Tim Watson believes the AFL should put GWS ruckman Shane Mumford on notice after a string of overly aggressive incidents across the season.
Mumford was put in the spotlight earlier in the year after dropping his knees into Essendon midfielder Zach Merrett.
Both Watson and Garry Lyon are frustrated by the lack of AFL scrutiny on Mumford’s actions.
Watson: “If I was someone from the AFL today, I would call a representative at GWS and I’d say ‘listen, you’ve got a big bloke and everyone’s amused and bemused from time to time about how clumsy he may be and how he drops an elbow in here and falls on somebody here, we just want to tell you he’s on notice. You need to modify his behaviours when he’s out there on the field’,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
Lyon: “I’ll be the GWS bloke. You’ve just rung me and said that. ‘Oh really? What’s he done wrong? He hasn’t been reported?’.”
Watson: “Only through luck.”
Lyon: “‘Well that’s bad luck, that’s not my (GWS’) problem’.”
Watson: “Well there are times where he should have been reported.”
Lyon: “’Well why wasn’t he?’”
Watson: “Because somebody got it wrong at the AFL.”
“How is that not reversed?!” Big Mummy goes BANG 💥
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) June 13, 2021
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Lyon: “’Repeatedly? You’re saying he’s a recidivist?’” he added, playing devil’s advocate.
Watson: “Yes he is. He has been doing it over a long period of time and everyone’s amused by the way he goes about it.”
Lyon: “I’m with you by the way.”
Watson: “I understand you are. To me, he’s like the old bloke still running around playing in country football somewhere.”
Lyon: “And the old blokes in the media going ‘haha don’t we love Mummy, have a look at him clumsy Mummy!’. Does he have a different set of rules clumsy Mummy?”
Wonder how many weeks/months Mumford would have got if this attempted forearm connected #AFLNorthGiants pic.twitter.com/A5P77ZHueh
— Ricky Mangidis (@rickm18) June 13, 2021