The AFL's controversial dissent crackdown has ignited debate once again after two incidents on Friday night left both fans and players bewildered.
The first of the two occured in the third quarter, when Western Bulldogs forward Buku Khamis was hit with a 50 metre penalty for raising his arms after a free kick.
Not long after, Jordan De Goey found himself in a similar situation, though Fox Footy's Jason Dunstall came to the Pie's defence.
“I thought De Goey in particular was a little bit stiff because he was about to go off and then literally harnessed himself back in and then actually stopped but you could see initially he was about to throw the arms up,” Dunstall said.
“If you are going to make that much of an effort to pull yourself back, I think you're entitled to get a little bit of latitude.
“This is where it is really, really difficult.
“They're giving instructions to the umpires so let's not be hard on them either. If you see the arms go up, that is some form of dissent but it's hard to expect players to completely turn off the emotion as soon as the whistle goes.”
The umpire fluctuations on the dissent interpretation is so frustrating for all AFL fans. The AFL have created more grey area, congrats, not easy to do. What a f*#£%~* mess!! #paintthetowngrey
— David King (@davidking34) May 13, 2022
While admitting the Jordan De Goey decision may have been on the harsher side, the former four-time Hawthorn premiership player did reveal that he believed players attitudes towards umpires have improved during the crackdown.
“You can't say they don't know. They've been told. The problem is if the umpires want to waver on their interpretation at any stage, then the players get a bit confused. You've got to chop it off at the knees and say nothing is acceptable,” he said.
“I think maybe we need a reassertion of what is going to be considered dissent. Come out with a couple of examples, this is why they were paid so don't do it. Then the players get their heads around it again. I think it will be [cleaned up by the finals].
“We've come a long way from where we were at the start to where we are now so it doesn't have to go that much further to get it absolutely right.”
Gotta be careful with this dissent stuff. It’s great to help umpires, but punishing players for marginal stuff like we’ve seen tonight isn’t fair on them. And it will sour the game for plenty of fans. Need to get our heads around this properly.
— Andy Maher (@AndyMaherDFA) May 13, 2022
While many fans were quick to question the decisions on social media, Channel 7's Matthew Richardson labelled the tough penalty as "ridiculous" during the Friday night coverage.
“Come off it. That's not 50 metres,” Richardson said.
“You have to pay them all then. It's just ridiculous.
“I feel for them at times. This is an emotional game.
“They are not robots.”
