Young Bulldog Buku Khamis has shared his view on the controversial dissent free kick paid against him in Friday night’s win over Collingwood.
Khamis teamed up well with Aaron Naughton in attack as the duo kicked three goals each, but he gave up the first of two controversial penalties for the night when raising his arms after appearing to be pushed by Collingwood defender Isaac Quaynor.
The umpire was quick to pay the penalty which led to Collingwood’s third goal of the match in the second quarter, a call that Channel Seven commentator Brian Taylor questioned.
“Khamis can’t believe it… there’s the arms out with a smile. Not a lot of malice in the question,” he said.
The 22-year-old shared his version of events on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“I felt that I got pushed in the back and he didn’t reward me with a free kick so I put my arms out and I thought I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but the umpire didn’t agree,” he said.
“I was pretty surprised to be honest, I thought I didn’t do anything.
“I was just standing there putting my arms out just manning the mark and he thought I was doing something else.”
With a similar incident occurring just minutes later, Khamis was pictured putting his hands straight on his head to prevent another free kick, saying: “I gave the ball back straight away, I didn’t want to give away (another one).”
The decision to penalise Jordan De Goey in the last quarter for dissent was also heavily debated in the aftermath of Friday night's game, Cameron Mooney saying: “I just don't like the rule.”
After debuting as a backman last year, Khamis has provided solid structural support to the Dogs up forward, where he appears to have found his niche.
Luke Beveridge labelled the third-gamer “pretty impressive” when speaking post-game.
“As a young fellow, Buku played a lot of his junior games as a forward - it was only in his draft year where he really stood out as that intercept defender type and impressed me,” Beveridge said.
“Needing a second ruck opportunity at AFL level, we started to play him forward and pinch-hit in the ruck at state league level, and then he started kicking goals so we picked him as a forward. His last two weeks have been pretty impressive.”
Khamis appears to have overtaken Jamarra Ugle-Hagan for a spot in the Dogs’ AFL forward line, while Josh Bruce is still more than a month away.