AFL great Matthew Lloyd has called on the league to investigate and potentially punish Hawthorn players after fresh footage captured the heated aftermath of the umpiring decision that ended the club’s season.
The Hawks fell short in a preliminary final for the second consecutive year, going down to the Brisbane Lions 20.11 (131) to 19.8 (122) at the MCG on Saturday night.
Hawthorn’s hopes disappeared in the final seconds when defender Jarman Impey was penalised for holding the ball. The free kick allowed Brisbane star Hugh McCluggage to kick the decisive goal with just 18 seconds remaining.
One Fox Sports commentator labelled the decision “the biggest call you have ever seen”.
The call sparked a furious reaction from the tens of thousands of Hawthorn supporters inside the MCG, with bottles thrown towards the umpires as they made their way from the field.
Fan-recorded footage has since emerged showing Hawthorn defender Tom Barrass sprinting about 50 metres to confront the umpire who paid the free kick, Hayden Meyer.
Fan footage shows Hawthorn defender Tom Barrass running 50 metres to confront umpire Hayden Meyer after the match-winning decision
Barrass is seen confronting the umpire while teammate James Sicily appears to remonstrate with him
Lloyd, the former Essendon champion, said the AFL should consider sanctions for Barrass and captain James Sicily, who appeared in the footage to angrily berate the umpire.
“This is something I’d expect to watch in soccer,” Lloyd said on The Sunday Footy Show.
“They get in the face of referees and it’s aggressive, like Sicily and Barrass were.”
“So I think they should both potentially be sanctioned, or we want a please explain from those two players about how they handled it.”
Lloyd said there was “no doubt” the Hawthorn players had gone too far in their response.
“It’s aggressive,” he said.
Hawthorn great Luke Hodge also condemned the conduct of fans, after officials were forced to avoid bottles and cans hurled from the stands as they left the MCG.
“The umpires are walking off; they should not have things thrown at them. A bottle has come down from the top tier,” Hodge said.
Supporters on social media were quick to voice their outrage, with one user posting: “Disgraceful. Should be life bans dished out.”
Furious Hawthorn supporters turned on the umpires after a controversial late decision in the Hawks’ preliminary final against Brisbane
Another wrote: “That’s not the way, boys. Not our night, but shouldn’t be doing that.”
A third commented: “Embarrassing behaviour — no, disgraceful. The AFL needs to come down hard on this type of behaviour.”
Coach Sam Mitchell impressively kept his emotions in check throughout a fraught post-game media conference, where he spoke of mourning.
‘This feeling is the pits,’ Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he did not know about Sicily and Barrass going to the umpires, but he was aware of the bottles being thrown onto the ground.
‘At the end of the game, part of me wanted to break down in tears, part of me wanted to scream with rage, part of me wanted to throw chairs, you don’t know how to react,’ he said.
‘So when you’re in the stand, you need to continue to be feeling that emotion, because that’s why we love it, but how it manifests itself – we shouldn’t be throwing things on the field and doing those types of things.
‘But the passion in the stand and the passion of the game is why we love it so much. So I hope that for the vast majority it was felt responsibly.’
Mitchell spoke of grief and added it was too soon to think beyond what had just happened.
Former Hawthorn great Luke Hodge slammed the wild behaviour. ‘The umpires are walking off, they should not have things thrown at them. A bottle has come down from the top tier,’ he said
The final-minute decision triggered furious boos from tens of thousands of Hawks fans packed into the MCG. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any fan pictured above
‘I think we’re in a mourning phase. What’s the first part, is it anger? I think I’m still half in anger, probably sense it in my body language,’ he said.
‘What else, what’s after anger? I don’t know, last is acceptance and – I nearly said a bad word – I’m a long way from acceptance right now.
‘I will sit in anger for a bit longer, I’m sure all the players will too.’
Before they left the MCG for the last time this season, Mitchell brought his players into a tight group.
‘It was just, “Remember this”. There’s nothing more raw than that five minutes straight after the siren, when it hurts the most,’ Meek said of Mitchell’s message.
‘Remember the burn and the outrage and how frustrating it is – because that will be our fuel. We have a big pre-season ahead.’
Mitchell spoke of his great pride in the Hawks, who staged an outstanding comeback in the final quarter.
But in the end, it came to nothing.
‘If you want to strive for great things, you will open yourself up for all sorts of emotion, the greatest of joy, and the deepest of pain,’ he said.
