‘Absolutely diabolical’: Game-deciding 50m penalty blasted, leaves Bombers ‘bewildered’

AFL fans were left enraged by a seriously harsh umpiring call that appeared to decide Essendon’s thrilling loss to the Gold Coast.

A storm has erupted surrounding a pivotal time wasting free kick in the dying stages of Essendon’s 11-point loss to the Gold Suns on Sunday night.

The Suns ultimately prevailed 14.7 (91) to 11.14 (80), but a contentious free kick with two minutes remaining may have decided the game.

Essendon’s Matt Guelfi kicked a goal to cut Gold Coast’s lead to less than a goal, before the Suns were gifted a goal that sealed the win.

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Jayden Laverde was caught out by one of footy’s most touch-and-go rules when the Essendon defender incorrectly returned the ball to Brayden Fiorini instead of Touk Miller.

Only moments earlier Laverde intercepted a Miller pass inside 50 and Essendon looked to rebound through Jye Caldwell before he was taken in a double Suns tackle.

Miller was awarded the holding the ball free kick but Laverde, unaware whose kick it was, instead passed the ball to the closest Suns player, Fiorini.

Miller was subsequently marched to near the top of the goalsquare and kicked the match winner with just under two minutes to play.

Watch the controversial 50m penalty in the video above

Jayden Laverde (left) was penalised for throwing the ball to the wrong Suns player. Photo: Fox Footy.

Dwayne Russell said on Fox Footy: “He did not give it to the right guy. He didn’t know who the right guy was.”

Brad Johnson said: “That’s exactly right. He didn’t know who it was so he threw it to Fiorini who was standing there.”

Russell added: “I hate to say it but the little things become big things in the grey areas of our game. Sometimes they’re inconsequential until they end up in a goal.”

A week after Collingwood’s Lachie Sullivan was pinged with a contentious time wasting free kick, footy fans couldn’t believe the umpire deemed Laverde’s seemingly innocent mistake as worthy of a game-deciding 50m penalty.

Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas wrote on X: “Disgraceful decision to Essendon.

“The game is in utter disarray.”

Sports journalist Christian Montegan wrote: “Once again common sense fails to prevail when it comes to umpiring in the AFL. Laverde clearly didn’t know who was supposed to have the ball. Why would Essendon time waste being a goal down? Pathetic.”

One fan said: “I love Essendon slander as much as the next guy. But that 50m penalty against Laverde is absolutely diabolical, just sucked all the life out of the game.”

A second commented: “If the @AFL are serious about the game there is no way that Laverde should be pinged for 50 for handing it immediately to a Suns player and it being the wrong one.

Jayden Laverde can consider himself very unlucky. (Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“And the way Fiorini’s “dobbed him in”. Not sure this is a good look for the sport.”

A third added: “Its wrong. Miller walking away from with his back to Laverde.? Laverde turns around and sees two other suns players and knows the player tackling him is not getting the free.

“That leaves the player closest to the man on the mark. @AFL what happened to common sense rule again?”

Another said: “We definitely need a lot more common sense from the umpires around a lot of the technical rules in our game. That Laverde 50 at the end is an awful way to decide a match.”

Jye Caldwell of the Bombers is tackled by Touk Miller of the Suns. (Photo by Albert Perez/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“I think Jayden just threw it to the player he thought whose free kick it was,” Essendon coach Brad Scott said.

“But again, umpiring is really hard because people say use common sense, but they also want the umpires to umpire to the letter of the law, so I don’t get too concerned about that (decision).”

Scott said he would seek clarification from the umpiring department over the Laverde 50m penalty and an insufficient intent free kick paid against Nick Hind.

Scott said his players were left “bewildered” by the call, which came after Hind kicked the ball up field while running towards the boundary line under pressure from a Suns opponent.

“I think if you kick the ball off the ground the umpires tend to pay deliberate out of bounds, so we just need to clarify that so I can let our players know because they looked a bit bewildered (by) a couple of those deliberates (decisions),” Scott said.

The Suns are building a fortress on the Gold Coast. (Photo by Albert Perez/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

But he refused to use the umpiring as an excuse for the Bombers’ first defeat since round five.

“I didn’t think the umpiring had any bearing on the game tonight,” Scott said.

“Whichever team prevailed deserved to win.

“I thought this round they (the umpires) had a really big challenge in that there were some changes (to interpretations) and I think they umpires are in an incredibly difficult position. They’re doing a good job.”

The result means Gold Coast remain unbeaten in home games this year and they finished Round 12 inside the top eight.

It was Essendon’s first loss since they were hammered by Port Adelaide in Round 4, but the Bombers are still second on the ladder.

— With Callum Dick, Hannah Davies

Originally published as ‘Absolutely diabolical’: Game-deciding 50m penalty blasted, leaves Bombers ‘bewildered’