Remember when Dimma was labelled a whinger…
Here’s Brad Scott, again, commenting on umpires:
GIVE US HEADS-UP
Ed Bourke
Brad Scott wants a “heads-up” from the AFL umpiring department on which rule will be spotlighted this weekend before Essendon opens round 19 against Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
The Bombers coach agreed with his brother and Geelong counterpart Chris Scott that there was an obvious crackdown on the 15m rule last week – and he said clubs should have been made aware in advance.
Scott said the communication with umpires had been great when Essendon had “initiated” contact, but he wanted the league to be on the front foot with clubs about how umpires were being coached.
“Umpires get coached like players get coached, and the key component in there is we would like a bit more information as to what the umpires are being coached on,” Scott said on Tuesday.
“Generally, what you coach is what you get. All games of footy across the weekend, when the ball was kicked 14m, it was called play on – the week before that wasn’t happening.
“Clearly that was highlighted, clearly that was coached, but it wasn’t communicated to us.
“We’re the Friday night game this week … you generally take your cue from the way the Friday night game is umpired, so we wouldn’t mind a heads-up in terms of what’s being coached.”
Scott said the razor-thin margins between the second and 13th sides had been behind the fierce external heat on umpiring this season rather than a deterioration in performance.
“It’s really exciting, but it’s on a knife’s edge,” he said.
“It makes it so competitive and so tight – little things make big differences. The focus is more on umpiring because it’s so tight.
“If games were decided by big margins and there were big gaps between the best teams and everyone else, umpiring wouldn’t be a focus like it is.”
