By ABC News
Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick is seething his star midfielder Matt Rowell is among a batch of AFL players facing a possible suspension if he makes contact with an umpire again.
Under a rule change announced this week by the AFL, any player who makes careless contact with an umpire four or more times in a two-year period faces being sent to the tribunal and a potential ban.
Rowell has already been fined four times in a two-year span for careless contact with an umpire.
Hardwick described the late-season change as “frustrating”.
“If it leads to a suspension, look out from our point of view,” Hardwick said.
“I know we’re the Gold Coast Suns. And don’t get me wrong, Matt Rowell is a superstar.
“But if this was spoken about with Nick Daicos, Collingwood would tear the place down.
“Let’s sit there and understand what we’re talking about here.
“We can make changes about umpire adjudication, but we’ve been calling out for change to the tribunal for a period of time.
“Why can we, with the swipe of a pen, change one and not the other?”
The AFL changed the rules after 63 incidents of players making careless contact with umpires this season. All have resulted in a financial sanction.
Hardwick said most incidents were at centre bounces.
“What can you tell me about the centre bounce of the ball?” he said.
“It goes anywhere, so it’s really, really hard for the players … if the ball bounces sideways, they’re going to move.
“Have the AFL spoken to the AFL Commission and asked: ‘Can we, for the remainder of the year, take away the centre bounce and throw it up and see if there’s any significant change in the data?’.
“Some of those ones against Rowelly (Rowell) — what he’s getting fined for, [they’re] quite laughable, to be perfectly honest.
“We understand the health and safety of the umpires is important.
“But I think we can look at speaking to the commission about getting rid of the bounce and throwing it up.”
The AFL said in the entirety of last season, there were 56 incidents of players making careless contact with an umpire, following only 20 such cases in 2023.