Michael Voss, Chris Fagan want ball ups after umpire contact

Courier-Mail

11-07-2025

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A ball-up should always be the outcome when a player collides with an umpire in open play, and should be standard at centre bounces according to coaches Michael Voss and Chris Fagan after another incident at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
The Carlton and Brisbane coaches reacted after an umpire ran into Carlton's Lachie Cowan on Thursday night with umpire contact in the spotlight.
It happened during the first quarter of the Brisbane Lions' 37-point win over the Blues when umpire Andrew Heffernan obliviously ran backwards into the thick of the action and clashed heavily with Cowan.
The coming-together floored the unattended Cowan and prevented him from taking a regulation mark in defence.
From the resulting spillage, Brisbane star Cam Rayner mopped up and dished it off to Charlie Cameron who snapped truly from 20m out, much to the chagrin of the Blues faithful.
The incident occurred just five days after Essendon coach Brad Scott blasted the umpires' on-field positioning after his young charge Nate Caddy was involved in a similar clash against Gold Coast.
'If you're interrupting the passage of play, I would've thought it's common sense to make that a ball-up,' Voss said.
'Maybe that's something they need to make an adjustment on in the future if there's a different interpretation on that … so there's no advantage to any other team.'
Despite the recent spate of hard clashes between players and umpires, and Scott's unambiguous criticism of the umpires, Voss wasn't concerned about where they were positioning themselves.
'They're pretty detailed in the way they position themselves and I think generally we get it right,' Voss said.
'When you watch the four umpires, there is a way they move around the ground so we back in that that's coached and it's coached really well.
'We don't get it perfect and I suspect they won't either.'
Lions coach Chris Fagan was bemused at how the Caddy and Cowan incidents happened in such quick succession.
'Isn't it funny in footy how suddenly something becomes a topic and then things keep happening to keep it going as a topic,' Fagan said.
'We've got to look after the umpires and protect the umpires but sometimes accidents happen.'
Brisbane's Zac Bailey avoids umpire contact.
Voss stressed that the league's recent crackdown on careless umpire contact, which could mete out suspensions to repeat offenders, had been clearly relayed to his players.
'It's been something that we've all been really mindful of within the industry,' Voss said.
Fagan had his own view on how contact between umpires and players could be radically reduced.
'The things that the AFL are talking about that we've now put in place, I think they're good,' he said.
'But I'm a fan of not bouncing the ball. I think that would help some of those collisions that happen at centre bounces.
'If the ball-up is predictable, then it makes it so much easier for the umpire to get out, for players to read the ball.
'As soon as you bounce it, it could go anywhere, players are watching the ball, they're not even looking at the umpire because they're under pretty strict instructions to get that ball out of the centre as often as you can so I think we need to talk about it a little bit more.'
Originally published as Another umpire collision with a player left Carlton coach Michael Voss clear what should happen