Dermott Brereton says Sydney had to overcome umpiring that was clearly influenced by the raucous home crowd in their massive three point win over ladder leaders Adelaide, despite a contentious favourable call in the Swans’ favour late in the game.
The Crows looked set to overturn a slow start and take out a hard-fought win on Friday night when small forward Eddie Betts ran down Callum Mills just outside Adelaide’s attacking 50, after the young Swan looked to play on after a mark with six minutes to go in the final term.
A goal resulting from a Betts free kick could have put his side 15 points in front, however the nearest umpire instead paid a 50 metre penalty against the forward for tackling a player after a mark as he never signalled a play on call.
The penalty eventually resulted in a Swans goal to Sam Reid, bringing them to within three points and keeping them in the contest that they eventually won.
Despite this, Brereton considers the favourable call for the Swans did not overshadow what he believes to be umpiring that was clearly influenced by the crowd at Adelaide Oval, believing that the right team won on the night.
“If you’re looking over the night, Sydney got pulverised and completely reamed out by the rough end of the pineapple on the free kicks,” the five-time Hawthorn premiership forward told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“They were just pulverised by the crowd. If Sydney ran along behind an opponent and laid a tackle and the ball spilled free, the crowd is silent. If that was the other way, the crowd’s noise came up and they blew the whistle.
“I think the right team won last night.”
Eddie Betts was penalised and Callum Mills awarded a 50m penalty late in the game. #AFLCrowsSwans pic.twitter.com/AD0mLy2HFK
— AFL (@AFL) August 18, 2017
The free kick count in the game ended 28-14 in the Crows’ favour.
The Swans player at the centre of the controversial free kick says that the adversity of playing in front of over 50,000 opposition supporters gave his side the energy to play a physical game and eventually run out winners over the likely minor premiers, which remarkably keeps Sydney in the hunt for a top four place despite losing their first six games of 2017.
“We’ve been getting good results after doing it (playing physical), with everyone on board and getting around each other and building energy,” Mills said.
“That was the focus going into Adelaide, it was us 22 versus 50,000 of them so it was great to see everyone get around each other.
“There was a lot of energy on the ground, even though we didn’t have many supporters.”
Click here to listen to Crunch Time's full chat with Callum Mills.
Josh Jenkins says that despite the unfortunate free kick paid against his fellow Crows forward, it was a minor error in the context of the game.
“I think 99 times out of 100 that gets called play on but the rule is, as I know of it, is that it is not play on until the umpire physically waves his arms to call play on,” he said.
“He’s a half a second slow to do that, he doesn’t call it, Eddie reacts to the player’s movement and doesn’t react to the umpire so that’s a little bit on Eddie as well.
“He is so eager, but he has to have an awareness of what the umpire says - that if he doesn’t say play on, unfortunately irrespective of how many steps or how far he has moved off his line, it’s not play on until the umpire says so.
“Perhaps a little error from the ump but that’s fine because every player out there made at least half a dozen errors last night.”
Click here to listen to Crunch Time's full chat with Josh Jenkins.