‘You blokes killed me with that!’: Hardwick flips bird, thrown under the bus

The AFL 360 panel was left in stitches after coaches’ box vision of Damien Hardwick flipping the bird threw him under the bus

The AFL 360 panel was left in stitches after Fox Footy revealed coaches’ box vision of Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick flipping the bird last Sunday.

Late in his side’s seven-point loss to GWS at ENGIE Stadium, Hardwick was left perplexed by a late non-call that prevented his brigade a final charge to save the game.

The Suns mentor on Monday night was probed for his thoughts on a range of curious incidents from the tight Expansion Cup battle.

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With Hardwick and Richmond coach Adem Yze at the desk, AFL 360 host Gerard Whateley began: “It was a curious day for umpiring, Damien. There were three different incidents—”

But before he could finish his sentence, Hardwick jovially interrupted: “Was it, Gerard?! Was it?!”

Once the panel got their laughs out, Whateley asked Hardwick for his thoughts on the non-call on GWS’ Jake Stringer for insufficient intent in the dying stages of the game — with Stringer appearing to bomb the ball long to the boundary line as the Giants sought to protect their late lead.

However, curiously, a boundary throw-in was the call.

Watch Dimma flip the bird in the video above

Damien Hardwick reflects on his middle finger salute to the umpiring last Sunday.

Hardwick said: “I love Nathan Williamson, the umpire that made the decision, but I thought ‘oh, good, we’re going to have one last crack at it’, and then when he called the boundary throw-in, I was like ‘what?! What?!’”

Then, vision of the coaches’ box reaction was shown, and Hardwick quickly realised what was coming as the panel descended into more laughter.

“Anyway, oh, look ... I hope you (aren’t)— oh, no. Oh, you have too! You blokes, you’ve killed me with that,” an embarrassed Hardwick laughed as vision showed him giving the middle finger in reaction to the non-call.

“Oh, it was one of those ones — and look, it should have been insufficient intent, we know that, I think. But at the end of the day, the game was dead and buried, so we move on pretty quickly.

“Although, the (middle) finger salute might get me in a bit of trouble, you blokes.”

Dear Andrew,
I’m Sorry
Kind Regards https://t.co/mthgE3jJrf

— Damien Hardwick (@hardwick_damien) June 23, 2025

Earlier in the game, Sam Flanders had taken a mark inside 50, only for the adjudicating umpire to change his call from a mark to a ball-up after an assisting umpire informed him the ball had been touched.

An umpire could be heard on the mic saying: “Rob, Rob, it was touched. Ball it up, mate.”

The adjudicating umpire blew his whistle for play to stop, but Flanders had already kicked the ball.

Hardwick said: “Well, yeah, I suppose it is (the right call), but once again, we have out-of-zone umpires making the calls, and they can change it.

“I’m fine with that, it was just one of those where we didn’t really know what was going on up in the coaches’ box, and then they called the ball-up.

“Looking at the replay, it’s obviously touched. I’m happy with it, as long as it doesn’t happen all the time.

“But the challenge is going to be, at some stage, there’ll be one where it is in the 20 per cent, and we’ll make a big deal of it. But that one, for me, was fine.”

Also on Sunday, Mac Andrew was pinged for a 50-metre penalty while standing the mark as GWS’ Jesse Hogan lined up for goal.

Someone could be heard on the umpires’ mic calling ‘play on’, prompting Andrew to step off his mark — but it turned out it wasn’t an umpire who said it, but instead teammate Ben Ainsworth. The penalty took Hogan to the goalsquare for an easy goal.

Hardwick said: “Look, you’ve just got to play to the game, from my point of view. So, it’s not a big deal. I don’t know if it was Ainsworth or Connor Budarick, but we have a meat tray for every 50 that is given against — I’m pretty sure Mac will be splitting that one with someone else.”

Originally published as ‘You blokes killed me with that!’: Hardwick flips bird, thrown under the bus