AFL umpire Jacob Mollison says his ultimate focus is to adjudicate games to the best of his ability and not pay attention to free-kick differential numbers.
Essendon have been on the receiving end of a lopsided free kick count over the last three weeks. The discrepancy has seen Bombers coach John Worsfold make contact with umpires boss Hayden Kennedy to seek an explanation surrounding the differential.
Mollison has backed Kennedy to notify the umpiring group if he felt the Dons are being hard done by the officials.
“I’m not sure it’s been raised in our coaching group,” he told SEN Afternoons.
“If there were concerns around it, I’m sure Hayden (Kennedy) would address it if he felt it was necessary with us.
“I’m sure he would have met with John Worsfold and gone through what they wanted to get off their chest.
“Ultimately, for me, I don’t pay any attention to the free-kick differential.
“I want to know are the ones we are paying correct or are they ones that aren’t being paid, are we missing them, why are we missing them and trying to learn from that perspective.
“Certainly I understand people’s interest in the differential of the free kicks, but for me it all comes back to how many do we miss compared to the ones that are paid and were there any unwarranted ones.
“That’s where I look at it. If there was some ones out of that game or we paid that were unwarranted the coaches would go through that with us and say, alright, this is what we saw, what did you do see in that situation and let’s try and learn from that going forward.”
Listen to AFL umpire Jacob Mollison's chat on SEN Afternoons with Rohan Connolly in the player below