Both Carlton and Collingwood have reacted angrily to a tweak to AFLW rules that was communicated to the Blues only half an hour before the Saturday night game, while the Pies claim they were not informed at all.
In AFLW season three, players awarded a 50m free-kick can play on immediately without having to wait for an umpire to measure the penalty.
The offending player must then stay goal side, but the AFL had not determined an official buffer zone between them and the player with the ball. That zone is now believed to have been formalised at two metres.
“There’s a new interpretation [this week] it seems, and that hadn’t been communicated [to us], which I was quite annoyed about to be honest,” said Carlton coach Daniel Harford after the Blues narrowly defeated Collingwood by five points.
“The umpires came into the rooms to have a chat to us about the game, and remarked upon the new interpretation, and I said ‘what are you talking about’?
“That’s something we’ll bring up with the umpiring department. We’d like to know a touch earlier than half an hour before the game.”
Collingwood coach Wayne Siekman, by contrast, was visibly shocked when asked by press how much notice his club was given of the rule change.
“No-one said anything to us…. if they did put that in place, that’s pretty poor to not let the competing side know.”
It wasn’t the only controversy for the night, with Ikon Park’s troublesome lighting again a talking point. The light tower closest to the main entrance stopped working during half-time, was rebooted and failed again during the third and last quarters.
It meant the corresponding forward pocket was steeped in darkness at times and was reminiscent of the season two clash that prompted Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich’s criticism of the ground’s lighting as “terrible” and potentially unsafe.
“I did [notice it],” said Harford post-game. “I thought, bloody hell it’s happening again.”
Siekman, meanwhile, said he had been concerned the game would be delayed.
“I actually sent a message down to the bench to see what was going on. I just wanted to know if we could continue to go on, or if we were going to pause it. It was pretty dark.”
Despite having been criticised all week on the back of a four-game losing streak, Collingwood took an unlikely 10-point lead into the final break. But they were held scoreless in the last term, and remain winless after five rounds.
“All I’m worried about is what’s happening inside our club,” said Siekman of external critique.
“It doesn’t look that great when you see 0-5, but when you see the progression [in the young list], that’s all I can ask for from this group.”
