AFL Round 10 Adelaide v Melbourne: Crows down Demons after controversial umpire call
Despite its continued support of umpires at all levels, the AFL has conceded a penalty free kick should have been awarded in the dying moments of Adelaide’s epic victory against Melbourne.
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The AFL has confirmed Nick Murray should have been penalised for his decision to handball to the boundary in the dying seconds of Adelaide’s win over Melbourne.
The league confirmed on Monday night the officiating umpires should have penalised Murray for insufficient intent and handed Luke Jackson a final shot at goal to win the game.
Melbourne’s Charlie Spargo was pressuring Murray and teammate Tom Doedee was to his right, but Murray handballed directly to the boundary line.
Spargo may have got a tiny deflection on the ball but it was not categoric even in slow-motion replays.
The league did not take that fact into account, clearly believing by the way the rule has been officiated this year Muray should have been penalised.
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The AFL continues to drive a hard line on insufficient intent and while there have been mistakes including the Cam Zurhaar decision after a shanked kick, the league continues to push hard so players keen the ball in bounds.
The league said in a statement: “It was the view of the umpire in real-time, that from his angle there was a player in the vicinity and, as such, decided to call a throw- in. Upon video review, it was deemed the player did not display Sufficient Intent to keep the ball in play.”
Despite a series of key mistakes late in contests across at least three games, the AFL believes the umpires have performed strongly this year.
And it again reinforced the message of widespread support for umpires across the country last night despite conceding another mistake.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks told 3AW on Sunday he could see why many people believed Murray should have been penalised.
“Watching it back you would normally see that one go the other way. There are so many decisions across the game you can look at that could have gone one way or the other way. That is footy, I do understand why some people would be reasonably upset at this point in time.”
WHY LATEST CROWS ‘SCALP’ IS DIFFERENT TO THE REST
Adelaide wanted a scalp, and it got a huge one in the unbeaten, ladder-leading Melbourne.
For the second time this season, the Crows have shocked the footy world with a win few saw coming, with the thrilling one-point win over the Demons adding to the Round 1 shock of Geelong.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks actually reflected on the Crows’ season-opening win over the Cats prior to Saturday afternoon’s first bounce with his players, as he sought to end a five-game losing streak.
“The Geelong win was a great win and we actually referred to that pre-game and talked about how we prepared for that game, how our mindsets were,” he said.
“And this game was a similar one for us.”
But the upset of Melbourne is more significant than the shocking of the Cats for a number of reasons.
FAST START
The first is that while the Crows raced out of the blocks against Geelong and were able to hold on, despite being a couple of men down, against Melbourne the young Adelaide side had to fight its way back from 16-points down late in the fourth quarter.
Young Crow Ned McHenry said that gave the Demons win more significance.
“I think so, I think that was a really cool part of the game that we stuck in there and stuck to our system,” he said.
“One of the things we have as a young group is energy and we want to bring that energy, so that’s a no-brainer for us and that kept us in the game late.”
Nicks said it would give the Crows additional confidence.
“It’s another experience that they have gone through,” he said.
“As a young group they can now say that we can come from behind and they take great belief in that moment and scenario.
“Three goals down and we probably weren’t in the best space in the third quarter.
“In the last we were able to get the game a bit more in our front half, so we were pressuring more.
“We put the foot down on the accelerator in the last.
“We took a few more risks when we were down by three and some of those risks paid off, but in the end it is about putting your head over the ball and going pretty hard.
“I think the guys will come out of this game feeling really good about the work that we have done over the last couple of months.”
SWINGING MOMENTUM
The second reason was that the win came just when it looked like the Crows were in another rut.
The victory over the Cats came with the side fresh and excited for what the season was to bring, and the Crows used that momentum to shock the more experienced Geelong side.
Coming into Saturday night’s game, the Crows had lost five in a row.
But McHenry said the team had been bullish about their chances.
“Melbourne are a good side and we knew that,” he said.
“Through the week we used the word scalp. We wanted a scalp.
“We go into every game thinking we can compete and beat every team but to beat Melbourne I think it shows that our system does stack up and what we can do when we do it longer in games.”
Nicks said despite the losing run there had been plenty of optimism at West Lakes.
“We haven’t lost the belief,” he said.
“I know we lost too many games in a row, but behind closed doors the belief is there.
“We’ve believed the last four or five weeks, we feel like we have been unlucky at times.
“But we’ve got a lot of things that we are working on that we are doing really well.”
NO STOPPAGE WINS, NO WORRIES
The third reason is that the Crows were absolutely smashed by Melbourne at stoppages.
The final count was 44-23 to the Demons, and they still lost.
Clayton Oliver had 13 clearances, Christian Petracca 11 – more than Adelaide managed as a team – yet the Crows were not blown away.
Adelaide was superior on the outside to Melbourne, with 220 uncontested possessions to 175, but if you looked at many of the key measures when it comes to the stat sheet you would have assumed the Demons triumphed over the Crows.
“It just shows our system is really clear and when we get it right we can compete with anyone,” McHenry said.
Nicks said that was important.
“I know what the stats were and for a while we were concerned with Oliver, he’s an outstanding footballer,” he said.
“We didn’t put time into him but what we did put time into was the way we played as a team, our shape, the way we used the ball and we tried to challenge them with the footy.
“Especially in the first half, we came in at halftime and we felt like we had the game where we wanted it.
“They adjusted to their credit and that’s why they are winning footy.
“And then we had to change, but we hung in there and in the end it wasn’t the individual that won the game it was a team effort.”
Nicks said because of this it was a “complete game” by his side.
“It was a really complete game for us,” he said.
“We fought hard, we went behind and were able to fight back.
“We used the ball really well for a half, the game changed and we were able to fight a little but more down the line and embraced the challenge of that.”
FORWARD LINE FIRES
The Demons had the meanest defence in the league coming into the game, while the Crows’ scoring woes was giving Nicks a big headache.
But Adelaide was able to pile on the highest score on Melbourne so far this season, and fuelling this was a simple instruction.
The last time the Crows played at Adelaide Oval in Showdown 49, their ability to convert attacking forays was woeful.
Fast forward a fortnight and the Crows were looking a lot more measured with their entries when attacking.
This was because Adelaide’s coaches had given the team a simple brief: don’t just bomb the ball inside 50 and allow Steven May and Jake Lever to intercept the ball.
“That was definitely the case,” McHenry said.
“And that was something that we spoke about during the week.
“It was a great point handed down by the coaches this week to try and lower our eyes and use the ball better.
“It was something that we did better than we have been doing previously and we got some reward as a forward group.”
Nicks said his side got the balance right against the Demons.
“They have some weapons behind the ball and the last thing we wanted to do was just dump it in long and let them use those,” he said.
“I thought we balanced it really well because at times we did catch them out the back and that’s an area of growth that we need to keep working on completing the play in the front half.
“We train that a lot.”
Contributing to this was also a change in the way the Crows were able to score.
“I believe that we kicked seven or eight goals from turnover in the first half and that hasn’t been our weapon for the year,” Nicks said.
“We’ve been a stoppage dominant team as far as our score source goes.
“We are doing a lot of work on that, the ability to score off intercept and I thought our group did that really well.”
CLASS CLAYTON
He might have been on the losing side, but Oliver played arguably the half of 2021 so far.
Melbourne legend Garry Lyon went even further in his praise.
“We have just witnessed one of the great halves of footy (by a player),” he said on Fox Footy.
And he might be right, with Oliver absolutely sensational at Adelaide Oval.
He finished the game with 38 disposals, 27 contested possessions, 13 clearances and three goals in a performance for the ages.
His first half was good, but not great, with the Demons gun sitting on 13 disposals at the main break.
And when he emerged for the second half, he took over the show.
His third term produced 12 disposals, nine contested possessions, three intercept possessions, four clearances, a goal, two tackles and three inside-50s, while in the fourth it seemed like he was going to win the game for the Demons.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said it was the latest in a fine campaign Oliver was putting together.
“He is having a sensational season and his ability to win the ball forward of centre and in contest areas was really strong for us,” he said.
“He just backs up, every week he plays the same way with competitiveness and he executed really well.”
The last time Oliver played the Crows he had 34 disposals, six tackles, 22 contested possessions, 11 clearances and a goal.
But Nicks chose not to tag the Demons gun.
“It’s about actually stopping him,” Nicks aid.
“It’s not that we didn’t put some time into him.
“We work in a certain way through our midfield and without giving to much away sometimes tagging can pull your stoppage apart.
“This time we spoke to the team about getting it done, you’d maybe argue that we didn’t given his influence on the stoppage and ability to bust out of there.
“Sometimes you just clap your hands for a player who is where he is.
“But in the end we got it done as a team.”
CROWS DOWN DEMONS IN CONTROVERSIAL THRILLER
Did Adelaide get away with a critical deliberate out-of-bounds non-call in the dying seconds of their thrilling one-point win over Melbourne?
As Nick Murray’s handball bobbled towards the boundary line, Matthew Nicks had his heart in his mouth just like every other fan.
With Tom Doedee giving chase, the ball crossed the line close to the Demons’ point post with 27 seconds left on the clock, the desperate pleas of nearby Melbourne players for a free kick falling on deaf ears.
I loved the drama. But you have never seen a more deliberate out of bounds call in your life. 12 metres out, he handballs directly to the boundary. Demons would have drawn at the very least with a shot from a point down pic.twitter.com/6NR9hsEMGm
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) May 22, 2021
How is that tackle on Ben Keays not holding the ball? Then no deliberate out of bounds at the other end.
— Marc McGowan 🗣âœï¸ðŸ‘¨ðŸ»â€ðŸ’»ðŸ“° (@ByMarcMcGowan) May 22, 2021
Exhibit A on how umpiring can impact a game.
“My thought was that I hope that his teammate was close enough,” Nicks said.
“I believe there was someone nearby.
“Was he aiming for the points? I haven’t sat down with him yet.
“It’s one of those hard ones, isn’t it, to make a call on.
“I don’t know what he was doing at that point in time … whether he was trying to knock it through for a point or not or just put it to grass for a teammate to run onto.
“I’d say it was the latter.”
The Demons’ unbeaten start to the season ended when the final siren sounded with the ball still deep in their attacking 50.
Simon Goodwin gave credit to Adelaide for a high level of play in the entertaining contest that ended his side’s winning run at nine victories.
He was diplomatic on the contentious non-call following the 15.6 (96) to 14.11 (95) defeat.
“I think it’s still one of those areas where we’re still finding our way as a game,” he said.
The stunning, against-all-odds victory snapped a run of five losses for Nicks’ men.
Ben Keays, Rory Laird and Paul Seedsman were all outstanding, with last-minute hero Walker finishing with three goals.
“To be honest we’d actually begun planning how we’d structure up next,” Nicks replied when asked his reaction when Walker marked in front of Steven May.
“We backed him in to kick that goal so the planning is already in for what happens at the next centre bounce.
“If you’re going to have a player from your team 40m dead in front he’s the guy to have with the ball because he’s done it so many times.
“He’s experienced and he’s able to calm himself in that moment.”
The brave Crows trailed by as much as 16 points in a frantic final term, but smelled a famous upset victory when Darcy Fogarty put them five points down with four minutes remaining in the high-quality contest.
Walker was the hero when he outmarked May and coolly drilled his third goal with 43 seconds remaining to end the Demons’ unbeaten run at nine wins.
“We knew it was a massive challenge and I think our guys really enjoy those challenges,” Nicks said post-match.
“I’m so proud of what they put out there today.”
Demons coach Simon Goodwin applauded the Crows’ performance, but rued his own team’s missed chance.
“Adelaide were fantastic … but I’m disappointed with our game and how we defended especially,” Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin told reporters.
“There’s little things late in the game you’d like to do better from a game state perspective in tight games, but we’ll learn and get better.”
The free-kick controversy aside, Walker’s dramatic final-minute winner was a fitting end to a highly-entertaining game.
Max Gawn had the upper hand in his duel with Reilly O’Brien early, the star ruckman’s dominance helping to the Demons to an 18-point lead late in the first quarter.
But the Crows trailed by just five points at the first break after James Rowe chimed in with back-to-back to goals.
Adelaide led for the first time in the contest when Fogarty converted a free kick 10 minutes into the second term, but a James Harmes long bomb levelled the scores at halftime.
That margin stretched to 12 points before the ladder leaders dug deep. Kysaiah Pickett put on the afterburners to slam through his first, with a superb snap by Clayton Oliver landing him his second goal and handing his side a three-point lead at three-quarter time.
Clayton Oliver up to 27 contested possessions
— Swamp (@sirswampthing) May 22, 2021
Most in a game for MELB
He now has 9 of the top 11 contested possession tallies for MELB in @AFL games
Jack Viney has the other two
@melbournefc#AFLCrowsDees
25 touches, 17 contested, 3 tackles and 2 goals isn’t a bad game of footy. That’s what Clayton Oliver has done in one half 🤯 #AFLCrowsDees
— James Mottershead (@mottersjames) May 22, 2021
CLAYTON’S CLASS
Oliver’s class was evident throughout, but he took his game to another level in a tense final term.
The star midfielder weaved through traffic to set up the first goal of the quarter to Charlie Spargo and helped himself to his third goal with eight minutes left to put his side up by 16 points before the dramatic finish ended the visitors’ unbeaten run.
It wasn’t enough in the end but Oliver finished with 38 disposals, 27 contested possessions – the most ever by a Melbourne player – 13 clearances, three goals and 204 KFC SuperCoach points.
COURAGEOUS CROWS
The Crows were led by the midfield trio of Ben Keays, Rory Laird and Paul Seedsman, who all finished with 34 touches.
TEX REPORTED
Adelaide talisman Taylor Walker will come under scrutiny from the match review panel after he was reported.
Walker was rested for the Crows last game against West Coast and he may be in some danger of missing another game after he was reported for a dangerous tackle on Oliver in the second quarter of the match.
Walker tackled Oliver after the ball was past the Demons midfielder, and brought the Melbourne star to the Adelaide Oval turf with some force.
The Crows forward had his name taken by the umpire after the tackle, which resulted in a Melbourne free kick.
But Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said while Walker had been reported he was confident he would not get in any trouble for the tackle.
“(Walker) just put him to ground, I don’t think there is too much in it,” he said on Fox Footy.
“I don’t think there is any head contact (for Oliver) there.”
Oliver was not injured in the tackle and moments later kicked a classy goal on his left footy, which will help Walker’s chances of avoiding any ban for it.
SCOREBOARD
CROWS 4.2 8.4 11.5 15.6 96
DEMONS 5.1 8.4 11.8 14.11 95
BEST: CROWS: Keays, Laird, Seedsman, Rowe, Mackay, Walker. DEMONS: Oliver, Petracca, Gawn, Langdon, Lever, Brayshaw, Harmes.
GOALS: CROWS: Walker 3, Keays 2, Thilthrope 2, Rowe 2, Fogarty 2, Berry, Mackay, McAdam, Seedsman. DEMONS: Oliver 3, Langdon 2, Harmes, Spargo, McDonald, Gawn, Weideman, Rivers, Pickett, Petracca, Fritsch.
UMPIRES Deboy, Gavine, Mollison.
PHELAN’S VOTES
3 C. Oliver (Mel)
2 B. Keays (Adel)
1 R. Laird (Adel)
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