Hardwick escapes fine for umpire criticism, Gold Coast still face sanction

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has escaped a fine but has been put on notice by the AFL that he faces a heavy financial penalty if he repeats his stinging criticism of the umpiring in Friday night’s loss to Geelong.

AFL executive head of football Greg Swann called Hardwick directly on Monday to discuss the comments and express the league’s disappointment, but left the conversation with a warning and no fine.

Hardwick complained about home-ground umpiring and decisions that went against his side as well as recommending a change to the lasso rule.

“I didn’t have a problem with his issue around the lasso, but probably the next bit was a bit overstepping the mark. We’ll have a chat, and hopefully we can move forward from there,” Swann told The Age’s Real Footy podcast on Monday.

“I know from my experience in club land, we hated getting please-explain letters. I just think it is easier to pick the phone up and have a chat.”

Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night, Hardwick said Swann was “doing his job”.

“Obviously, the umpires were disappointed, and I’ve got to be better with that – I understand that,” he said.

“But he also understood I’m there to protect my players and try and get the game played or looking at in a certain way, but I understood the conversation we had and, to his credit, he was very understanding of my point, but he made it very, very clear, Swanny, that I overstepped the mark.

“I commend him on his way that he does go about it – having the conversation, no need for emails, no need for letters, just a man-on-man conversation, so I really appreciate it.

“The point was very well-made by the great man.”

When asked if he was now on a short leash with the AFL, Hardwick said with a laugh, “I’ve been on a short leash for five years, I reckon”.

“It is something I’ve got to get better at, but I do wear my heart on my sleave,” Hardwick added.

“I’m a horrible loser, I’m not going to lie. My mother has said that, [and] I spoke to her again tonight.”

Hardwick had suggested post-match that the decision-making was influenced by the raucous Geelong crowd at GMHBA Stadium.

“It was like the Roman Colosseum. I reckon they [the umpires] were waiting for the crowd to do this one [thumbs down] then, all of a sudden, free kick,” Hardwick said. “At the end of the day it is what it is, home-ground advantage, we understand that, we know you’re up against it from the start, but a couple of them, I thought, weren’t there.”

Swann said umpires were trained to put crowd noise to one side and agreed that negative commentary about umpiring could deter young officials from being involved in the game.

“I think it does, but it’s hard to do a direct correlation. My personal view is there is a lot of media now around the game, and I just think it’s lazy journalism to focus in on umpires,” he said.

“There’s games where it’s close and there’s mistakes by players and potentially umpires, but in the main it’s players who are out there for most of the time who make a blue.”

The Suns still face the prospect of a significant fine after defender Daniel Rioli was cited for making careless contact with an umpire. Rioli was slugged $1500 for the offence, his first of that nature.

But he has chosen to contest the charge, and if his challenge is unsuccessful he will become the fifth Suns players this season to be found guilty of making contact with an umpire, triggering an AFL fine of up to $50,000 for the club.

“Gold Coast will get fined [if Rioli’s charge is sustained], we’ve just got to work out how much that is and what it looks like,” Swann said.

“We probably will have to wait until tomorrow [Tuesday] because Gold Coast have put in a submission this morning around the Rioli contact, so they’re going to contest that. Obviously, we’ll see where that lands because if they win then it goes back to four [offences] and if they lose then they’re at five.”

Gold Coast, GWS and Collingwood were all told last week they had four player fines for umpire contact this season, meaning a club fine was pending if they had any further indiscretions of the same nature.

“They [the clubs on four payers contact fines for the season] all got a notice last week to say you’re on the cusp,” Swann said.

“We can fine up to $50,000, but it would be unlikely it would be that much, but we’ll certainly fine them and put them on notice that there’ll be further fines if they turn into six[th] and seven[th] and eight[th offences].

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