AFL Hall of Fame inductee Terry Wallace doesn’t believe players and umpires should be making contact after the precedent was set when West Coast forward Willie Rioli was cited earlier this season.
Melbourne midfielder Angus Brayshaw and umpire Ray Chamberlain were seen exchanging a high-five during the Demons’ match against the Western Bulldogs on the weekend.
Rioli was fined $1000 for touching the same umpire back in Round 10 against Hawthorn and Wallace was surprised that the Brayshaw incident with Chamberlain was happily condoned despite the AFL previously cracking down on umpire contact.
“I don’t think that a little bit of touchy feely in the right sort of frame shouldn’t be condoned,” he told SEN’s KB and The Doc.
“But when you have a pat on the bum from Rioli and him getting a fine for that, I don’t know why we should have umpires and players coming together and giving each other low fives, high fives or anything like that.
“I thought the AFL were coming out very clearly and sort of saying: ‘we don’t want umpires and players touching each other.’
“I don’t think that there’s anything necessarily wrong that with.
“But the powers to be have said if you can’t give a little pat on the bum which was ok you were right and I got it wrong which was the Rioli situation.”
Listen to Terry Wallace's chat on SEN's KB and The Doc in the player below