Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says the club will seek an explanation from AFL headquarters after they were denied what they thought was a fair goal against Sydney on Thursday night. The AFL premiers ran away with a 19.12 (126) to 12.11 (83) victory to continue their recent resurgence.
But the result was largely overshadowed by a controversial call after the three-quarter time siren. Logan Morris snapped truly for what he thought was a fair goal, but the umpires chalked it off because they deemed he didn’t kick over the man on the mark.
Logan Morris thought he’d kicked a fair goal. Image: Channel 7/Getty
Just like what we saw with Nick Watson last month, the umpires ruled that Morris ‘played on’, which meant his kick didn’t count. Both sets of commentators on Channel 7 and Fox Footy were left incredulous by the call, and Fagan addressed the incident after the game.
“My understanding of that rule is as long as you start near the boundary and kick over the guy’s hands on the mark, that’s ok,” he said. “I thought that’s what he did. I wasn’t standing right there on the spot, but that’s what it looked like to me.
“It would be good to get some clarity on it because the learning for Logan might be ‘If you ever get another shot on goal and the siren’s gone mate, maybe you’ve just got to go straight back and kick over the hands on the mark so there’s no doubt you’ve done the right thing’.
“From what the explanation is we got earlier in the year, I think he did everything right. We’ll ask because he did that thinking he was doing the right thing. If he wasn’t, we all need to know so we can learn from it. That’s ok.”
The umpires ruled that Logan Morris didn’t kick over the man on the mark. Image: Channel 7
AFL greats blast ‘stupid’ rule
Leading reporter Jon Ralph was among the minority who believed it was the right call. He wrote on social media: “The AFL told clubs last week that the directive about kicking over the man on the mark trumps the part of the rule that talks to not improving the angle of the kick. So by the letter of the law Morris was correctly penalised even if you hate that adjudication.”
But Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy: “It just looks like a bad call.” A colleague added: “That’s a horrendous call.” On Channel 7, Luke Hodge said it showed “how stupid the rule is.”
The rule was thrust back into the spotlight last week when Collingwood player Steele Sidebottom inadvertently conceded a behind after the full-time siren. Fans pointed out that he didn’t kick over the man on the mark so the point shouldn’t have been awarded.