Melbourne great Garry Lyon is “confident” the AFL will see a decreased number of free kicks paid by non-officiating umpires this week.
It comes after a controversial goal was essentially awarded to Hawthorn when Darcy Moore was penalised for contact below the knees on young Hawk Sam Butler just metres out from goal.
Despite the controlling umpire having a line of sight and judging Moore to have fairly won the footy, the non-officiating umpire called the free kick from outside the 50-metre arc.
Butler kicked truly from the goal square to give Hawthorn four consecutive goals and the lead, however, it ultimately mattered not as the Pies prevailed in a tight fourth quarter.
Lyon believes the direction will come to discourage umpires from paying free kicks as the non-officiator.
“I would be confident in saying there would be few out-of-zone decisions made this week,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“I think the umpires’ boss, I think it’s Dan Richardson, would say, ‘listen, if you’re not the controlling umpire and you want to overrule you better be right, otherwise you might pay for it with your job’.
“That’s what I’d be doing.
“I’d be saying, ‘that’s okay, if you’re the umpire and you’re at the 50 and Darcy Moore slides in and there’s a goal at stake, if you want to overrule from 50 metres away you better be right, and if (you're not), you probably won’t be umpiring next week’.
“The process for that umpire (who paid the free kick) is (firstly) watching, he’s seen Moore slide, he’s seen the umpire in the controlling area is eight metres away and says, ‘am I going to overrule? No, I’m not sure, because I don’t want to pay with my job and there’s a goal at stake’.
“(It was) a shocking decision.”
It was one of several free kicks paid by the out-of-zone umpire during the clash and drew immense criticism across the AFL media.
Amazing free kick against Moore 🤦🏻♂️#AFLHawksPies
— Matthew Richardson (@mattricho0) June 5, 2022
That's undoubtedly one of the worst decisions of the season.
— Daniel Cherny (@DanielCherny) June 5, 2022
Just two weeks ago in Sydney’s narrow win over Richmond, the non-officiating umpire paid a free kick in the dying seconds that wasn’t heard by players and led to the blow up over whether a 50-metre penalty should have been paid against Chad Warner.