Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick has fired a direct warning shot at the AFL regarding their latest rules crackdown, telling the league to “look out” should they decide to send star midfielder Matt Rowell to the Tribunal in the future.
The AFL introduced new laws on Tuesday around player-umpire contact, essentially bringing in a ‘four strikes’ policy for players that contact umpires on as many occasions across a two-year span - with a fifth strike resulting in an automatic Tribunal case.
Rowell, alongside St Kilda’s Jack Macrae, has contacted an umpire four times over that stretch, but after saying the in-season change was “frustrating”, Hardwick feels there would be more uproar if a player of Nick Daicos’ caliber was the man in the spotlight.
"If it leads to a suspension, look out from our point of view," Hardwick started Thursday’s press conference by saying.
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"I know we're the Gold Coast Suns, and don't get me wrong, Matt Rowell is a superstar, but if this was spoken about with Nick Daicos, Collingwood would tear the place down.”
With the AFL sporadically cracking down on certain rules each week, Hardwick then questioned why the league is able to change some, and not others.
"We can make changes about umpire adjudication, but we've been calling out for change to the Tribunal for a period of time. Why can we, with the swipe of a pen, change one and not the other?"
Not one to shy away from sharing his opinion, Hardwick concluded his rant by reminding the AFL that most umpire contact occurs at the centre bounce, where the unpredictability of the ball lends itself to accidental contact.
"What can you tell me about the centre bounce of the ball? It goes anywhere, so it's really really hard for the players ... if the ball bounces sideways, they're going to move," Hardwick said.
"Some of those ones against Rowelly, what he's getting fined for, are quite laughable, to be perfectly honest."
Rowell will celebrate his 100th game this Saturday at Marvel Stadium when the Suns take on Essendon.