AFL umpiring is again at the top of the agenda heading into the weekend after two separate incidents arose during Carlton’s 37-point loss to the Brisbane Lions on Thursday night.
The first came five minutes into the first quarter when Blues defender Lachlan Cowan ran into the back of an umpire, who was wrongly positioned inside the corridor. The loose ball was quickly gobbled up by Brisbane’s Cam Rayner, who handballed over the top to find a wide-open Charlie Cameron for an easy goal.
When asked post-game, Blues coach Michael Voss advocated for common sense to prevail in the form of a ball up if umpires find themselves in the line of fire.
“You couldn’t ask me what the ruling is on that, sorry,” Voss said.
“Other than if you’re interrupting the passage of play, I would have thought that it’s common sense to make that a ball up. It didn’t cost the game, so we move on. But if there’s an adjustment that I’d be suggesting, I’d say that general interference in the play, in the direct line of the ball, then I would have thought the common sense thing to do there is to ball that up.”
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While Cowan’s contact on Thursday night was accidental, a crackdown on umpire contact has dominated headlines in recent weeks with the AFL implementing an instant Tribunal case for players who contact umpires more than four times in a season.
Carlton’s Adam Cerra is one player facing scrutiny after another brush with an official, while Voss isn’t the only coach calling for change with more and more umpires finding themselves in the wrong spot, at the wrong time.
"I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve contacted the AFL about moving the umpires out of the corridor,” Bombers coach Brad Scott said last Saturday following a similar incident.
Carlton coach Michael Voss has commented on the collision between Blues defender Lachie Cowan and a field umpire last night.https://t.co/xP7v3k6Bfj
— AFL (@AFL) July 10, 2025
AFL pundit David King agreed that umpires have no business positioning themselves where players are trying to move the ball.
“I can see (analysts and former coaches) Adam Simpson and John Longmire saying ‘what is the umpire doing in the corridor where we want to take the footy?'" King said during Thursday’s game.
“He’s in the way, he causes a clash that creates the turnover. It was going to be an easy mark to Cowan and all of a sudden it’s an easy goal for the Lions.”