‘What the?’: More confusion over AFL dissent rule as star escapes punishment

Footy fans are continuing to question the controversial new rules on umpire dissent as an Eagles star appeared to escape punishment.

Is this dissent?

The AFL’s controversial stance against umpire dissent caused more of a ruckus on Sunday when Jeremy McGovern escaped punishment despite appearing to visibly disagree with an official’s call.

The Eagles defender was called to play on after taking a mark inside 50 during Melbourne’s 16.16 (112) to 5.8 (38) win over West Coast, then was pinged for deliberately handballing the Sherrin out of bounds as Christian Petracca laid a tackle.

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McGovern was furious, adamant he should have received a 50m free kick because Petracca moved off the mark. The umpires disagreed and McGovern verbally let his feelings known, and also gestured with his arms to hammer home his point.

The AFL has decided any dissent towards umpires will result in a 50m free kick this season. Even holding out an arm counts as dissent in 2022, sparking plenty of angst in the footy world.

But McGovern wasn’t punished further, leading some to question why there was such inconsistency — especially after Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey was penalised earlier on the weekend even as he tried his best to rein his emotions in.

Fox Footy commentator Kelli Underwood asked: “Is this the definition of dissent? He’s frustrated.”

Her fellow commentators agreed McGovern should have been paid a 50m free kick because Petracca wasn’t on the mark and punters on social media were also flabbergasted.

AFL reporter Mark Stevens tweeted: “Howler of a call, but McGovern wasn’t dissent? What the????

Garrett Mundy wrote: “Some crazy umpiring. Petracca not on the mark. Deliberate is fine. And then McGovern told he can’t stand on the mark. Mental.”

Anna Lanning said: “Time to bring in a Captains Challenge @AFL can’t be having decisions like that against McGovern.”

Sam Tomlin added: “Woeful original call, but unfortunately McGovern followed it up with a clear violation of the hurt feelings rule.”

McGovern wanted a 50m free.

Does this classify as dissent?

After the game coach Adam Simpson called on West Coast fans to stick by the club as it continues to work through probably its most difficult period ever.

The Eagles lost their eighth game of the season on Sunday night, their fifth in a row by a margin of more than 10 goals.

In fact, their past five losses have come at an average of 81 points; after they beat Collingwood by 13 points at the MCG in Round 4. Every opposition over those five weeks has scored 105 points or more.

Only 27,488 fans showed up on Sunday, although there were reports of issues with Perth’s main train station on Sunday afternoon.

In consecutive weeks, the Eagles have played top-four sides, Melbourne and Brisbane, and Simpson hopes their supporters are seeing the improvement he can see, regardless of the final results.

“I really hope our fans stick by us in challenging times,” Simpson said after the 74-point loss to the Demons; the Eagles lowest every score at home.

“We really appreciate their support. I know it’s been disappointing so far this year, but we like their support, we appreciate the crowds.

“We’re here to win, don’t worry about that.

“Even though we got blown away late, we had some little wins throughout the day. We lost (Josh Kennedy) late in the week; it was our youngest team for a long time and we saw some growth.

“Second quarter, supply, front-half turnovers, contest, pressure, tackles – all the things that our fans want to see. If you don’t win, they want to see effort.

“It sounds a bit silly, we lost by a pretty big margin, but just like last week, I thought the effort was there.”

With Brad Elborough, NCA NewsWire