CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse has slammed the AFL'sdecision to trial Hawk-Eye technology mid-season as a"knee-jerk" reaction from league officials who should "growup".
The AFL will this weekend testthe technology, renowned for its use in cricket and tennis, as part ofan attempt to improve the contentious goal reviewsystem.
It will be available for the first time in an AFLmatch when Malthouse's team and his former club Collingwood clash at the MCG onFriday night.
"It didn’t help us two weeks ago," Malthousetold reporters at Visy Park on Thursday, referring to an incident in which agoal kicked by Blue Jeff Garlett against Essendon was incorrectly judged by thegoal umpire to be a behind.
No review was called for in that case.
"If you’re going to bring things in, bring themin at the beginning of the year," Malthouse said.
"Grow up, don’t knee-jerk, and don’t find outthat there's something available at round 15 when it was available roundone."
When it was suggested that at least the AFL was tryingto improve its system, Malthouse responded: "Don’t make excuses for theAFL. There's already enough excuses.
"With an organisation that is that big and (has)that many people … it's a conglomerate that's stuck down at Docklands, andthey're going to wait until round 15 to discover that there's some mechanismthat actually gets it right. Turn it up."
A League spokesman told AFL.com.au: “The AFL is not using the technology trial this weekend as part of thedecision-making process at any time. The system is being examined to see how itmay operate under match conditions, if it was approved for use in futureseasons.”
The Blues have aprecarious 6-7 record and are ninth, two games shy of the eighth-placed Magpies.
Malthouse saidskipper Marc Murphy (cheekbone) and fellow midfielder Andrew Carrazzo would beconsidered for selection. Murphy didn’t train fully on Thursday and will awaitmedical clearance.
The Carlton coachrevealed that impressive first-year draftee Nick Graham, who has performedstrongly in three VFL games since returning from a knee injury, could make hisAFL debut against the Pies.
However, Malthousewouldn’t buy into any talk about the personal importance of posting a win over Collingwood,which he left in acrimonious circumstances at the end of 2011.
"None,"he said when asked if the Pies' clash gave him any extra incentive.
"I said itround two (and) I don’t think anything that happened in between is going to changethat."
Malthouse estimatedthere had been as much as a 50 per cent change in personnel at Collingwoodsince he left the club, and added that his intimate knowledge of its playershadn't helped the Blues in round two, when they went down by 17 points.
Malthouse said histeam had improved by "up to one-eighth" since the start of the season.
He admitted hisplayers hadn't been ready to execute the plan he had initially tried toimplement, adding that it took four years for his 'press' strategy to culminatein a premiership at Collingwood.
Malthouse said hehad made subtle changes to the game plan during the opening four rounds andthere had been further change since, but he was now "very, verysatisfied" with it, while acknowledging the Blues still needed to beat thebest teams.
Ben Collins is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter:@AFL_BenCollins
