North Melbourne coach David Noble will be seeking clarity from the AFL’s umpire department over two contentious free kicks that went against his side in Saturday’s 18-point loss to Collingwood.
Noble was left perplexed by a below-the-knees free kick paid against Kangaroos captain Jack Ziebell and a deliberate out of bounds decision against Cam Zurhaar from a wayward shot at goal.
Speaking on Fox Footy, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt labelled Dean Margetts’ deliberate out of bounds call as “the worst decision of the year”.
"Cam’s was a funny one, it didn’t make sense,” Noble told reporters post-game.
“It was an interesting free kick (against Ziebell). I’ll certainly be making a phone call early in the week about it and 50s (50m penalties).
“It’s bloody hard for the umps. Let’s not beat around the bush, it’s really tough out there.
Deliberate? 🤨#AFLNorthPies
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“We have got a fair bit of our own stuff to improve … and this won’t be the first week we make a phone call.
“It’s not about disputing the decision, it’s about trying to understand their process of decision-making and then how we can pass that back to our players to give them a better understanding.
“That’s the way that we’d go about it.”
North Melbourne remain winless and anchored to the bottom of the ladder after eight rounds.
