AFL silent on controversial umpiring decisions during Essendon’s loss to Geelong

The AFL has left fans scratching their heads after deciding not to publicly explain a series of controversial decisions during Geelong’s win over Essendon on Saturday night.

Throughout this season, AFL general manager of football Laura Kane has offered explanations to contentious umpiring calls from the weekend.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: AFL silent on controversial umpiring calls.

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In April, they admitted an umpire made a mistake in not giving Adelaide a free kick after Essendon ruck Sam Draper dived on the ball in the dying seconds of the Round 6 thriller.

And two weeks ago, Kane came out and clarified the hugely controversial decision to not give North Melbourne a 50m penalty in the final minute against Collingwood.

But Bombers fans expecting an explanation to Saturday night’s controversy shouldn’t hold their breath.

Trailing by three points early in the third quarter, Draper wasn’t awarded a free kick despite appearing to have his arms chopped by an on-rushing Zach Tuohy.

The Cats kicked a goal immediately after and then added another when Jye Menzie was controversially pinged for deliberately rushing a behind, as you can see in the video above.

Many expected the AFL to clarify the decisions on Monday, however 7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary said the league decided not to publicly comment.

“They’ll still brief clubs moving forward … but privately concede they’ll be reining in when they do and don’t clarify decisions,” Cleary added.

The deliberate rushed behind appeared worthy of an explanation, given how rare that type of free kick is paid.

“That is a perplexing decision and it results in a Dempsey goal, and this place is about to explode,” Alister Nicholson said in commentary on Channel 7.

“For me it looked as though Menzie was perfectly within his rights to run the ball through. Dempsey would’ve been I think three metres at absolute most behind him when he rushed the behind.”

His co-commentators were desperate for a replay, with Collingwood premiership winner Daisy Thomas clear on his view afterwards.

“That is an incorrect decision made from the umpire,” Thomas said.

After the match, Essendon coach Brad Scott appeared to reference the incidents.

“We clearly lost momentum in the third quarter through a series of unfortunate events,” Scott said.

“We just had a patch there where we lost total control the game.

“Now that can happen through through a variety of factors … what I’m most disappointed about is that we lost momentum and then we lost composure and couldn’t regain the momentum.

“The only thing you can do is control your response to it and our response was really disappointing.

“It was a step back in that area or us, which has been really good so far this year.”

Essendon remain in fourth place on the ladder heading into Friday night’s monster clash against Collingwood.

The Magpies are also coming off a defeat after losing to Gold Coast by 11 points.

The rivals played out a thrilling draw when they last met on Anzac Day.

After a surging start to the season, Essendon are determined to capitalise as they aim to end the club’s infamous 20-year drought since their last finals win.

– With AAP