‘That’s a week’: AFL umpire strikes young Demon in Suns beat down
A young Demon copped a stray elbow from an umpire on a bloody and bruising day for Melbourne against the Gold Coast Suns.
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Melbourne has been left bloodied and battered during its 19-point loss to the Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon.
The Demons kicked five goals in the final quarter to put some gloss on the scoreboard, but they trailed 5.7 to one point at quarter-time en route to a 15.14 (104) to 12.13 (85) defeat that turns the heat up on coach Simon Goodwin.
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Their disappointing afternoon might have been personified by an incident between young midfielder Harvey Langford and umpire Martin Rodger late in that awful opening term.
Rodger bounced the ball after the Suns’ fourth unanswered goal and then backed away from the centre circle with his arms raised, inadvertently clipping Langford on his path backwards.
Watch the umpire clip in the video player above
The 19-year-old was briefly rocked before opting to continue playing, heading back into defence and trying to get involved in the play before he was spotted by the umpire and sent off with the blood rule.
The moment with Langford was initially missed by the commentators before he was seen on the bench receiving treatment and a replay was then shown.
“Umpire elbow, Langford,” Jonathan Brown said when he saw the replay.
Ben Dixon added: “Yeah umpire elbow boys.”
Alastair Lynch then joked: “That’s a week!”
Dixon replied: “Yeah that’s a week to the ump.”
Dwayne Russell then added some insult to the injury by wondering if Langford might cop a fine.
“Would he get fined for umpire contact?” he asked.
“Because he was behind the umpire and they’ve been paying free kicks and fining players for it, so he might get stitches and a fine.”
There was more trouble to come for the Demons, and not just on the scoreboard, when Clayton Oliver attempted to dive on a loose footy and clashed heads with Suns star Touk Miller.
The three-time All Australian came off second best, with blood pouring from a wound on his head as he came from the ground.
That sparked a bloodied rest of the game for Oliver, with the team’s medical staff trying valiantly but mostly unsuccessfully to patch him up.
“Have a look at Clayton Oliver,” Dixon said late in the game as blood poured down his heavily bandaged face.
“They’re trying to get him off. He looks like Hannibal Lecter, fair dinkum.
“It’s just leaking from everywhere, they’re just trying to get him off to get some more tape on it.”
Fans on X were also noticing the carnage.
Lucy Cuzzupe tweeted: “How is it concussion’s a thing in football today but Oliver can run on the ground with all that bandage covering his face and head? Such a bad look. If he’s that bad sub him off.”
@GreyCommentator said: “Someone get the record books out. What’s the record for the most number of concussions/blood rules for one team in a match?
“Melbourne so far 2 concussions, Oliver with blood streaming, Langford with blood after an umpire elbowed him.”
It all summed up a pretty miserable day for the Dees, who will likely be spared more intense scrutiny after kicking 12 goals to the Gold Coast’s 10 after quarter-time.
While Michael Voss is copping the most heat over the performances of his Carlton side, Melbourne fans were voicing their concerns about 2021 flag winner Goodwin.
“We need to have a talk about Simon Goodwin being coach at the end of the season. This is just bad,” one fan wrote on X.
“Goodwin will always have the flag and I don’t have any animosity for him, but the list deserves a different look at the caper, so Simon should read the tea leaves and step aside,” wrote another.
“Simon Goodwin is a kindergarten level football coach. Bloke has been fidgeting for 4 years. Biggest waste of a post premiership era of all time. My nan could have won 2 premierships with that list,” said a third.
The Demons, who are sitting 14th with five wins for the season, head to Adelaide next up to take on the high-flying Crows.
Originally published as ‘That’s a week’: AFL umpire strikes young Demon in Suns beat down
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