Former Hawthorn defender Campbell Brown has slammed the umpiring department for paying crucial free kicks late in the Bulldogs’ comeback win over his old side.
A free kick was paid against James Sicily late in the game for some push and shove on Dogs forward Josh Schache, directly resulting in a goal which put the Bulldogs in front.
Brown labelled the call “pathetic”.
“I’ve watched the replay about 10 times … this was just a defender and a forward having a little bit of jostling,” Brown told SEN’s The Wash Up.
“He bumped him, he pushed him, something you would see every single defender on the ground do just to grapple with position and for an umpire to come in at a critical stage of that game, it was just diabolically bad.
“The AFL have overreacted like they always do in their umpiring department. They said they were going to come out and be hard on punches, which is great. The brutality is out of AFL footy, don’t take the physicality out as well.
“If you do that, you’ll just drive fans away. It’s one of the great aspects of the game and it’s as clean as it’s ever been.
“These are grown men and I thought the way the umpires umpired today, and not just that occasion, and Hawthorn would’ve lost anyway, but these are guys that train all week to go out and play footy, there was another decision against Jarman Impey on Billy Gowers where they were just engaged in some push and shove, what are we turning our game into?
“It’s absolutely pathetic. I don’t think you’ll find a lover of the game, ex-players or current day players who would agree with those decisions.”
Watch the incident below and decide for yourself.
Wow.
— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 31, 2019
The Bulldogs kick the go-ahead goal off the back of this free kick against Sicily.
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