{"id":62354,"date":"2021-04-24T11:18:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T11:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=62354"},"modified":"2021-04-24T12:57:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T12:57:18","slug":"neale-in-hot-water-over-bizarre-umpire-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=62354","title":{"rendered":"Neale in hot water over bizarre umpire incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane star Lachie Neale<\/a> is set to face scrutiny from the AFL's Match Review Officer after vision showed him making unnecessary contact with an umpire.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred in the second quarter of the Lions' 15. 13. (103) to 12. 13. (85) win<\/a> over Carlton at Marvel Stadium when Neale's head was cut open in a tackle and he tapped umpire Matthew Nicholls on the arm.<\/p>\n

The AFL has consistently frowned upon players making contact with umpires, even dishing out suspensions in similar incidents in the past.<\/p>\n

However, Neale downplayed the incident after the match, indicating that he did not realise exactly what he had done.<\/p>\n

\"Lachie<\/p>\n

"I felt the blood and I thought he was about to throw it up," Neale told Fox Footy after the Lions' win.<\/p>\n

"I didn't even realise that I did that, so there you go. I was just trying to get his attention to get off the ground."<\/p>\n

The incident immediately caught the attention of Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall, who was on commentary for Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

"He was letting him know because he wanted a free kick for high contact \u2026 (But) surely he's not going to get a week for touching the umpire?" he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/p>\n

"What if he proves exceptional circumstances in that he's worried about the safety of the other players? He's got free-flowing blood and he needs them to stop the game so he can go off."<\/p>\n

Geelong forward Tom Hawkins was handed a one-match ban for a similar incident involving umpire Dean Margetts back in 2018, while Carlton's Ed Curnow was also handed a week<\/a> in the same season for "intentional contact" with an umpire.<\/p>\n

However, since the Hawkins and Curnow incidents, the AFL has changed the guidelines around contact with umpires, with contact assessed as either "aggressive, forceful, demonstrative or disrespect" and "unreasonable or unnecessary".<\/p>\n

Whether or not Neale receives a suspension will be decided by how Match Review Officer Michael Christian grades the contact made with the umpire.<\/p>\n

\"Lachie<\/p>\n

Neale's incident with umpire Nicholls came after he was forced off the field with an ankle injury in the first quarter, before returning with a heavily-strapped right leg.<\/p>\n

The reigning Brownlow Medallist appeared severely hampered for the majority of the match, but still finished with 24 disposals, although 16 were handballs. <\/p>\n

Hugh McCluggage continued on from a dominant performance in Round Five by adding another 33 disposals, while Eric Hipwood kicked three goals.<\/p>\n

Carlton's efforts were led by the tireless Sam Walsh, who led the Blues with 33 disposals and a goal, while Harry McKay was sensational up forward with six goals. <\/p>\n

Brisbane will return home in Round Seven to face Port Adelaide at home in a blockbuster clash, while Carlton will face Essendon in a must-win clash at the MCG.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here! <\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brisbane star Lachie Neale is set to face scrutiny from the AFL's Match Review Officer after vision showed him making unnecessary contact with an umpire. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62356,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62354\/revisions\/62356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}