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Former St Kilda Coach Grant thomas hit the new AFL man on scoring rule after Richmond was the recipient of a 50m penalty goal in the first half.
The incident happened at the end of the first half where Josh Caddy was able to take advantage of the indiscretion of a Blues player, giving Richmond a break at the end of the first half against Carlton.
With the game finely placed after a competitive first half, Thomas was not impressed with the result apparently altered by the controversial rule.
“If the AFL is happy that the matches are decided by 50m penalties due to the man-to-the-mark rule, the game is really cooked,” Thomas tweeted.
Thomas’ call to man on scoring rule was also echoed by Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury, who urged the AFL to use “common sense”.
“Since we can make rule changes very quickly in our game,” Pendlebury tweeted.
“The man on the rule rule, east-west movement is 50, north-south does not matter. This is to open the 45.
The man on the scoring rule wasn’t the only one to divide opinions in the first half of the season opener, with a controversial, deliberate call out of bounds from Carlton defender Liam Jones.
Jones appeared to be fumbling for the ball on the last line of defense in the second quarter, but he was deemed to have deliberately rushed a behind, with the referee giving the free kick to Richmond.
Daniel Rioli got the free kick but missed the shot on goal in what was considered football’s “karma” by former Hawks skipper Luke Hodge on Seven’s comments.
“It’s footy karma over there,” Hodge said.
“You have a six-foot-five running back trying to control the ball. I think the crowd gave that one. He was convinced.
“If we pay for this all year round, there will be a lot of angry supporters.”
However, after apparently setting the precedent, the refs did not award Carlton a free kick in a similar situation minutes later, leaving fans scratching their heads.
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