Hardwick escapes fine for umpire criticism, Gold Coast still face sanction

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has escaped a fine but has been put on notice by the AFL that he faces a heavy financial penalty if he repeats his stinging criticism of the umpiring in Friday night’s loss to Geelong. AFL executive head of football Greg Swann called Hardwick directly on Monday to discuss the comments and express the league’s disappointment, but left the conversation with a warning and no fine. Hardwick complained about home-ground umpiring and decisions that went against his side as well as recommending a change to the lasso rule.

“I didn’t have a problem with his issue around the lasso, but probably the next bit was a bit overstepping the mark. We’ll have a chat, and hopefully we can move forward from there,” Swann told The Age’s Real Footy podcast on Monday. “I know from my experience in club land, we hated getting please-explain letters.

I just think it is easier to pick the phone up and have a chat.” The Suns, however, still face the prospect of a significant fine after defender Daniel Rioli was cited for making contact with an umpire. Rioli has chosen to contest the charge, but if his challenge is unsuccessful he would become the fifth Suns players this season to be found guilty of making contact with an umpire, triggering an AFL fine of up to $50,000 for the club.

“Gold Coast will get fined [if Rioli’s charge is sustained], we’ve just got to work out how much that is and what it looks like,” Swann said. “We probably will have to wait until tomorrow [Tuesday] because Gold Coast have put in a submission this morning around the Rioli contact, so they’re going to contest that. Obviously, we’ll see where that lands because if they win then it goes back to four [offences] and if they lose then they’re at five.”

Gold Coast, GWS and Collingwood were all told last week they had four player fines for umpire contact this season, meaning a club fine was pending if they had any further indiscretions of the same nature. “They [the clubs on four payers contact fines for the season] all got a notice last week to say you’re on the cusp,” Swann said. “We can fine up to $50,000, but it would be unlikely it would be that much, but we’ll certainly fine them and put them on notice that there’ll be further fines if they turn into six[th] and seven[th] and eight[th offences].

Today’s episode of the Real Footy podcast featuring Greg Swann discussing all the big issues in football with Michael Gleeson, Jake Niall and Sam McClure will be released on Monday afternoon. Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.

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