‘Look at this!’: AFL umpire act that ‘needs to be looked at’ amid epic finish

Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Jordan Lewis has flagged a change that “needs to be looked at” for umpires moving forward, with an unintentional act of theirs potentially changing games.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, the 319-gamer highlighted multiple key passages of play from last Sunday’s blockbuster between Geelong and GWS, which saw both teams trying to ‘take the game on’ late in the final quarter.

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But as both Cats and Giants players looked inward from the edges of the field, several officials were evenly spread out across GMHBA Stadium, which unintentionally made it harder for the team in possession to move the ball forward as quickly as hoped.

“I think it’s probably something that needs to be looked at … I think we need to leave the corridor open for players to be able to move the ball and run into that space,” Lewis began by saying.

“We don’t need three umpires in the middle of the corridor.

Lewis than highlighted one moment with 15 minutes in the match, where Geelong defender Zach Guthrie kicked the ball inbound within metres of an in-zone umpire through necessity.

“Zach Guthrie wants to go in there, sees the umpire and says: ‘Stuff it, I’m just going to kick it there anyway’.

“Look at this! Three umpires down the middle of the ground, the part of the ground we want our teams to access so it’s more exciting — yet we sit three umpires in there.

“I think they need to find a better position.”

Lewis’ words were met with agreeance from the On The Couch panel, although it remains a problem that yet has a genuine solution just yet.

The suggestion for the AFL comes just days after the inexplicable non-call of a trip for Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett.

The midfielder-forward was essentially running into an open goal for a loose ball, before being tripped by his Hawks opponent. The umpires called play-on, in a moment that was some ways influential to the extent of the final result.