Umpires blow it in bad calls
UMPIRES boss Wayne Campbell has conceded the whistleblowers dished up a below-par performance in the weekend’s preliminary finals.
Campbell’s assessment of the weekend, which saw a number of controversial decisions both paid and missed at Subiaco Oval, was that it was an “OK” showing from the men in green.
North Melbourne found itself on the receiving end of a number of dubious calls, most notably a free kick to Eagles star Luke Shuey after slight contact from Kangaroos midfielder Nick Dal Santo that gave West Coast the momentum heading into halftime – one that Campbell now admits was to his eye incorrect.
“(The weekend) wasn’t our best performance I wouldn’t have thought,” Campbell said at a Brownlow Medal Breakfast yesterday.
He is refusing to make excuses for the substandard performance, but said preliminary final week does throw up an incredibly hostile environment for players and umpires alike.
“We made some errors on the weekend, obviously we don’t set out to make errors,” Campbell said.
The league will today announce who will oversee Saturday’s grand final. WEST Coast captain Shannon Hurn is adamant his team will be able to handle Hawthorn’s physicality in Saturday’s grand final at the MCG.
The Hawks have become renowned for their unsociable football, but Hurn is confident his young team will be able to stand up to the heat of the battle.
“The first couple of minutes it will be pretty hot, and then it will just settle into a normal game,” Hurn said yesterday.
“In the couple of (finals) games we’ve played in, they’ve been some hard contests. The North Melbourne game was pretty hot.
“And against Hawthorn, around the contest is always flat out. We’ll be able to adapt to whatever comes.
“We understand at the start of the grand final, it’s going to be a little bit hot.”
West Coast beat Hawthorn by 32 points in a qualifying final two weeks ago, but the Hawks will enter the grand final as favourites as they attempt to snare their third straight premiership.
Hurn and his teammates don’t read anything into the favourites-underdog debate.
“Once you get to this time of the year, you can make a case for anyone,” Hurn said.
“Of course Hawthorn have had four grand finals in a row. This is our first time at it. But our form has been really good.”
The Eagles are likely to enter the match with an unchanged side from the team that beat North Melbourne by 25 points on Saturday night.
Hurn says he feels for vicecaptain Scott Selwood, who is likely to be named as an emergency after struggling to overcome his longstanding ankle issue all year.
Meanwhile, Fremantle forward Hayden Ballantyne can accept a $1000 fine for tripping Hawthorn’s Taylor Duryea in Friday night’s loss.