Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says the club will seek “clarity” on why Logan Morris was denied a goal when the club believes “he did everything right” on Thursday night.
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Morris had marked inside 50 with just seconds to spare in the third term – and went back to take his kick after the siren during his side’s 43-point win at the Gabba.
But after opting to snap the Sherrin – and appearing to pull up just short of the Swans player on the mark, the umpire directly behind the kick called play on and the Lion’s goal was denied.
Fox Footy’s commentators weren’t convinced by the call with Jack Riewoldt labelling it “horrendous”.
ANOTHER after-the-siren no goal! | 00:54
Leigh Montagna described the decision as “ridiculous” and warned the AFL risked losing fans over such technicalities.
“There’s no need to blow the whistle there,” he lamented.
“(Morris) erred on the side of caution to make sure he didn’t step past the line – so he was one step short!
“I think these are the ticky touchwood rules that the fans hate.
“If the umpire didn’t blow his whistle there, no one watching this game would have a problem with it.
“There was no need for the umpire to blow the whistle. They will say technically by the letter of the law it’s the rule. But for the spirit of the game, it doesn’t need to be blown.”
AFL great Jason Dunstall played Devil’s Advocate by stating Morris could have avoided the drama by opting for a drop punt.
“However, having said that, I see so many players trying to kick drop punts that can’t run a straight line either! They should all be called play on after they step a metre off the line,” he said.
“You’ve got to give the player a little bit of room to move to manoeuvre.
Logan Morris was denied this goal on three-quarter time.Source: FOX SPORTSThe umpire was seen calling play on.Source: FOX SPORTS
“If they want to kick around the corner because they all do it and it seems to be the cool thing to do, that’s fine as long as you know how to do it and you can repeat the process that you’re doing all the time.
“Clearly on that occasion it’s brought something else into play that you now have to be aware of.
“That’s a little bit of a red flag for players in the future that want to do that.”
Speaking after the match, Lions coach Chris Fagan said he thought Morris followed AFL rules on the post-siren shot on goal.
“My understanding of that rule is as long as you start near the boundary and kick over the guy’s hands on the mark then that’s OK,” he said.
“And I thought that’s what he did.
“I wasn’t standing right there on the spot, but that’s what it looked like to me (coaching from the boundary).
“Will be good to get some clarity on it.
Voss: ‘No appetite for coaching’ | 00:44
“The learning for Logan might be ‘Well if you ever get another shot on goal and the siren’s gone mate, maybe you’ve just got to go straight back and kick over hands on the mark so there’s no doubt you’ve done the right thing’.
“From what the explanation is that we got earlier in the year, I think he did everything right.
“We’ll ask though because he did that thinking he was doing the right thing.
“So if he wasn’t, we all need to know and learn from it. That’s OK.”
AFL journalist Jon Ralph clarified that under the AFL’s most recent memo – sent to clubs after Hawk Nick Watson was denied his own goal after a siren for straying off the line of the mark, the call to deny Morris was correct.
“Under the AFL’s most recent interpretation, which it must be said is only four weeks old, Logan Morris should not have been awarded that goal,” he said on Fox Footy.
Logan Morris celebrates a goal at the Gabba.Source: Getty Images
“He did not kick over the man on the mark – and in fact, you could argue he was one or two metres short.
“This is a Greg Swann directive after the Nick Watson no-goal. The man on the mark has to be able to have the potential to jump up and maybe touch the ball.
“The problem, as (former AFL umpire) Ray Chamberlain has told us, is that the umpires have always gone on the situation that as long as you don’t improve your angle, well that’s fine.
“So the AFL last week through again a directive, a memo to the AFL clubs said the kicking over the man on the mark trumps the improving of the angle. They said you can approach your shot from any direction, but you must not move off the line in an attempt to kick around the player on the mark.
“And so, the strictest sense of the law from four weeks ago is that’s correct (the no goal).”
Montagna warned that those AFL stipulations were “ruining the shot” after the siren.
“Even if a player does stay in line, a lot of them change their natural running arc to make sure they don’t go over,” he said.
“We are rarely seeing now goals after the siren because players are so paranoid about the umpire standing one metre behind them, blowing the whistle, watching them take half a step – it’s ruining an aspect of the game that the fans love!”