THE AFL's new umpires' boss met with Chris Scott on Monday afternoon after the Cats coach slammed some current rule interpretations after his side's shock loss to Port Adelaide on Friday night.
In a five-minute monologue during his post-match press conference, Scott called for umpires to adjudicate holding the ball decisions faster and said the League should look to other sports to improve the advantage rule.
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The AFL's EGM of Football, Laura Kane, spoke with the Cats over the weekend and said the League's new head of officiating Stephen McBurney and head umpiring coach Michael Jennings drove to Geelong on Monday to meet with Scott in person and discuss his concerns.
"The really important part for me is we are connected with our clubs, we are connected to our coaches and we're all on the same page in terms of rules, in terms of the way our umpires are coached to interpret them and we're on the same page in terms of outcomes," Kane told Footy Feed Extra.
"(They) will head down to Geelong today to meet with Chris and make sure we're on the same page moving forward and reconnect interpretations of various things. Some from the game, some just generally.
"They are the opportunities that we take from this commentary and these types of situations. We take the opportunity to educate our clubs and in turn be educated."
Scott said players are currently being left in a difficult position with holding the ball decisions as they try to find the balance between making a tackle and not injuring the opposition player and risking a suspension.
"At the moment, you're getting a lot more time with the ball and the biggest risk that I see ... is that the players are really clear that they've got to be careful taking a player to ground in the tackle," Scott said.
"At the moment, you can be spun 360 and still get time to get rid of the ball after having prior opportunity ... Jake Kolodjashnij gave up a goal against Carlton two weeks ago where he's holding onto a player. Two years ago he would've taken him to ground, but we're telling him 'don't do that'. The Carlton player just turns around and kicks a goal because Jake can't take him down."
Kane also ticked off a controversial call late in the game on Friday night, when Geelong was denied a goal that would have narrowed the margin to just a point.
After Port Adelaide star Zak Butters was caught holding the ball in the back pocket, Cats midfielder Jhye Clark wobbled a kick towards the goal square. The umpires blew the whistle and ruled Clark's kick was not advantageous to the Cats, instead awarding a free kick to Ollie Henry in the pocket, only to see Jeremy Cameron slide in and kick a goal that would have cut Port's lead to just a single point. But with the whistle already blown, play was brought back to where Butters had infringed and Henry managed just a behind from the resulting free kick.
Scott was critical of the decision post-game, but Kane said given Clark's kick had not been to the obvious advantage of the Cats, the umpires had made the correct call in stopping play.
"The umpire's whistle has gone at almost the same time that the player (Clark) has disposed at the ball," Kane said.
"It's worth noting it came off the side of his boot, it was a shanked kick, and the umpire has made the decision to bring that back and give Geelong the shot on goal.
"So we were comfortable with the way it was officiated."