THE AFL umpires department has agreed with Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade that the Suns should have been paid a deliberate rushed behind free kick in the final term of Sunday's six-point loss to Essendon.
Eade was bemused that young Bomber Conor McKenna wasn't penalised after soccering the ball through for a behind from around 20 metres out.
Umpires head coach Hayden Kennedy compared the incident to when West Coast's Eric MacKenzie went unpunished in round eight, and said the umpire realised he had got the decision wrong.
Kennedy said he had made contact with Eade to discuss his concerns.
"We needed to pay a deliberate rushed behind in that instance," Kennedy told AFL.com.au's Whistleblowers program.
"If you compare it to Eric's, the distance was similar (and) the pressure was similar.
"We've clearly said to our umpires if we see this action from this distance it needs to paid as a deliberate rushed behind.
"Our umpire in that particular case weighed it all up and he gave the defender the benefit of the doubt in that instance."
Kennedy was "comfortable" with a similar incident minutes later involving Bomber Marty Gleeson because the rushed behind was "much closer to the goalline."
He also ticked off a deliberate out of bounds paid against Bulldog Lin Jong in the dying minutes of the Dogs' three-point win over Collingwood on Friday night.
Jong appeared to try to tap the ball to the advantage of teammate Marcus Bontempelli, but umpire Dean Margetts decided he didn't do enough to keep the ball in play.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge pondered the harshness of the decision after the match.
"We're supportive of the decision (and) understand there's a (teammate) in the vicinity," Kennedy said.
"You can see Dean takes a few seconds to weigh his options up and then decides there's less (benefit of the) doubt given to the players this year.
"I understand Luke's point, (but) these are hard decisions that need to be made in the pressure of the game.
"Some of these decisions aren't clear cut – not 100 per cent right or zero percent wrong."
