Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has copped savage blowback for saying Collingwood forward Tim Membrey’s after-the-siren shot on goal should not have counted.
A player has 30 seconds from taking a mark to starting his walk-in to kick the ball, and Beveridge believes that time had elapsed before Membrey approached the kick in Friday night’s inaugural wildcard clash at the MCG.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Clock counts down on Tim Membrey’s post-siren shot
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Beveridge believes the umpires should have called play-on and, given the final siren had sounded, that would have meant Membrey’s kick would not have counted at all.
Of course, Membrey only managed a point so Beveridge’s point is moot, but the vision is far from conclusive, making the frustrated coach’s comments all the more surprising.
Membrey starts to walk in with four seconds remaining before the final siren. Credit: Seven “It’s always nice to get a little bit of luck,” Beveridge said after the game.
“Mind you, the clock had run out beforehand. Technically, it should have been play-on before the siren went. But it wasn’t called.
“That was an interesting thing at the end there. I don’t know what happened, but it’s a pretty obvious one to call play-on isn’t it?
“It doesn’t matter now. But there are things like that happening all the time in-game.
“I don’t know what happens, there’s four (umpires) out there. How can you miss that? I’m not sure.”
The comments and dig at the umpires certainly did not go unnoticed, and AFL experts believe Beveridge is “splitting hairs” considering the mark was taken around 34 seconds before the final siren, and he started walking with around four seconds to go.
High-profile social media account ‘has the umpire made A Bad decision?’ savaged Beveridge on Saturday, saying the coach was just plain wrong and should be fined.
“It just isn’t factually true though,” he said on X (formerly twitter).
“The mark is blown about 34 seconds left, he begins to approach about 4 seconds left. Uses the full 30 he is entitled too.
“If AFL cares about its umpires, Bevo ought to cop a serious fine. His comments were both wrong, snarky and unnecessary.”
Brisbane great Jonathan Brown said “common sense” prevailed and Beveridge was “splitting hairs”.
“Imagine if that had have been called play on. Would have been an absolute riot,” Brown said.
Fans also piled on Beveridge.
“Really? What a sook!! Got away with throwing the ball all game and complaining about a few seconds,” one fan blasted.
And another: “I think Bevo will regret bringing this up as he did start walking in right on 30 once umpire blew whistle and set mark after he marked with 35 to go! His sooking this week has reached a new level even for Bevo!”
And another: “He legit marks it at 35 changing to 34 seconds and started walking in right on 5 changing to 4 seconds. That’s 30 seconds. Both you and Bevo are uneducated.”
And another: “That’s fine. It was 30 secs. Maybe like 0.05 sec more but no sane ump is calling play on there.”
It wasn’t Beveridge’s only eyebrow-raising moment from Friday night. At one point, cameras spotted him standing on the actual ground in the last quarter.
As soon as he realised he was over the boundary line, he took a step back.
He will not be fined for the indiscretion.