{"id":898324,"date":"2026-09-20T00:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T00:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898324\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T00:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T00:26:14","slug":"white-hot-fury-mitchells-rage-over-forgotten-ump-call-as-big-rule-change-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898324\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018White-hot fury\u2019: Mitchell\u2019s rage over forgotten ump call as big rule change revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

An angry Sam Mitchell reacted with \u201cwhite-hot fury\u201d to a series of crucial umpire decisions in the dying moments of Hawthorn\u2019s heartbreaking preliminary final loss to Brisbane<\/a>, as debate continues to rage around the footy world.<\/p>\n

Hawks fans were left incensed at the MCG when three decisions in a row went against them in the final minute, leading to Hugh McCluggage\u2019s match-winning goal.<\/p>\n

The most infamous has clearly been the call by umpire Hayden Meyer to penalise Jarman Impey for holding the ball<\/a>, with the Hawk ruled to have not made a genuine attempt to dispose of the football.<\/p>\n

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That decision, which set up McCluggage\u2019s go-ahead major, was declared \u201c100 per cent right\u201d by Fox Footy commentator Gerard Whateley.<\/p>\n

But post-match, Mitchell declared that free was \u201cprobably not the one I was focused on\u201d, with the Hawks coach reacting furiously in the box as a Grand Final spot was wrested from his team\u2019s grasp.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple leading up to it and other key moments in the game,\u201d he said of the incidents that had frustrated him most. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure the umpires will assess how they performed in the game in key moments. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mitch Lewis out of bounds one and the (Dayne) Zorko free kick. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not for me to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“The biggest call you have ever seen!” | 00:41<\/p>\n

A minute earlier, key forward Lewis, tracking down a bouncing ball down the Shane Warne Stand wing from Jack Ginnivan, had the ball bounce off his fingers and over the boundary line.<\/p>\n

Hawks fans exploded in outrage when the free kick was paid against him for insufficient intent.<\/p>\n

Then, moments later, Josh Weddle was penalised for high contact after clipping Dayne Zorko as the Lion skirted around an attempted tackle.<\/p>\n

Replays showed the Hawk had made glancing, but far from severe, contact with Zorko\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was white-hot fury from Sam there, who let\u2019s face it, was really strong,\u201d Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph said of Mitchell\u2019s press conference. <\/p>\n

Mitch Lewis was penalised for insufficient intent.Source: FOX SPORTSHarris Andrews successfully appealed for the free kick.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically said \u201cI\u2019m sure the umpires will assess how they performed in the game in those key moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the Lewis incident, Ralph declared the umpire had made the \u201ccorrect call\u201d, citing a contentious mid-season rule change that prevented players from circumventing the introduced \u201clast disposal\u201d rule by getting a touch to the ball as it crossed the line.<\/p>\n

The tweak has caused controversy throughout the season, with a call to penalise Carlton defender Nick Haynes for insufficient intent in the Blues\u2019 Gather Round loss to Adelaide copping a particularly savage backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to try and drag the ball in,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the correct call \u2013 you remember down in Geelong, we had a couple of incidents like that about Round 6, and we saw the rules change mid-season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Weddle conceded a high free kick against Dayne Zorko.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

Ralph added on X: \u201cIt\u2019s no consolation for Hawthorn but until round 3 Mitch Lewis could take the ball over the line like that in the last 90 seconds.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThen players were diving for the line just to get a fingernail on the ball to avoid a lasso free kick,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the AFL changed the rule mid-season to ensure a player had to attempt to bring the ball back in rather than escorting it out. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately for the Hawks it reared its head in the dying seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a trio of former greats in Jordan Lewis, Tom Hawkins and Jonathan Brown disagreed with Ralph, saying Lewis was \u201cstiff\u201d to have been pinged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s for me the wrong call,\u201d Hawks four-time premiership great Lewis said on Fox Footy<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not too sure what you\u2019re meant to do there when you\u2019re going full speed towards the boundary line. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ball was bouncing that way. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought that was a big call to make in a really important part of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what they\u2019re asking players to do is to somehow get a hand behind the ball. It\u2019s pretty hard when you\u2019re out, fully stretched, to try and (do that).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if he took possession of that and fell over (the boundary line)?\u201d Lions champion Brown wondered. <\/p>\n

Bottles thrown at umpires post match | 01:21<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think it would have been still paid?\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s deliberate,\u201d Lewis replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually think he\u2019s trying to take possession,\u201d Hawkins added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably the nuances in it, but for me, that was an important part of the game,\u201d Lewis finished. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like a 50\/50, I know the AFL will probably come out and tick that one off, but that was free kick, bang-bang-bang, down the other end, game over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Brown admitted: \u201cI thought it was stiff.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the decision to award Zorko a free was questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not much \u2013 that\u2019s not a free kick, is it?\u201d Ralph said of Weddle\u2019s high contact. <\/p>\n

\u201cDoes he make the most of it?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An angry Sam Mitchell reacted with \u201cwhite-hot fury\u201d to a series of crucial umpire decisions in the dying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-898324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898324","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=898324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}