Football fans were left scratching their heads during Collingwood’s thrilling one-point preliminary final win over GWS, with Mason Cox sent off at a crucial juncture.
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The lanky former basketball player kicked a goal to break the deadlock with 15 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and his usual abrasive celebrations rubbed up Giants defender Sam Taylor the wrong way, sparking the now-routine push-and-shove that seems to be inevitable whenever Cox does something of note.
The kerfuffle left Cox with a torn jumper, and according to Brian Taylor on comms, the ruckman was told by umpires he had to leave the ground for a jumper change.
It left the Pies without Cox for the next centre bounce.
“Cox was told by the umpire to go and get a new jumper,” Taylor said.
“I don’t think the umpire has any right to remove the player because of a torn jumper.
“Never, ever heard of someone being removed from the ground because of a jumper problem.
“Amazing.”
Fans on social media were equally confused by the call.
One fan asked pundit Kane Cornes whether he had seen it before.
“Ever seen a player told to leave the ground for a torn jumper? Opponents will just start ripping jumpers off if that’s the new rule,” the fan said on social media.
Another fan asked: “Since when can umpires bench players for having a torn jumper?”
A particular one-eyed Collingwood fan, along with declaring the 50m penalty against Steele Sidebottom as “bullsh*t”, claimed: “umpires cannot send a player off to get a new jumper for a torn one anyway”.
The Laws of the Game pertaining to jumper changes only regulate the procedure when teams change or replace jumpers, with every team required to keep replacements on hand for incidents such as these.
Many football leagues around the country introduce rules regarding visibility of numbers or similar, but the Laws and AFL Regulations are silent on the matter – the Laws of the Game include a power for umpires to broadly order players from the field of play, but that specific Law explicitly does not include the AFL competition.
The Pies would eventually run out thrilling one-point victors at the MCG, putting an end to the orange tsunami that has swept the country.
Brownlow Medal favourite Nick Daicos starred with 28 disposals in the 8.10 (58) to 8.9 (57) triumph, second only on the Magpies to Jordan De Goey’s equal game-high 34 — and he gained 520m with the ball and made four tackles.
And while he’s proven a beast when it matters most, Daicos also showed his true colours after the siren blew.
As Collingwood celebrated the victory and his teammates embraced, Daicos was filmed running over to devastated Giants captain Toby Greene.
Greene was kneeling on the turf after the painful loss, when Daicos put his arm around the All-Australian captain and embraced him.
It was a touching moment as the packed and Collingwood-heavy MCG crowd went absolutely berserk as “Good Old Collingwood Forever” rang out.
Collingwood now look to their 45th VFL/AFL Grand Final, looking to win a 16th premiership.
A win next Saturday would mark the club’s third premiership since 1958.
The AFL has been contacted for comment.
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