Kane Cornes and Luke Hodge are split on whether Callan Ward should be fined for feigning contact which arguably led to him winning a free kick in the pivotal final moments of Friday night’s clash between the GWS Giants and Essendon.
Ward was paid a free kick after Shaun McKernan collected him high while picking up a ground ball, leading to a crucial goal which put the game out of reach of the Bombers with less than two minutes remaining.
There’s been suggestions the Giants veteran made the most of contact and Cornes believes he should be fined for staging.
“I think he gets a fine,” Cornes said on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“This one here, if you want to stamp it out then you have to do something about it otherwise, we’re going to see it happen again.
“That’s my take on it – and I think a fair amount of people would agree with me.
“You can’t have cartwheels and dives and flops after the contact to make sure you get a free kick.”
Hawthorn great Luke Hodge disagreed with Cornes,, saying it was a “clear” high contact and was rightly awarded a free kick.
“Clearly he got a bump to the head,” Hodge said.
“Yes he may have exaggerated it and he said after the game that he played it up a little bit but in saying that, he still got a bump.
“Whether you mean it or not, if you bump someone in the head no matter how hard or soft it is, the umpire says it’s a free kick.
“I know what it’s like playing against Essendon, their supporters are very passionate and they do hit you up if you do something wrong against one of their players but I believe that was a free kick.
“Yes he went a little bit further to make sure the umpire did see it but there’s no way he’s getting fined for that.”
In an interview on Saturday afternoon with 3AW, Ward opened up on the torrent of abuse he’s copped online after Friday night’s controversial incident.
“The reason I brought (it) up is that I know (abuse online) is a reality,” Ward said.
“I won’t listen to it, but I know there are people that probably would and I think it just has to stop because if you have been getting death threats like I have been getting, some players couldn’t handle that.
“I guess with what has happened, the most disappointing thing is I have a lot of Essendon supporters and a lot of AFL supporters commenting on photos of Romeo, my baby, and saying that I am a flog and all this stuff.
“I guess I am copping a fair bit and that’s disappointing.”
Staging is currently in the spotlight after Tom Papley was fined $500 for an incident during Thursday’s clash against Collingwood.
MRO Michael Christian will hand down his ruling on Ward later on Saturday.