“Made me so angry”: King and Cornes want answers from the AFL

It happened again. But a different outcome.

On Thursday night, Hawthorn’s Nick Watson had a goal disallowed after he had been adjudged to have run off his line during his set shot.

On Sunday, Melbourne’s Latrelle Pickett did something very similar but his set shot was allowed, resulting in a goal. * SEN Fireball* pair David King and Kane Cornes could not believe what they saw and want answers from the AFL to sort this out.

“We need to hear from Greg Swann. It happened again on the weekend,” said King.

“Demons v Giants in the Alice, just on half-time, Latrelle Pickett had the set shot, the umpire was in behind, and he ran the exact same diagonal line which finishes with that player not kicking over the man on the mark.

“This one actually improved the angle for the goal kicker, not like Nick Watson’s where he went further away to a more acute angle.

“We have no line of sight, no real guidance from the AFL on what is and isn’t acceptable, and what is and what isn’t play on. What are the players supposed to do?”

Cornes: “They’ll tick that one off. What a mess.”

King: “Come out and just stamp it out. Even if it is a reversal of where you’ve been, even if it is supporting the umpires at your own detriment.

“Come out and just say, ‘Look, we have supported the umpires but this is acceptable, this isn’t acceptable’. We’re halfway through the season and we’ve got no idea how to take a post-siren shot on goal.”

Cornes: “What they did in supporting that umpire completely ridiculous.

“Because what everyone else does is go back through a history of recent times where a player has done exactly the same thing, if not worse.

“They just needed to say, ‘We understand the umpire’s point of view, it was an error, and we don’t want it to be adjudicated that way’. That’s all the needed to say.

“Swanny, as I said on Friday, is a smart footy person. To sit there and think that is acceptable… it has made me so angry.

“Swanny, do your thing and come out and clarify that.”

Ridiculous decision

Cornes was unhappy with the goal that was taken off Hawthorn’s Nick Watson at half-time of Thursday night’s win over St Kilda.

The Hawks small forward nailed a set shot after the siren at Marvel Stadium which was disallowed as he was adjudged to have run off his line.

The decision had little impact on the game, as the Hawks won by 52 points, but it has attracted the ire of Cornes who has labelled it the “dumbest” and “most ridiculous” decision of the year.

“I’ve seen all the vision that’s available to me. I’ve seen the broadcast vision, I’ve seen it in HD multiple times,” Cornes aid on SEN’s Fireball.

“It’s the dumbest, most ridiculous decision you will see all year. Anyone who wants to argue that I think is ridiculous.”

Cornes attempted to make sense of exactly why the Watson goal was disallowed.

“One of the more bizarre umpiring decisions that I've ever seen. Ever,” Cornes continued.

“I think there needs to be a statement as to what has happened there and the AFL admitting that that was an umpire error, surely.

“We cannot be having goals, which are pretty important, overturned like that last night at half-time.

“I’d be very surprised if that was ever paid in a Grand Final and I don't know what was going through the umpire's head because he's right there. I just do not know what he was thinking in that moment.

“I guess there needs to be more ramifications for decisions like that. That's a strange thing to do. I couldn't quite get my head around it.”

Co-host David King was broadcasting for Fox Footy and spoke to Watson after the game.

“He was pretty angry about it actually. He was just a bit confused and a bit angry,” said King.

“He felt that, without putting words in his mouth, they were just happy to blow the whistle. The umpire just wanted to get involved was basically what he was saying, which I kind of agree with.

“Just let the players sort it out. Let the game sort itself out. I just think we're getting a lot of random intervention at the moment, whether it's the reviews or whether it's the last touch out of bounds stuff, the goal-line stuff, just the incorrect calls, lack of feel for the game.”

Cornes is adamant that Greg Swann, the AFL’s Executive General Manager Football Performance, would not be overly pleased with such a call.

“The AFL would know in their hearts that was the wrong call last night,” he said further.

“Imagine Swanny watching that vision. He’s a good footy person, he knows what decision should be made.

“There is no way, if we know Greg Swann the way that we do, that he would be supportive of that decision.

“So I think for them to come out publicly and say that was the right call, we’ll see right through that, if that’s the way they’re going to go. And I don’t think they will.”

Hawks coach sam Mitchell admits the club will seek clarification about such a decision.

“We'll certainly be going to the AFL to ask about it,” Mitchell said at his post-match press conference.

“It makes sense to me that that is a rule on the other side of the ground. As a right-footer, there is absolutely no reason that a player would go wider to give themselves an advantage, and that's what the rule is there for

“And it makes sense, but the vision doesn't look like he goes off his line much, but that's the umpire's call and I can accept that. But the fact that you can go off the line towards the boundary and it be called play on, there's no common sense about that.

“So, I would hope that we get an answer from the AFL, and I'm sure we will, they've been very good at giving us answers and giving us adjustments, they've done that really well. When something doesn't make sense, they fix it pretty quickly. So, why would he run wider to give himself a harder shot and it get called play on? Didn't make a lot of sense.

“I’m glad it was in a game where individual tiny scores didn't matter, but I hope that's something they rectify.”