The AFL Umpires Association (AFLUA) has labelled the current Match Review Officer (MRO) guidelines as "deficient" as Collingwood's Brayden Maynard and Gold Coast's Touk Miller avoided match suspensions for making contact with a field umpire.
Maynard, in a bid to remonstrate a bump, stormed towards Suns forward Ben Long after the half-time siren, and bumped into umpire Nick Brown.
Miller, attempting to pull the Pies leader away from his teammate, also connected with Brown, who was stuck in the crosshairs.
The pair were fined $5000 by the MRO, although calls have suggested Maynard should be sidelined for multiple weeks.
“We have expressed our view that the current MRO guidelines are deficient because they provide no ability to suspend a player unless contact with the umpire is intentional,” the post continued.
“The increases of umpire contact over recent years has proven that fines are not an effective deterrent. Where contact with an umpire is forceful or avoidable there needs to be an ability to suspend players.
“This is important not only to protect AFL umpires but also to make it clear at community level that contact with an umpire is not acceptable.”
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Maynard appeared on the Ausmerican Aces podcast, labelling his actions as "careless", and that he “had to get (the umpire) out of the way” otherwise he “would have bulldozed him over”.
“When I was running over there I came from about 50m deep so I probably should have been aware of what was around me but I had my eyes on one man and one man only and unfortunately the umpire was in the way,” he said.
“Look it was careless, I didn't mean to touch him (umpire) and he was there in the middle and I had to get him out of the way. There was no malice in it whatsoever. If I didn't move him out of the way I probably would have bulldozed him over, let's be honest.”
Former AFL umpire Shane McInerney believes the biggest issue facing officiating isn't the umpires themselves, but the growing confusion surrounding the game's rules and how they're interpreted.
McInerney, who officiated AFL matches from 1994 to 2019, admitted it's a difficult period for the umpiring fraternity, but believes the media and commentary contributes to the confusion, arguing some broadcasters misunderstand decisions.
“The game has always been challenging to umpire. The umpiring group are challenged with the task to implement these laws and to provide week to week consistency. That is what their main focus will be,” he said.
“The rules are brought in with genuine intent to make the job easier and to remove the theatre like with insufficient intent, but it has brought another grey area.
“These grey areas frustrate the fans and the lovers of the game and I guess that manifests itself to those that are in charge of implementing these laws.”
McInerney explained that reducing the amount of field umpires from four to three will negatively impact the cohort, applying more physical pressure on the decision makers.
