THE AFL has put Damien Hardwick on notice for his comments relating to umpiring decisions on Friday night, with the League's football boss Greg Swann calling the Suns coach personally to address his post-match outburst.
It is understood Swann rang Hardwick on Monday morning to express his disappointment in the comments, although the Gold Coast coach has not been fined and is not expected to be punished further for his words.
Speaking after the match, Hardwick compared GMHBA Stadium to the Roman Colosseum and suggested that umpires were waiting for a reaction from the crowd before making their decision on several incidents.
"What do you reckon?" Hardwick replied when asked if he was frustrated.
"At the end of the day, it was like the Roman Colosseum. The crowd would do this [motions his thumbs down] and all of a sudden it was a free kick. It is what it is, a home ground advantage. We understand that. You know you're up against it from the start.
"A couple of them, I thought, weren't there."
Gold Coast lost the free kick count 20-24 on Friday night, with Hardwick also taking aim at the direction of the AFL's new last disposal out of bounds rule during his side's disappointing 45-point defeat.
Hardwick called on the League to amend the interpretation of the 'lasso rule', saying players shouldn't be penalised for a last disposal if the ball "indiscriminately" comes off their foot before going out of play.
"I don't know, that's not what the rule is there for. If someone kicks it out of bounds, absolutely. But if you knock it off someone's foot and we're looking at that, they need to change that. That's an easy change," Hardwick said.
"I don't know if it's a different understanding, I just think it's a modification they can make. I think it's a ridiculous look. The ball can accidentally trickle off a guy's toe that's been hit into ... it's not as if he's deliberately trying to kick it out of bounds.
"It's not the reason we won or lost, but they change a lot of things. Just change that."
Gold Coast's defeat to Geelong was its third consecutive loss, with the Suns now spiralling to ninth on the ladder with a 7-6 record and sitting one game outside the top six and one game inside the wildcard spots.
