New vision shows Crows veteran Taylor Walker appeared to be “furious” as umpires failed to notice a Fremantle rule infringement on Friday night.
The Dockers held of for a thrilling two-point win at the Adelaide Oval with Freo skipper Alex Pearce making a game-saving smother on James Peatling’s shot at goal late in the contest.
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The Dockers led by as many as 34 points at the nine-minute mark of the third quarter — before Adelaide surged to hit the front early in the final term.
Now footage has emerged of a 6-6-6 infringement from the Dockers late in the contest.
Crows stars Walker and Riley Thilthorpe were seen protesting to an on-field umpire when the Dockers set up for the centre ball-up with seven defenders.
You can watch the vision in the video player above.
With 6.36 minutes left in the game and the Dockers up by three points, the visitors had just five players in the midfield with Judd McVee lining up in the defensive 50m arc.
The boundary umpire could be seen alerting the field umpire to the error but play resumed before it was called.
Fremantle had not yet been penalised for the 6-6-6 rule, meaning they were only due to be warned, and they did not receive a warning later in the match which would have been a free kick had the original call been made.
In reality a secondary stoppage occurred in the midfield and play was not impacted, however, the mistake was still raised by Crows officials this week, according to Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.
Veteran football journalist Caroline Wilson reported the Crows do not privately believe the umpire blunder impacted the game — but still asked for an explanation.
According to Seven, the AFL has admitted the on-field umpires got the call wrong.
Footy pundit Kane Cornes said on the show it was a “big story”.
He went on to say: “Taylor Walker’s furious. There’s no one on the wing there.
“The boundary umpire is pointing right there. The field umpire is there. He actually looks in that direction of the Adelaide wingman and doesn’t identify that for whatever reason”.
Wilson said AFL officials were “not happy” the panel ran the story.
Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge said it was an example of why the “warning” for first-time 6-6-6 infringements should be scrapped.
“They know the rules. If you look up and see there’s no winger or there’s seven defenders you blow the whistle,” Hodge said.
“How can they train that? They know what to do.”
The Crows open Gather Round at the Adelaide Oval when they face Carlton on Thursday night.
The Dockers face St Kilda in the final game of the round on Sunday.
