Bombers’ free-kick woes
ESSENDON coach John Worsfold will seek a meeting with umpires boss Hayden Kennedy about why the Bombers are on the wrong end of a woeful free-kick ledger.
In the past three weeks, Essendon has been awarded 45 free kicks to the oppositions’ 80.
Worsfold called Kennedy last week after the 11-21 freekick count against North Melbourne, but will escalate the conversation by meeting Kennedy personally.
Bombers’ head of football Dan Richardson has also twice spoken to AFL head of football Steve Hocking over free-kick concerns in the past fortnight.
“I’ve had a couple of discussions with Hock personally and Woosha has had some contact with Hayden as well,’’ Richardson said.
“There‘s a level of concern around and we would like to get to the bottom of it if we can.
“There may well be something wrong with how we’re coaching our players. “Is there issues with our approach technically or are there examples of where the umpires are getting it wrong? I’m not sure yet.
“We’ll work through a few examples and see if we can learn from it. We’ll aim to schedule a meeting with Hayden [this week].”
There was widespread angst at the weekend over umpiring and umpire interpretations, led by North Melbourne coach Brad Scott who labelled the exclusion-zone rules perplexing for everyone.
“For the frustration of everyone, yes [we need to fix it now],” Scott said. “It’s going to drive people nuts if something doesn’t change.’’
Fox Footy commentator Cameron Mooney said the rule was ‘’destroying the game’’.
It’s understood the Bombers’ hierarchy was confused by several holding-the-ball rulings — or non-rulings.
Essendon fans took to Twitter after the clash against Collingwood on Sunday, venting their anger with the hashtag #freekickCollingwood.
Richardson stressed yesterday their concerns were not about the free-kick differentials. It should be noted the Bombers contacted the AFL after recent victories.
“We’re not suggesting that umpiring is the reason why we win or lose, you just want clarification on consistency,’’ Richardson said.