Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick has apologised after vision from his coaches box surfaced of him giving the middle finger after an umpiring call on the weekend.
The Suns lost to Greater Western Sydney on the weekend by just seven points, losing (14.15) 99 to (16.10) 106.
In the last 43 seconds of the game, Giants Jake Stringer bombed a ball from the middle of the ground, which went out of bounds.
The out-of-bounds kick was called a throw-in instead of a free kick to the Suns due to an insufficient attempt to keep it in, which has been called many times this year.
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Hardwick was speaking on AFL 360 last night and said he thought it was a clear free kick to the Suns.
“I love Nathan Williamson the umpire that made the decision, I thought we’re gonna have one last crack at it so when he called boundary throw I was like ‘What? What?”
The Suns' coach was then shown his middle finger response to the decision, which he admitted may get him into a bit of trouble from the AFL.
“You had to you blokes, you’ve killed me with that,” Hardwick said.
“It should have been insufficient intent, we know that, I think. But at the end of the day, the game was dead and buried, so we move on pretty quickly.”
Harwick apologised to AFL CEO Andrew Dillon on social media last night, which someone could see as his hope to escape any punishment.
West Coast Eagles midfielder Harley Reid and Geelong’s star recruit Bailey Smith have both been fined by the AFL for their middle finger salutes this year, both having to pay $1,000 each.