Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is at a loss as to why his team has given away the most free kicks in the competition so far this season.
And St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has asked for clarity from the umpires around their interpretation of players stepping off their mark after taking a mark or being awarded a free kick.
The coaches’ comments came in their respective press conferences on Friday after the Power’s gutsy seven-point win over St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.
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The Power (-52) headed into Round 7 ranked well clear in last position on free-kick differential, 33 worse off than the next worst North Melbourne (-19) — and the trend continued on Friday night, with the Saints doubling Port Adelaide for free kicks won (28-14).
Hinkley said he would like to hear from the umpiring department about what his team is seemingly doing wrong regularly.
Power edge Saints to surge to top 4 | 02:31
“I’m not an umpire bagger or whinger about (umpiring), but at the moment we’re a long way in front with the free-kick count against,” Hinkley said post-match.
“It would be nice to get some clarity from the umpires back to us if we’re that poor at some of the things that we’re doing, I’d just love to get that direction coming back our way because I don’t want to go searching for it.
“In a two-way conversation I think it would be nice to feel why we’ve given away 20-plus more free kicks for holding the man in this competition six rounds in – that’s a big number. A big, big number.
“That gives up 300-400 metres in a game of football. We’re aware of it, we work at it, but we seem to keep on doing it so we must have something wrong with the umpiring of the game.”
Lyon pointed to a crucial moment that occurred midway through the final quarter when St Kilda defender Josh Battle took a big contested mark deep in his backline. He then appeared to deviate ever so slightly off his line and was called to play on by the umpire for doing so, in what seemed to be a strict implementation of the rule.
Power forward Charlie Dixon then smothered Battle’s kick and the ricochet went straight to Sam Powell-Pepper, who broke the Battle tackle and kicked a goal from the goalsquare to put the visitors back up by eight points.
“I had a discussion with the umpires during the week about that stepping of the line – it didn’t even look like he (Battle) stepped off it,” Lyon said post-match.
“I rang (umpiring boss) Dan Richardson during the week because there was one on Benny Paton (against Carlton last week).
“It’s really interesting that half-a-step play on so, not that I’m blueing, I think we just need some clarity because it feels like it’s really been tightened up.
“And the rule is a bit old, so you’re supposed to go line of goals from wherever you are on the ground, so I’d like that clarified because that hurt us.
“There were a couple last week in the Carlton game, there was probably seven or eight on both teams … there was one I said, ‘He hasn’t moved’.
“We’re just trying to get our head around it a little bit.”
St Kilda Press Conference | 08:41
Even though the Saints sat on top of the ladder after six rounds, Lyon said their efficiency had been “an issue” for most of the year — and it was an area that cost them dearly against the Power.
The Saints finished with more disposals (391-353) and inside 50s (54-49) but their hard work was undone by many of their forward entries being misguided.
The return of the injured Max King in approximately a month’s time could go a long way to straightening them up, and the key forward looks set to provide some pleasant surprises for Lyon.
“Everyone tells me he’s a pretty special player, I haven’t really seen much of him,” Lyon admitted.
Meanwhile, St Kilda trio Callum Wilkie (ankle), Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (cork) and Paton (shoulder) all picked up niggles against the Power, but Lyon expected all of them to be fit to face North Melbourne next weekend.
The Power’s impressive win over was soured by a knee injury to midfielder Xavier Duursma, with Hinkley suggesting it looked like a PCL injury.
“When I’ve seen the hit, I thought (Rowan) Marshall was in big trouble and then all of a sudden I’ve seen Xavier hobbling around and I thought, now I know what’s going to (happen) because we all know (what) probably is the outcome of those actions,” Hinkley said.
Power key forward Todd Marshall missed the St Kilda game due to concussion, but Hinkley all but guaranteed he would take on Essendon next round.
“He better be,” Hinkley smiled when asked if Marshall would be available for the Bombers.
“He had a rest this week basically. I mean, the concussion rules are there for a great reason, we were lucky that Todd wasn’t badly concussed but he was clearly slightly concussed.
“We took no chances. In a big game we look forward to having him back in our team, though.”
— NCA NewsWire
