{"id":156639,"date":"2025-09-20T13:15:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T13:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/156639\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T13:15:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T13:15:06","slug":"collingwood-vs-brisbane-lions-preliminary-final-jamie-elliott-non-free-kick-umpiring-decisions-video-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/156639\/","title":{"rendered":"Collingwood vs Brisbane Lions preliminary final, Jamie Elliott non-free kick, umpiring decisions, video, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

A controversial non-free kick to Jamie Elliott rocked the last quarter of Brisbane\u2019s 29-point preliminary final victory against Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night<\/a> \u2014 and split pundits post-game.<\/p>\n

With nine minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the match, Tim Membrey popped a short pass over to Elliott on his own out the back, roughly 15 metres out from goal, after the Magpies caught the Lions on the fast break from half back.<\/p>\n

Lions defender Brandon Starcevich, who Elliott took \u201cone of the great finals marks\u201d<\/a> on in the opposite goal square during the third term, desperately sprinted back to make a contest, and appeared to infringe for front on contact despite his admirable effort.<\/p>\n

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The closest umpire did not seem to think so, however, as no whistle came and the Lions defenders were able to scramble back to force a boundary through in.<\/p>\n

If a free had have been paid, Elliott, who kicked a game high four goals, would have had a relatively straight forward set shot to reduce the margin to just six points.<\/p>\n

But the Lions went coast-to-coast from the throw in, with Logan Morris finding Charlie Cameron out the back with a superb kick, and Cameron converted his left foot snap to put Brisbane three goals up.<\/p>\n

Frame by Frame! “Impossible to overturn” | 00:42<\/p>\n

Fox Footy commentators were outraged by the non-decision, even if they were not as livid as the Magpie army.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrought down surely!\u201d was the call from Mark Howard on commentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cUmpires say play on. That\u2019ll be analysed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been paid all year the front on contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Melbourne two-time premiership player David King then added: \u201cHe froze. The umpire froze. Elliott took the perfect position to draw the contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just frozen the umpire. There\u2019s no doubt there\u2019s a free kick every day of the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s actually getting out the back of Starcevich consistently and that there is chopping the arms, front on contact, whatever you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caller Dwayne Russell asked: \u201cIs that not why we\u2019ve got a four-umpire system? So, if one umpire cannot see, another can?\u201d<\/p>\n

Magic Jamie snags GREATEST finals mark? | 00:42<\/p>\n

Triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt declared the free kick \u201cshould have been paid\u201d, adding: \u201cThere\u2019s four of them (umpires) out there, as you say. One of them needed to pay it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brisbane ran away with the match from then on as Cameron\u2019s goal was the first of four straight unanswered goals to book a rematch with Geelong, who they lost a qualifying final to a fortnight ago, next week.<\/p>\n

But as the clock ran down, Riewoldt pondered the impact the non-call had on the momentum of the game, saying in the final minute: \u201cCollingwood supporters will ask all week: what if that free kick had been paid to Jamie Elliott?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jamie Elliott moment, that will be one of the biggest talking points all the way through even this week and further on from that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post-game, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said there was \u201cno doubt it changed the momentum of the last quarter\u201d.<\/p>\n

Riewoldt and Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall then engaged in a debate over the call.<\/p>\n

Jamie Elliott and Brandon Starcevich. Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n

Jason Dunstall: I\u2019ve got to be honest, the more I look at it, the more I think the umpire made the right decision. At no stage does he take his eye off the ball. He is running flat stick with his head up tracking the ball and it looks like he maybe got a finger on the ball, not so much the arm. I think the umpires often take their queues from where the players\u2019 eye are and, to his Starcevich\u2019s credit, his eyes never left the ball.<\/p>\n

Jack Riewoldt: \u201cJase, if you\u2019re at one end of the pole, I\u2019m at the complete opposite end of the pole. That is a free kick every day of the week in the biggest game of the year \u2026<\/p>\n

JD: Why is the free kick there?<\/p>\n

JR: \u2026 it\u2019s front on contact.<\/p>\n

JD: Where did he hit him?<\/p>\n

JR: It doesn\u2019t matter whether he\u2019s got his eyes on the ball, it\u2019s front on contact \u2026 he chops his arms here.<\/p>\n

JD: Does he chop the arm or does he get the ball?<\/p>\n

JR: That\u2019s an arm chop there \u2026<\/p>\n

JD: That\u2019s the ball! He\u2019s got his fist hitting the ball, mate.<\/p>\n

JR: That is front-on contact, that is a free kick every day of the week.<\/p>\n

JD: Okey doke. That to me looks like his fist is there right near where the ball is \u2013 in-between his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven-time All-Australian Nathan Buckley added: \u201cI understand he has his eyes on the ball and that he might get his fist on the ball, but the arm chop is still a thing and front-on contact still a thing. That\u2019s a free kick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon Starcevich of the Lions and Jamie Elliott of the Magpies compete for the ball. Picture: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

The panel then threw down to the Lions\u2019 rooms where Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph was challenged by triple premiership star Jonathan Brown.<\/p>\n

Jon Ralph: The AFL will clarify it and the AFL umpiring department will assess it \u2013 and I\u2019d imagine by very early tomorrow morning, we\u2019ll get a decision that this is a blatant error. I think it\u2019s as blatant an umpiring error as we\u2019ve seen this year in the context. Having looked at it in slo-mo, the three points you\u2019re looking for are no eyes on the ball, he takes Elliott\u2019s left arm \u2026<\/p>\n

Jonathan Brown: Nah have got to pull up on that, \u2018eyes off the ball\u2019?<\/p>\n

JR: He takes his body \u2026 He didn\u2019t have eyes on the ball.<\/p>\n

JB: Hang on, play that again. Ralphy put your glasses on.<\/p>\n

JR: You think he spins around and turns his head?<\/p>\n

JB: No, I\u2019m talking about the first component \u2026 Watch his eyes. He has got his eyes on the ball<\/p>\n

JR: Any of those things have to be applicable there for it to be a free kick. He takes his left arm, he takes his body \u2026<\/p>\n

JB: Look at that! Look at his eyes. He\u2019s clearly got his eyes on the ball there.<\/p>\n

JR: That\u2019s fine, you\u2019re allowed to punch the ball, but if you drag the arm as he does \u2026 my point is, this is a blatant free kick, this is not something the umpire should be intervening in.<\/p>\n

JB: Yes it\u2019s a 50-50call, but you have said two things that you think you\u2019ve seen. But the vision doesn\u2019t show that. He had eyes on the ball and he didn\u2019t drag his arm \u2026<\/p>\n

JR: He chops the arm<\/p>\n

JB: I didn\u2019t think he even chops the arm. But to the outside world, when it happens, you think \u2018it\u2019s a free kick\u2019 \u2013 I thought it was a free kick \u2026<\/p>\n

JR: So Starcevich has to turn and he has to have his body going the other direction. You can\u2019t just clatter into a player and say \u2018I might\u2019ve got the ball\u2019 or \u2018my eyes were looking in that vicinity\u2019. You actually have to be spinning around and try and get your body towards where that ball is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A controversial non-free kick to Jamie Elliott rocked the last quarter of Brisbane\u2019s 29-point preliminary final victory against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20781,3237,49774,104444,1818,104445,104293,104446,43,36878,36862,42714,19096,13126,44,56810,104327,19095,104447,8016,64903,15706,14419,41,39,42,40,104448],"class_list":["post-156639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-brandon-starcevich","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-charlie-cameron","tag-controversial-non-free","tag-david-king","tag-final-minute","tag-finals-marks","tag-four-umpire-system","tag-headlines","tag-jamie-elliott","tag-logan-morris","tag-magpie-army","tag-mark-howard","tag-mason-cox","tag-news","tag-non-free-kick","tag-prelim-clash","tag-preliminary-final","tag-preliminary-final-victory","tag-premiership-player","tag-qualifying-final","tag-three-time-premiership","tag-tim-membrey","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-umpiring-decisions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}