‘Should not umpire in these finals again’: AFL great slams Rayner free kick

1 week ago 4

Premiership captain Tony Shaw has called for the umpire at the centre of Friday night’s Cam Rayner free-kick debacle to be sidelined for the remainder of the final series.

Another AFL great, Matthew Lloyd, believes Rayner could be fined for staging after the controversial moment at the MCG in which the Brisbane forward kicked two goals from two free kicks just before half-time.

Umpire Brent Wallace awarded Rayner the first penalty in the Brisbane goal square after he was nudged in the back by opponent Mark O’Connor and hit the deck, a moment that sent the Geelong crowd apoplectic.

It happened while Cats forward Tyson Stengle was lining up for a shot at goal at the opposite end of the ground.

“The field umpire who gave the first free kick against O’Connor should not umpire in this series again,” Collingwood great Shaw said.

After Rayner slotted home the kick, Wallace then awarded Rayner a second free kick and certain goal when the Lions forward was shoved to the ground by Geelong’s Zach Guthrie.

Cam Rayner is paid a second free kick in the goal square.

“The Guthrie free kick was technically probably there but also soft,” Shaw posted on X. “More dives in this game than Greg Louganis.”

Lloyd said the first free kick paid against O’Connor “was not there at all”.

“He could be potentially fined for staging,” Lloyd said during the 3AW commentary. “O’Connor just gave him a little push in the back, he goes down, and sucked the umpire in.”

Match review officer Michael Christian will sit down today to review the Friday-night match.

Geelong Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel said the field umpire should have put the whistle away after the initial O’Connor shove on Rayner.

“Two goals from decisions where the umpire should have just gone, ‘get up’. Let them know, ‘I’m watching, but get up, cut the rot’,” Bartel said.

“I get the second one being paid to Rayner for Guthrie coming in and being silly. That was just dumb.

“(But) Rayner was always going to suck Guthrie in with that one. As soon as he felt contact, he was going to go down again. But it was a poor moment from the umpires.

Minutes before the double free kick, Wallace had words with O’Connor about his close-checking on Rayner, which had continually frustrated the star Lion.

Lachie Neale slumps to the ground after suffering a calf injury.

Earlier in the second term, Brisbane forward Kai Lohmann was paid a free kick and goaled in similar fashion. He was shoved from the front by defender Tom Stewart and fell backwards.

Bitter blow for Neale

Brisbane will be expecting the worse and hoping for the best when Lachie Neale undergoes scans on a troublesome calf that looks like wiping him out for the rest of the finals series.

The dual Brownlow medallist hobbled of the ground late in the game against Geelong at the MCG on Friday night and looked despondent as he iced the injury on the bench.

“Looks like he’s done (his) calf. So, that’s not a good thing,” coach Chris Fagan said after the game.

“He’s a pretty tough sort of guy, he can usually play through those, but he couldn’t (tonight), so I’m not expecting great news there.

“I don’t know the severity because you need to get a scan to find that out … I’d suspect it’s something significant.”

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