AFL To Clarify Umpire Contact Rule In Offseason Review

The Australian Football League will "set concrete guidelines for intentional umpire contact" in its offseason judiciary review after "confusion over a spate of player-umpire incidents," according to Jon Ralph of the HERALD SUN. The league’s review will also "assess whether it adopts a stricter liability for players who bump." Match review officer Michael Christian and AFL Football Operations Head Steve Hocking this week "softened their approach" to umpire contact after Dustin Martin’s contact with Jacob Mollison. There was even a discussion inside AFL House about a mid-season rule change for umpire contact. But Hocking is "against mid-season tinkering" and it would have taken months to enact because it would "need to be drafted then approved by the AFL Commission." Instead, Christian said this week that he would "only grade umpire contact as intentional if it was aggressive, forceful, disrespectful or demonstrative" (HERALD SUN, 6/20).