Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor has been left shaking his head over the sight of a heater on the sidelines in front of the Crows’ interchange bench.
Adelaide and Hawthorn players faced 8C temperatures in Launceston on Thursday night as the Hawks came from behind to win 10.15 (75) to 9.12 (66).
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The sight of the Crows bringing their own heater onto the field did not impress Taylor.
“I’ve heard of buckets of water. I’ve heard of hand warmers. The hot water bottle. The electric blanket will be there next,” he said at quarter time.
“Hodgey, please, give me something.”
Hawks legend Luke Hodge responded on Seven by pointing out heating devices are common across elite sporting competitions around the globe.
“BT, in the Premier League, all the big clubs have seat warmers,” he said.
Taylor replied: “Well we have those in our car Hodgey. That’s fine.”
Hodge said: “All the big clubs have them in the seats”.
Watch the moment in the video player above.
Taylor wasn’t prepared to drop the subject so easily.
“God. Unbelievable,” he said.
“What is wrong with a dressing gown?”
Channel 7 host Rebecca Maddern also said the issue of heaters on the sideline is something “we will be talking about for a few days”.
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell earlier in the evening said the game at UTAS Stadium would be played under good conditions.
“It’s absolutely a perfect night for footy,” he said.
“There’s not a breath of wind and expected really good conditions in the game, so there’s no excuses not to have a great game tonight.”
A much bigger talking point to emerge from the game was a calf injury to Crows gun Izak Rankine.
The star forward pulled up sore from a small chase in the third term, and didn’t return to play.
There was also drama in the second quarter when Nick Watson was cleared to keep playing despite a head knock.
Watson played a part in a goal for Dylan Moore before finally being taken from the field.
He later passed his concussion assessment, but the breakdown in the process to remove him from play was clear.
The Crows were also on the wrong end of a contentious umpiring decision in the second quarter which ended with Hawthorn kicking a goal.
Crows defender Josh Worrell was sprinting back to chase down a loose ball when he opted to fist the Sherrin through for a rushed behind.
Worrell punched the ball through from the edge of the 9m goalsquare, which is the cut-off mark for where players can rush a behind providing they are under pressure from an opposition player.
Watson was hot on his tail, but the field umpire ruled Worrell was too far out from goal to be rushing a behind, and awarded a shot on goal to Watson.
Fox Footy analyst David King said in commentary: “I just wonder if you can review this. It looked inside the 9m. You can’t rush the ball through from outside the 9m no matter what pressure.
“If you take it through, it’s a free kick. It’s all about where this ball is first touched. It clears the pack, off hands, oh it’s line ball. Gee it’s a big call.
“Umpire in a great position so you can’t be critical. He’s in the perfect spot, side on, he makes the call. You know what, you can’t overrule him. He couldn’t be in a better spot, lateral.
“You can hate it if you’re a Crows supporter and love it if you’re a Hawks supporter.”
