and revived a similar suggestion from the Saints’ great three years earlier.
“Why don’t we seriously consider some form of mechanism to review an umpiring decision, when nearly every other major sport around the world has that form,” he said.
“We’ve just got to wait for the letter on Monday for the AFL to say, ‘Sorry, we got it wrong’, and I think it’s time we seriously have a chat (about it).”
Montagna proposed the challenges only be applicable to free kicks and marks in the final quarter and limited to one per team.
“We’re already prepared to wait for one minute while the umpire goes to the score review for whether a point is scored, or whether it trickles out of bounds in the first 15 minutes of the game,” he said.
“So we do that anyway, yet the most critical element of the game — the umpire’s decision — particularly one that can decide the outcome, there’s no mechanism to review the decision.
“I just think we need to seriously have a discussion about it, raise it and see if we can get to it.”