Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick has called for clarity surrounding the holding the ball interpretation after being left perplexed by several calls against his side on Saturday.

Bailey Humphrey and Matt Rowell were just two examples of players who Hardwick was surprised to see penalised around the stoppage for holding the ball during his side’s win over Essendon.

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“The holding ball rule is like chook lotto. I sit there and don’t know half the time what’s going to happen,” he said.

“A guy with an arm pinned, waiting for the ball to be called for a stoppage or the other option is a dump tackle. Just blow the whistle.

“It’s like we’ve completely gone away from secondary stoppages because we think it kills the game.

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“At least be consistent in your interpretation throughout the whole game.”

Hardwick said it has been a challenge to coach around the stoppages when he is unsure what will and won’t be paid as free kicks.

“I don’t want to get angry, it’s Saturday, I want to go home and have a beer and relax on the couch. But let’s just fix it,” he said.

“The interpretation can’t change. Be consistent on that and we’ll work through with our players.

“But when Rowell is in a 50-50 grapple, grabs the ball and is immediately tackled, are we blowing the whistle or are we not?

“The inconsistency is going to drive us insane. Secondary stoppages are OK, we don’t want to completely eradicate the rucks.”

The Suns midfield was largely outplayed by Essendon in the absence of Noah Anderson and will have to find a solution before next week’s clash with Hawthorn with the Gold Coast skipper still recovering from appendix surgery.

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“It’s just post-surgery it takes time obviously you can’t sweat for a period of time,” Hardwick said.

“He did a little jog around today.

“He’s a very good player so you can imagine me, I’m dying to get him back but also from a medical point of view he’s got to be cleared so it’s probably less likely than more likely he plays but I’ll be doing everything (I can) … just to make sure he gets up to play.”

Despite the performance which left Hardwick wanting more from his group, the Suns coach was still pleased to see his side find a way to hold on for a close victory and was confident his side will peak when it matters most.

“We’re not playing our best footy now. We don’t need to be,” he said.

“We need to be winning and we ticked off one of those today but more importantly we’ve got to make sure that our best side is firing towards the middle and back end of the year.

“It’s not quite clicking at the moment but we think we’re not too far away.”