Brad Scott set to escape suspension, can expect big fine for umpiring comments

BRAD Scott is fiercely protective of his players but he over-stepped the mark on Friday night and can expect the book thrown at him, writes Glenn McFarlane.

Brad Scott is facing a huge fine for his comments on Friday night.

IT’S arguable that no current AFL coach is as defensive or protective of his players as North Melbourne’s Brad Scott.

In most instances, that’s an extremely admirable quality.

But in trying to stick up for his much-maligned forward Lindsay Thomas, and in his frustration fuelled by what turned out to be badly incorrect information from a club staffer about what an umpire was alleged to have said about Thomas, Scott badly overstepped the line on Friday night.

The information turned out to be wrong, and even if Scott didn’t know that at the time, that won’t help his cause.

For that reason he can expect to cop a sizeable fine from the AFL.

The league launched an investigation on Saturday which swiftly smashed Scott’s assertion that an umpire said Thomas wasn’t receiving free kicks for head-high contact because he was “a ducker.”

Brad Scott talks to his players on Friday night.

Scott claims struck at the heart of integrity in the game, and that’s the AFL brought the matter to a head early, resulting in an embarrassing backdown from the Kangaroos.

The umpires were furious with Scott’s assertion. Just double that fury, and times it by five, and you might get a view of what AFL HQ thought of the matter.

For not only were the umpires publicly questioned, so too were other AFL officials.

Scott claimed: “I know he (Thomas) is (unfairly treated), because the umpires told our players, ‘well, he’s a ducker so we don’t pay high kicks to Lindsay’.

“They told our guys that, so that’s clearly a preconceived idea. I just want the umpires to umpire what they see, not preconceived ideas.

“It’s for (umpires coach) Hayden Kennedy to deal with, not for me. I’m just telling you what happened, because they won’t tell you, that’s for sure.”

That last line infuriated the highest-ranking AFL officials in the game, and that’s why a fine of around $20,000 looms as the most likely and appropriate outcome for Scott.

The rules do allow for the possibility of a suspension, though that seems unlikely given North Melbourne’s co-operation from around lunchtime on Saturday.

James Hird’s $20,000 fine for describing the umpiring in an Essendon game as “disgraceful” in 2004 could be seen something of a precedent. The Bombers were also fined a similar amount in that instance.

It’s not the first time that Scott has been frustrated by non-free kicks involving Thomas. The club is of the belief that he is still paying the penalty for staging for frees and ducking earlier in his career.

That frustration was compounded on Friday night when Thomas did not receive a free kick during the second quarter when Grant Birchall appeared to clearly infringe, and then Hawk James Sicily received two free kicks from similar incidents.

Thomas has been unfairly portrayed as the ‘poster boy’ for ducking for free kicks, even if official Champion Data statistics do not back that up.

He has received only four head-high frees this season, and not one since the controversial match against Sydney in Round 10.

That leaves him ranked equal 42nd in the AFL, while in contrast, Sicily has won 15, which sees him ranked No.4 in the AFL - behind only Allen Christensen (Brisbane), Joel Selwood (Geelong) and Toby McLean (Western Bulldogs).

Scott has every right to feel frustrated. But his Friday night brain fade, as one high-ranking football official called it last night, was not only playing the man, it was doing so off what turned out to be misconstrued and incorrect information.

That’s why he and the Kangaroos will have to have their cheque books ready this week.