Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton says the way the AFL is being adjudicated by its umpires is “at a crossroads”.
Brereton has never been more confused when it comes to understanding the adjudication of the rules in his time in football.
“I have never been at a point where I have less understanding of the adjudication of rules. I have never seen the sport’s interpretations fluctuate so much, week in, week out,” he told SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“I have never seen another sport that decides to change the rules in the last three to five minutes of a game and refuse to give decisions.
“We have overseas sports lovers who cannot believe that we feel sorry for certain players.
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“The umpire calls “touched, play on” off the boot and everybody in the stadium knows it is touched play on off the boot, and a player claims the mark, is caught cold with the ball, has both hands free who still wilfully will not give it (the ball) up, and the umpire says, ‘He mustn’t have heard the call, give it to me, I feel sorry for him, I’ll ball it up’.
“We’re at a crossroads with the way we adjudicate this game.”
The five-time premiership Hawk thinks Sydney and Essendon were “slaughtered” by the officials in recent matches.
Brereton has also called for the AFL to provide Steve Hocking with more support in his role as the league’s football operations boss.
“This is how unfair I want to be about this,” Brereton said.
“Hawthorn beat Sydney two weeks ago and I thought the umpires slaughtered Sydney. I thought they gave Hawthorn the absolute inside run. They played well … but they slaughtered Sydney with the whistle.
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“I thought Essendon got slaughtered by the whistle on Saturday night (against Melbourne).
“What I’m saying now is there has been a major shift in what the rules of our game have become.
“We have to review the job that Steve Hocking’s doing.
“It’s too much for him. There has to be somebody who is responsible for policy, and it shouldn’t just be Steve Hocking because his plate is absolutely full with football matters.”