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Melbourne could hardly have been happier with how club champion Max Gawn\u2019s milestone match played out as the Demons\u2019 rampaging second half lifted them to a come-from-behind victory against Carlton at the MCG.<\/p>\n
The day was one of true celebration for Melbourne\u2019s premiership captain and eight-time All-Australian.<\/p>\n
Many of Gawn\u2019s former teammates including the likes of former No.1 draft pick Jack Watts, Collingwood premiership player Jeremy Howe as well as premiership teammates Michael Hibberd and James Harmes were in attendance to also celebrate fellow 250-gamer Tom McDonald.<\/p>\n
But long-standing journalist Caroline Wilson noted one key absence from a group photo Gawn shared on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of Max Gawn\u2019s former teammates were invited back to the club,\u201d Wilson said on Seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne man who didn\u2019t turn up, who was invited and was expected to come, was Clayton Oliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was in Melbourne for the weekend. Of course, playing for GWS. Who was out on the town with some of his GWS teammates on the Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s absolutely fine. Nothing wrong with that. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut there was a level of disappointment from Melbourne, who are trying to redevelop their relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax Gawn lived with him. He protected him. He mentored him. He stuck up for him. He did a lot of stuff for Clayton Oliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, it clearly didn\u2019t take away from what happened in the second half, but I know Melbourne leaders were disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was back at the club early doors for another milestone game earlier in the year. Just a level of disappointment that he didn\u2019t turn up from the Melbourne Football Club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would sacking Scott be too costly? | 00:34<\/p>\n
\u2018MASSIVE CHANGES\u2019 ANNOUNCED FOR THE \u2018LASSO RULE\u2019<\/p>\n
One of the big changes introduced to the game this season has been the last disposal out of bounds rule, and after a series of controversial moments across the weekend, it set to be adapted going forward.<\/p>\n
Geelong\u2019s Tom Atkins caused a stir on Thursday night when he convinced the umpire he should be awarded the free kick when replays showed the ball clearly came off his boot, not his opponents\u2019.<\/p>\n
The final quarter moment undoubtedly had a big say in the Cats\u2019 eight-point win as Atkins quickly got the ball moving forward and Jack Martin got on the end of the passage of play to kick a goal.<\/p>\n
By Sunday, the umpires\u2019 approach to the rule changed as in the final minute of West Coast\u2019s two-point victory against Port Adelaide, the ARC intervened to call a boundary throw-in after a free kick was awarded to the Eagles because the ball had come off Power ruck Jordan Sweet.<\/p>\n
The latter example is what fans will see more of going forward.<\/p>\n
“NRL is winning the ratings battle” | 02:10<\/p>\n
\u201cMassive changes to the protocol with the last touch rule. A big change to the lasso rule,\u201d Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph told On The Couch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will happen now is in key moments in late contests, the AFL will now stop that clock,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey won\u2019t be worried whether it\u2019s a field umpire or the ARC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geelong champion Tom Hawkins was supportive of the move to trust the video replays and ensure the correct call is made.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got the technology, which they clearly do, let\u2019s use it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tom Atkins incident, Jack Martin goes down the other end and kicks a goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if we have the access to it, let\u2019s absolutely use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Collingwood great Nathan Buckley was not convinced that the ARC got the decision right in the Sweet incident as the ball appeared to hit leg after slipping through his fingers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s enough to overturn that decision and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s that important,\u201d Buckley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that important, is it? To go to the video and to stop play. The whole idea of this (is to keep the play moving).<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s inconclusive, throw it in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another issue that has been a common occurrence in the early rounds of the season is players diving and sliding to lay a finger on the ball to stop it being a free kick before it goes out.<\/p>\n
Geelong\u2019s Tom Stewart protested on Thursday night when Izak Rankine did exactly that, saying it should be a free kick for insufficient intent.<\/p>\n
Moving forward, that will the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will now be a free kick. He does not have sufficient intent to try and keep it in,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will need to try to knock the ball back in rather than escort it to the boundary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big change. It will cause more controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawthorn legend Jordan Lewis believes that example may be too harsh on the player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think in that particular instance, he was able to physically get his hand behind the ball and flick it back in,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n
Richmond great Jack Riewoldt responded: \u201cThe AFL are looking for players to make an attempt to try and keep the ball in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wording was, if he used the left hand there to try and flick it back in and keep it in play, it\u2019d be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Buckley was left sniggering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe create a rule to save a certain situation and we create more situations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A veteran journalist has highlighted Melbourne\u2019s disappointment with a notable absentee from the celebrations for Max Gawn\u2019s 250th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,64925,56807,282124,696,12928,7803,282130,282125,282123,104445,282127,198129,282129,42137,27763,1823,282126,5337,10132,681,19080,282121,282128,12097,647,7804,99162,25173,282122,677,6082,8016,103829,281780,1124,85,23078,19118,41161,12113,68992,22760,13125,660],"class_list":["post-575144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ball-back","tag-boundary-throw-in","tag-bounds-rule","tag-brad-scott","tag-caroline-wilson","tag-clayton-oliver","tag-coach-mid-contract","tag-dollar-payout","tag-ex-demon-misses","tag-final-minute","tag-final-quarter-moment","tag-game-celebration","tag-gerard","tag-hawthorn-legend","tag-jack-martin","tag-jack-riewoldt","tag-jack-watts","tag-james-harmes","tag-jeremy-howe","tag-jon-ralph","tag-jordan-lewis","tag-lasso-rule","tag-massive-changes","tag-max-gawn","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-demons","tag-michael-hibberd","tag-milestone-game","tag-notable-absentee","tag-oceania","tag-port-adelaide","tag-premiership-player","tag-premiership-teammates","tag-ratings-battle","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-tom-atkins","tag-tom-hawkins","tag-tom-mcdonald","tag-tom-stewart","tag-touch-rule","tag-track-record","tag-veteran-journalist","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575144","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=575144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}