AFL Essendon v GWS: Callan Ward receives death threats after free kick controversy in GWS’ win over Essendon
Essendon has condemned the vitriolic abuse directed at Callan Ward on social media and will investigate if a club supporter was behind the death threats made to the Giants midfielder after he accused of staging for a free kick.
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Essendon will investigate whether one of its fans allegedly made death threats on social media against Greater Western Sydney midfielder Callan Ward after he kicked the winning goal on Friday night.
The Bombers condemned the abuse directed at Ward on his Instagram account following his late free kick and goal that gave the Giants the edge in a tight finish.
Ward revealed on Saturday he had been subjected to a barrage of online negative comments – including death threats – in an emotional radio interview, saying he was sickened by the vitriol directed at him.
Just days after Sydney’s Tom Papley copped a $500 fine for staging, the AFL deemed it had no issue with Ward’s response to the high contact he copped from Bomber Shaun McKernan, resulting in the crucial free kick.
Essendon said on Saturday night it would not stand for “toxic online behaviour” and would “take appropriate action” if the supporter was found to be a member of the club.
“The reason I brought (it) up is that I know it (social media abuse) is a reality,” Ward told 3AW.
“I won’t listen to it, but I know there are people that probably would and I think it just has to stop because if you have been getting death threats like I have been getting, some players couldn’t handle that.
“I guess with what has happened (on Friday night), the most disappointing thing is I have a lot of Essendon supporters and a lot of AFL supporters commenting on photos of Romeo, my baby, and saying that I am a flog and all this stuff.
“I guess I am copping a fair bit and that’s disappointing.
“I am in a situation where I am an AFL footballer, but at the same time I am away from my family (wife Ruby and six-month-old son Romeo, who are back in Sydney) and it is tough. It is disappointing to see where people feel the need to express their passion and hatred towards me at the moment.”
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Ward received a free kick late in the game when the umpire ruled high contact from Essendon’s Shaun McKernan with some claiming he had exaggerated the contact.
Ward insisted that he “didn’t play for it, but I knew the contact was coming.”
With less than two minutes left, and with his team trailing by four points, Ward was given a free kick after the umpire ruled McKernan had caught him high while attempting to collect a ground ball.
The star Giant appeared to throw his head back as McKernan brushed past him, with viewers on social media debating the severity of the contact – or if there was any at all.
Ward then went back and slotted the goal to put the Giants in front, and from there they held on for victory.
“I thought I played it pretty well,” Ward said on Fox Footy post-match.
“I didn’t play for it, but I knew the contact was coming.”
Coniglio said Ward had shown him the comments immediately after the club’s four-point win.
Some of the messages cruelly taunted Ward about the knee reconstruction that cost him a spot in the Giants’ Grand Final side last year.
“He was actually showing me some of the comments on social media … it was appalling to see,” Coniglio said on ABC Grandstand.
“The thing that annoys you the most is that some of the comments are around his injury last year, to (have someone say) ‘I hope someone does a knee’ is over the line. You never want to wish bad luck on anyone.”
Shaw said on Triple M: “It’s not his fault he got the free kick, he obviously went for the ball and whatever happened, happened.”
“I think the free kick was there because he obviously got hit in the head, and that decision’s made probably 30 or 40 times throughout a game, but … to have a go at his family I think, and his new son and all that, it’s just ridiculous.
“I understand that’s what comes with social media at times, and some guys totally get off social media for that reason, but it’s just not a good look and it’s not good for the game.”
AFL great Wayne Carey said one of the game’s toughest competitors Ward had pulled the wool over the umpire’s eyes.
The incident comes a week after the AFL was forced to apologise to Essendon for an embarrassing umpire error against Andrew McGrath which cost the Bombers against Brisbane.
Carey said on Channel 7 that it was clear Ward had staged for the free-kick.
“His courage will never be doubted this guy, but he did play for that though,” Carey said.
“(Was there contact?) Not as much as he showed the umpire.”
Papley was slugged $500 on Friday afternoon by the AFL for staging against Collingwood. But Carey was laying blame for the Ward incident on the umpires.
“He was trying to get a free kick and the umpire fell for it,” Carey said.
Giants coach Leon Cameron said he hadn’t seen the incident well enough to comment, but praised Ward’s lion-hearted display in his latest return from a knee injury.
“Until I see the replay it’s hard for me to remember the incident,” he said.
“I thought Wardy really found his mojo again in the back half of the game.
“He’s had some struggles with his body. Things weren’t working just with confidence. His second half was really spot on.
“For him to kick that goal at such a crucial time … to give us that buffer clearly makes a difference.”
Commentator and former Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling sided with Carey that the umpire made the wrong decision.
“He threw it out there and the ump got conned by it. It was a crucial decision and it wasn’t there,” he said.
If Cal Ward, the toughest player in the AFL, milks a free kick when Shaun McKernan does nothing wrong in a tackle, what hope have the umpires got? It was staging
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) August 7, 2020
Earlier, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti could have practically sewn up what would have been a vital Essendon win.
As the Giants clawed back a 29-point deficit inch by inch, McDonald-Tipungwuti marked the ball all by himself in the Bombers’ forward 50 and instead of going back and slotting what would have been a momentum-halting goal, he instead kicked it to Shaun McKernan who missed.
With that nail in the coffin avoided, the Giants came back from the dead and claimed a stirring four-point comeback victory that no-one could have predicted after a yawn-fest of a first quarter.
WOOSHA RUES MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Essendon coach John Worsfold said his side was left to pay for not hitting the scoreboard enough in the second half.
A second-quarter blitz by the Bombers, in which they kicked six straight, looked to have set up a vital Essendon win, before the Giants surged home in the second half.
“Some of the key areas that helped us get that (29-point) lead were awesome work around the contest … but they are a very good team and they had their patch when they got on top of us and challenged us,” Worsfold said.
“We just needed to hit that scoreboard more in that second half, we didn’t do that.”
Worsfold would not be pressed on whether Ward staged for his match-defining free kick, even though the Giant told fellow teammate Heath Shaw post-game that he was expecting the contact.
“What was the free kick for? I’m not really sure,” he said.
“No comment on the free-kick … I can’t really comment on something that I have no real knowledge about.”
WORST QUARTER OF 2020?
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said earlier this week all the things he hated about soccer – diving and cheap shots – were creeping into footy, and Bombers and GWS players did their best to replicate a world game scoreline in the first quarter.
But while a 2-2 scoreline after 20 minutes in a soccer game would be a thrilling contest, the first quarter at Metricon wast the complete opposite.
Both sides looked like taking no risks at all, the Bombers were extremely slow when it came to moving the ball.
The four behinds was the lowest opening quarter for a VFL/AFL game since Geelong faced Footscray in Round 1, 1965.
Luckily for the viewers and small crowd at Metricon, both teams took the handbrake off in the second term.
ATTITUDE QUESTIONED
The second quarter started with a bang when Giants skipper Stephen Coniglio goaled almost immediately.
But any thoughts the Giants would stroll through the rest of the match were quickly dispelled as the Bombers reeled off six in a row to blow GWS away before halftime.
Returning from a suspension, Kyle Langford kicked two, former GWS player Dylan Shiel booted one from 55m while up forward where he wants to play Connor McKenna impressively finished with his left as the Bombers got their handball to kick ratio to 1:1 and tore the Giants apart.
Wayne Carey said it was an attitude problem for the star-studded Gaints.
“They are just expecting to win,” he said on Channel 7.
THE COMEBACK
When Sam Draper kicked his first AFL goal early on in the third it looked like the game was done.
But GWS’ star power came to the fore as they battered the Bombers from then on.
Back on the field after a knee injury, Phil Davis said at three-quarter-time the Giants needed four goals in the final quarter to snatch the game.
A quick Jeremy Cameron goal to start the fourth gave them the start they needed, and when Callan Ward kicked their fourth straight with just minutes to go the Giants had snatched it.
TOWNSEND BLOODIED BY BIG BUMP
Essendon recruit Jacob Townsend left Metricon Stadium in a “world of pain” after running into a crushing shoulder from Giant Heath Shaw that could be felt through television screens.
Townsend was ironed out by the Shaw brick wall early in the first quarter and struggled to walk without the assistance of the Bombers trainer, as he headed for a concussion test with a bloodied nose.
Just before quarter-time, Channel 7 reported that Townsend had failed his concussion test as he emerged from the dressing rooms in a tracksuit.
The former Richmond star was defending his own goal square when he was blindsided by Shaw who was hunting the football just minutes into the contest.
AFL legend Wayne Carey defended Shaw’s actions as part of the game.
The hit was so bruising the thud echoed through the effects microphone and for a few seconds Townsend was unmoved from the canvas.
“He’s entitled to attack the footy like that Heath Shaw. He was protecting himself,” said Carey on Channel 7.
“Tough man too (Townsend).
“He’s still wobbly. You can see he’s not walking well at all. (Then he says to trainer), ‘take your hands off me I want to jog off myself.’”
Seven commentator Abbey Holmes said Townsend was in a “world of pain.”
SCOREBOARD
ESSENDON: 0.2, 6.3, 7.5, 8.7 (55)
GWS: 0.2, 2.5, 4.7. 8.11 (59)
GOALS
Bombers: Langford 2. Draper, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Shiel, Zaharakis, Saad, McKenna
Giants: Cameron, Shaw 2, Coniglio, Ward, Himmelberg, Finlayson
SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON’S BEST
Bombers: Merrett, Ridley, Hurley, Smith, Zerk-Thatcher
Giants: Whitfield, Coniglio, Haynes, Shaw, Himmelberg
SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON’S VOTES
3 – Zach Merrett (Essendon)
2 – Lachie Whitfield (GWS)
1 – Jordan Ridley (Essendon)
INJURIES
Bombers: Jacob Townsend (concussion)
Giants: Phil Davis (knee)
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Originally published as AFL Essendon v GWS: Callan Ward receives death threats after free kick controversy in GWS’ win over Essendon