‘Hurt like hell’: Umpire cops footy to the face

St Kilda and North Melbourne played out a rather drab affair, but one moment in particular will keep an umpire awake long into the night.

If you managed to sit through the entirety of St Kilda vs North Melbourne without leaving the comfort of your couch, we take our hats off to you.

But if you did find yourself getting a little bit of shut-eye, St Kilda ran out 12.16 (88) - 10.8 (68) winners, with Mason Wood leading the game’s goalscoring charts with three.

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However, for one poor umpire by the name of Simon Meredith, he not only had to officiate the game, but he also copped a nasty falcon to the head.

And by nasty, we mean an absolute stinger to the scone.

Ouch.#AFLSaintsNorthpic.twitter.com/ikW4K4T2ce

— AFL (@AFL) May 29, 2021

St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster had the ball in the middle of the park before he let fly and instead of kicking for six, he sent Meredith’s head spinning for six.

It might not be as painful as the non-award winning filmmaker Hans Moleman’s Man Getting Hit By Football production featured in The Simpsons, but we’re hoping that Meredith won’t go to sleep with the imprints of a Sherrin embedded into his face.

Umpire Simon Meredith just copped a shocking falcon when Jimmy Webster booted the ball into his head. He has stayed on with the North Melbourne doctor running to check on his welfare. That would have hurt like hell.

— peter ryan (@petryan) May 29, 2021

The game compounded North Melbourne’s woes even further to leave them isolated at the foot of the ladder, while St Kilda find themselves sitting in 11th, but equal on points with Richmond who occupy the last finals spot in eighth.

For the Saints, it was yet another frustratingly quiet game from $5.4m man Brad Hill, but coach Brett Ratten continues to back the star man.

Hill was tagged out of the game by 24-gamer Bailey Scott and had only two touches to halftime, but Ratten remained positive on the outside runner’s performance and said the 27-year-old, who was stationed at half-back, still played a role in assisting team defence.

“I thought some of his work to take two-for-ones and try to help out a little bit for others was pretty good, he tried to assist others,” Ratten said.

“At the end of the day, we were winning, and do we move Hilly and put him somewhere else? But he was helping our team defence even though he wasn’t getting the ball a lot.”

The Saints secured a much-needed win on Saturday.

Ratten conceded Hill — who is contracted to St Kilda on a six-year deal worth an estimated $900,000 per season — had better standards to adhere to, but said he fell victim to an unsportsmanlike tag.

“He’s got higher standards than what he achieved tonight, and we’ll keep pushing for that,” Ratten said.

“(But) he got sat on, Scott didn’t even want to try and touch the ball really, and just made it a sole focus with that.”

– with Owen Leonard, NCA NewsWire