THE AFL umpires department has dismissed calls it should have given Greater Western Sydney a 50-metre penalty in the dying minutes of its preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs.
Laws of the Game committee member Michael Christian said on Monday Bulldog Jason Johannisen should have been penalised for entering Giant Tom Scully's 10 metre protection zone in the centre square.
GWS trailed by five points with just under two minutes of playing time to go at that stage, and Scully booted the ball into the forward line.
Did missed 50m cost Giants a GF berth?
Grand Final umpire Matt Stevic told AFL.com.au's Whistleblowers program he was comfortable with the decision colleague Matthew Nicholls made.
"Scully marks the footy and immediately moves off his line, so what we're encouraged to do as umpires there is call play on really quickly," Stevic said.
"In this case Scully plays straight away, so we're comfortable with the play on call.
"There is always a small delay on making that assessment on the player either playing on or players coming into the protected area."
The two men who will help Stevic officiate Saturday's season decider – veteran Simon Meredith and Grand Final debutant Scott Jeffery - joined the four-time Grand Final umpire on the panel.
The trio reviewed several other issues from the Bulldogs' win on Whistleblowers, including
- Deliberate out of bounds free kicks paid against Giant Phil Davis and Bulldog Marcus Bontempelli
- The umpires' build-up to Grand Final
