Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury wants to see AFL umpires pay more attention to the holding and pushing tactics employed by midfield stoppers such as Fremantle’s Ryan Crowley.
Crowley’s performance against Carlton skipper Chris Judd last Friday prompted Gold Coast’s star playmaker Gary Ablett to say on Twitter he thought Crowley’s close-checking style was a joke.
Ablett’s coach Guy McKenna said the outburst wasn’t ideal and others such as Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon were also critical of Ablett.
However, Pendlebury says Ablett should be admired for giving an opinion in the first place.
A mouth-watering match-up between Ablett and Crowley at the Gold Coast on Saturday has been shelved because the 2009 Brownlow Medallist is still recovering from a knee injury.
“It’s great that players have their say on Twitter. It gives you guys a lot to talk about and it’s a good insight into players’ personalities,” Pendlebury told reporters on Tuesday.
“Sometimes the media wants to see that side of guys. When it happens, I quite like it.”
Ablett attracts a heavy tag every week but Pendlebury said in admiration: “No tagger can stop that guy.”
Brownlow favourite Pendlebury says being tagged is a mark of respect.
“For the better part of my career, there has always been taggers in the game,” he said.
“It’s more with game plans, having numbers actually around the footy now. It’s so congested anyway that to cop a tag, it makes it even harder to get the footy.
“It will play itself out. When game plans open up a bit, guys who are getting tagged will start getting a lot more of the footy.
“I’m going to say yes (umpires need to be more vigilant) because occasionally I get tagged. It’d be nice if they have a good look.
“But they’ve got so much to watch around a stoppage. Both ruckmen always want a free kick.
“Everyone really wants a free kick around stoppage.
“I enjoy the battle. It’s a real one-on-one battle out there.
“It’s a respect shown to you from the opposition coach so it’s something that I enjoy.”
AFL umpires’ boss Jeff Gieschen admits Judd should have received more free kicks against Fremantle.
“By and large, Crowley did a terrific job but, quite clearly during the game, there was a couple of times we missed free kicks to Chris Judd,” Gieschen said on the afl.com.au website on Tuesday.
“Taggers are very subtle at the moment. They’re grabbing low down on the shorts, they’re grabbing wrists, they’re being very cunning with the way they’re doing it.
“We’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks in particular the tagger has been taking more liberties and we just need to make sure we’re very vigilant in that area.
“The bottom line is we’ve just got to protect the ball player.”