Players and coaches have been left confused by a number of umpiring decisions in Round 2

IT takes a lot to get Paul Roos fired up. But the Sydney premiership coach was scathing on a blatantly incorrect free kick paid to Hawthorn’s Paul Puopolo on Saturday.

Lin Jong says the free kick paid against Callum Mills was the correct decision. Picture: Getty Images

THE AFL has ticked off on the deliberate rushed behind free kick paid against Callum Mills with the Swan set to become the posterboy for this year’s stricter interpretation.

Friday night’s ruling will force an immediate change to defenders’ mindsets.

But confusion swirled on a host of umpiring decisions on Saturday with the third man-up and holding the ball rules in the spotlight.

Premiership coach Paul Roos dubbed a blatantly incorrect free kick for a push in Paul Puopolo’s back “as bad a decision you would ever see”.

@AFL how disgraceful! All supporters are over the #freekickHawthorn

— Susan Young (@sue61_sue) April 1, 2017

It's nice to see #FreeKickHawthorn is still a thing..... but why against @Adelaide_FC?? #AFLHawksCrows #WeFlyAsOne

— Tom Bell (@SnappyTom86) April 1, 2017

Never seen a worse decision #AFLHawksCrows #freekickhawthorn umpire has to get a few weeks on the pine.

— Paul William Ray (@paulwrmusic) April 1, 2017

#freekickhawthorn back in vogue.

— Aaron Kirk (@AaronKirk1) April 1, 2017

Eighteen holding the ball frees, a far higher number than usual, were paid during Friday night’s Grand Final rematch with frustrated Sydney coach John Longmire saying “we must have missed something”.

Western Bulldogs Luke Dahlhaus and Lin Jong on Saturday agreed with the Mills decision.

Last year’s Rising Star was penalised for punching the ball across the goal line before physical pressure arrived from Liam Picken, who appealed for a free and then kicked the Dogs nine points clear in a pulsating final quarter.

Hawthorn’s Paul Puopolo received a blatantly incorrect free kick on Saturday. Picture: AAP Images

The AFL said the umpire’s decision was correct, “due to no physical pressure when ball put over the line”.

Dahlhaus said on 3AW that Mills’ action mirrored the textbook examples umpires showed players on videos when they visited clubs for a pre-season briefing.

Jong was in the vicinity and said he expected a whistle.

“I thought (Mills) maybe could’ve gathered it. It might’ve been different if he picked it up,” Jong told ABC Grandstand.

Former umpire Derek Humphrey-Smith said the Mills decision was “a pretty clear one” and lashed Channel 7’s commentators for their criticism.

North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey accused Friday night’s umpires of a sloppy display.

But Dogs coach Luke Beveridge admitted there was uncertainty in his box over the Mills ruling.

“I think we were all trying to work out what is deliberate and what isn’t,” he said.

“Now we just expect that they’re nearly all going to be paid ... whether the actual intent is there or not doesn’t really matter.”

Longmire was unhappy with the umpiring in last year’s Grand Final and raised his concerns with the league.

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He called for full-time umpires in the pre-season and was at a loss to explain the holding the ball discrepancy, with the Dogs winning 12 of the 18 calls.

“I’ve just got to look at the way we coach them to be honest. The holding the ball decision was us and them,” Longmire said.

“We need to have a look at that, about what the prior opportunity (rule) is and how we’re doing it versus our opposition.

Callum Mills speaks to umpire Brendan Hosking after giving away a free kick. Picture: AAP Images

“It just felt what we were doing around the contest compared with the opposition — they must be doing something a bit different we need to look at.”

But the Swans were awarded five of the nine holding the balls paid for prior opportunity and Humphery-Smith told SEN that wasn’t Sydney’s problem.

“The ones they were getting pinged for was not making a genuine attempt,” Humphery-Smith said.

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury warned Shaun Grigg’s exploitation of the third-man up rule last Thursday would be mimicked after the Tiger nominated himself for the ruck and milked a free kick for a block.

Originally published as Players and coaches have been left confused by a number of umpiring decisions in Round 2