Tigers coach fumes at final siren ‘disgrace’

The Swans claimed a thrilling six-point victory at the SCG on Friday evening in what’s been touted as the game of the year, but a late umpiring controversy sparked plenty of debate within the footy community.When the full-time siren sounded, Sydney’s Chad Warner booted the ball into the crowd in elation to end the Round 11 contest – or so he thought.Watch every blockbuster AFL match this weekend Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >In the fraction of a second before the siren, the umpires blew a free for holding and were contemplating paying Richmond a 50m penalty for time-wasting on Warner’s behalf.The 50 would’ve given the Tigers an opportunity to equalise and secure a draw.“He’s kicked the ball overt the fence it should be 50!” Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor cried.“There’s no excuses that he doesn’t know.”The officials ultimately decided not to award the fifty because Warner “couldn’t hear the whistle”.“He couldn’t have hear the free kick. It’s just common sense,” umpire John Howorth told the baffled Tigers players.Warner explained to Channel 7 after the match he “obviously didn‘t know it was a free kick”. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have done that,” he added.Speaking to reporters in the post-match press conference, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick admitted he was unsure what the correct ruling would have been.“It’s not my job, there are people on the ground who make those decisions,” he said.“It’s irrelevant. You can look at that last incident but the fact of the matter is that we were up by 33 points. It’s easy to look at the last play but we should have iced the game (by then).“Seventy-five per cent of the time I thought we were pretty good, 25 per cent lapse – especially in the third quarter – there were some things we thought we could have done a bit better.“Everyone will always look at the last play and the what-ifs, but the fact of the matter is, if you‘re 33 points up, you shouldn’t lose.“It would be remiss of me to say we‘ll give up five free-kick goals again, two from 50m penalties and a few downfield. We just kill ourselves at various stages and we expect better. It’s disappointing to lose a game like this through ill-discipline.”However, Hardwick later posted to Twitter: “Common sense. Sorry what?”The late 50m penalty incident, unsurprisingly divided opinion online.Lance Franklin inspired the come-from-behind win with five goals to help the Swans keep in touch with the AFL’s heavyweights.But the veteran forward could find himself in hot water with the match review officer after lashing out at former Richmond captain Trent Cotchin in the second quarter, striking him with an open hand to the head.The Swans will face the ladder-leading Melbourne Demons next weekend and can ill-afford to have their marquee forward watching from the sidelines.“He did some pretty special things. At big moments, he was able to put his hand up and do some things that only very few players can do,” Sydney coach John Longmire told reporters after the victory.“He was 1v2 and a couple of times he was able to break even those contests and he was able to hit the scoreboard with accurate kicking, he played well.“Just disappointed it was a free kick away, it was the second one we‘d done. We’d had a couple of chances to go forward and have a shot at goal, twice, and that was our second one, so that was what I was disappointed about.”The Swans are yet to defeat a current top eight side this season and could be in for a lean month ahead with clashes against Port Adelaide, Carlton and Geelong on the horizon.– with Jasper Bruce, NCA NewsWire Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au