Early in the third term Shannon Byrnes ran onto a Cameron Mooney pass and got his foot to the ball to stretch the Cats’ lead to 12 points, however the umpire ruled Byrnes had kicked the ball over the line and was awarded a point.
The replay showed that Byrnes kicked the goal well before the line, leaving the Magpies coach adamant the AFL should consider introducing technology to aid goal umpires next year.
“I think it is time that there is an aid to help the goal umpires,” he said.
“The goal umpires are under massive pressure - they don’t get a second go at it and the way that ball moves at times it doesn’t give you a lot of breathing space.”
The goal umpires have been in the firing line this round, with Jarrad Waite and Jay Neagle both denied what looked like certain goals in the Blues’ 76-point win over Essendon on Friday night.
Malthouse denied the use of such technology would have a detrimental impact on the game, believing fans would rather see the correct decisions made on the ground.
“It should be able to be seen in the space of five to 10 seconds,” he said.
“I think people would rather that extra 10 to 15 seconds delay and see something right than not see something right.”
However Malthouse’s Geelong counterpart Mark Thompson believes talk of the introduction of such technology is premature.
“I haven’t got a strong opinion about much the AFL makes decisions on because I don’t want to be controversial in any way,” he said.
“We’ve got more interchange stewards, more boundary umpires, more umpires, a ball boy that sits there with a few balls in a box,” he said.
“There’s a lot of people employed by footy. How much is this going to cost the game?
“I’d much rather give more money to each club so we can do things a bit easier and a bit better.”
Thompson refused to use the decision as an excuse for a change in momentum as the Pies ran away to record a victory that now sees them sit a game and a half clear of the Cats.
“That wasn’t the reason why we lost the game. They hit the post six times and they had a lot more shots at goal and played a lot better and deserved to win,” he said.
