AFL football boss Laura Kane happy with round 1 umpiring

The AFL’s new football boss promised for the league to be more transparent with umpiring decisions, and has weighed in on controversial calls from round 1.

The AFL has ticked off on the controversial below-the-knees free kick paid to Patrick Dangerfield which helped the Cats claim a thrilling round 1 victory over St Kilda.

League executive general manager of football Laura Kane said Dangerfield was put at risk by St Kilda defender Liam Stocker’s method of attack on the ball at a crucial stage in the final term.

It was Stocker who came off worse for wear after Dangerfield’s knee caught the Saint in the lower back as he tried to leap over him, but Kane said it was correct application of the rule which has been in place since 2013.

Kane discussed contentious incidents from the weekend in an interview published on the AFL website on Monday, after flagging over the pre-season her intention for the league to be more transparent to fans about officiating.

She said the AFL had reviewed the Stocker-Dangerfield collision “from many different angles” and was satisfied the right call had been made in penalising the Saint, who was first to the ball.

St Kilda defender Liam Stocker (left) runs off sore after his final quarter collision with Patrick Dangerfield on Saturday, which gave the Cats skipper a free kick. Picture: Darrian Traynor / Getty Images

“In real time, the umpires have made a decision that Stocker’s elected to go to ground and caused contact below the knees,” Kane told the AFL’s Footy Feed.

“We’ve since reviewed that many different angles, real time, slow-mo, and we’re comfortable they’ve landed in the right spot, yes.

“We’re comfortable with what they’ve seen in terms of the players meeting, where the ball was in relation to the meeting and the outcome … we’re just pleased players didn’t leave injured or hurt from that.”

Kane said an earlier incident in the match where play was stopped by an umpire so Saints ruckman Rowan Marshall could put his boot back on had been well handled.

Marshall had tossed his loose shoe away before a boundary throw-in, before Geelong forward Gryan Miers picked it up and threw it away further from the contest but was not penalised with a free kick against.

Players have been fined in recent seasons for throwing away opponent’s items, including club captains James Sicily for an incident involving Aaron Naughton’s headband and Jy Simpkin for throwing a St Kilda opponent’s GPS device.

“It was officiated well, I think the difference in this case was that the player who owned the boot threw it away first, and it seemed to us on review that Miers was just trying to get it out of the way,” Kane said.

“Maybe he could’ve done it a little bit differently or not thrown it as dramatically, but there’s nothing to follow up for the Geelong Football Club.

“If we feel like there’s unsportsmanlike conduct … then we will sanction that through our MRO processes on a Monday. In this case we didn’t feel that was happening.”

Five score reviews were requested during Sunday’s clash between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, but Kane said the league had no problem with the umpires regularly turning to review system.

She said nine of the 16 reviews on the weekend had taken less than 10 seconds to complete, with the longest – Charlie Curnow’s goal line mishap against Richmond – ticked off as the correct call.

“(Reviews) were up a little bit higher than normal in (the Demons-Bulldogs game), but that’s OK,” Kane said.

“The overarching position for me and the football department is that we get the right score.”

Originally published as AFL football boss Laura Kane happy with round 1 umpiring