Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has said he hopes umpires were looking for free kicks for ‘every player’ after their hard tag on Collingwood’s Nick Daicos.
Demon Ed Langdon was tasked with tagging Daicos in their one-point loss yesterday and kept the Pies star to only 19 disposals.
Langdon’s hard tag drew criticism that he was holding Daicos too much on and off the ball, while the Melbourne winger only accumulated four possessions of his own.
Speaking to AFL360 after the game, Goodwin was asked if the umpires were looking for free kicks that they hadn’t been looking for in the first half.
"It was certainly pretty clear post halftime, early especially, that they (the umpires) were watching some of the holding in and around the ball," Goodwin said.
"I’m not sure what transpired at halftime, but obviously the free kicks were pretty evident early in the third quarter."
He was also asked if he thought the umpires brought up the issue at halftime to look for the holds around the ball.
Goodwin said he wasn’t too sure but hopes they weren’t looking at just one player.
“I don’t know what transpires in those breaks with the umpires and what they discuss, but hopefully they do it for every player," he said.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae believed the tag on Daicos was effective, but the Pies players could’ve done a better job protecting him.
“I thought they (Melbourne) did a great job on him, and Nick fought through it, but Langdon would’ve had the honours, I thought,” McRae said.
“I think it’s a sort of nil all draw in terms of the way we looked after him (Daicos), I thought there was times when we could’ve done a few things different.”
McRae said it was great to have the two Daicos brothers in the team, with brother Josh winning the Neale Daniher trophy for best player.
Goodwin conceded they could’ve switched the tag over to Josh Daicos, but they were content to leave it.
“To Josh’s credit, he's a fine player and doesn’t matter who you have down there, he’s going to find the ball,” Goodwin said.