Two massive umpire calls have marred Sydney’s stunning one-point preliminary final win over Collingwood, with fans labelling the decisions “horrendous”.
The most brutal call, an apparent missed hands in the back from Tom Papley on Darcy Moore where the ball also appeared to hit the ground, cost the Magpies a goal in the final term when Collingwood were closing fast.
“I reckon they won’t get out of the carpark before they start talking about was Papley a push in the back on Darcy Moore. Or was it a mark or a free kick?” Fox Footy’s David King said.
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“It cost a goal at a critical time.”
“Either way, the ball hit the ground, but that doesn’t matter. You get the rub,” Jason Dunstall added.
“There are decisions all through the game.”
“They are still talking about Wayne Harmes from back when!” King then joked.
Papley looked to put both his hands into Moore but was instead gifted a free kick for high contact from Isaac Quaynor.
“So the two hands in the back weren’t paid,” commentator Hamish McLachlan said.
“The umpire had a perfect view of it,” Luke Hodge added.
“Looked like two hands in the back for sure.”
Papley calmly went back and slotted the goal to push Sydney’s margin out to 20 points early in the final term.
And that goal proved the difference as the Pies went down by just one point.
The goal broke an almost 35-minute goal drought for the Swans – and was their only goal in the last quarter.
“He knows how big that was Tom Papley,” commentator Luke Darcy said.
“Maybe a little fortuitous.”
Earlier in the game, Pies fans were angered by a harsh 50 metre call on young Jack Ginnivan.
Ginnivan appeared to pull up exactly on the mark and stand, but was then marched downfield.
No call was heard from the umpire to warn Ginnivan before the massive penalty was paid.
“That is ridiculous. You cannot hear at the ground,” commentator Jobe Watson said.
“You don’t want to see that paid in a preliminary final!” Hodge lamented.
