THE AFL'S umpiring boss has acknowledged that Gary Ablett was harshly treated at times during Gold Coast's clash with Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
After the match, SUNS coach Guy McKenna intimated that he was sick of the way taggers were getting away with using illegal tactics against Ablett and that he had contacted the League to register his displeasure.
"I'm in constant contact with Jeff Gieschen," McKenna said.
Speaking to AFL.com.au on Tuesday morning, Gieschen responded by saying: "The umpires are instructed to protect the ball-player at all times.
"On Saturday night there were a couple of occasions where, quite clearly, we wished the umpires had intervened and paid a couple of free kicks to Ablett.
"Gary has had a fantastic year, he's a brilliant season. I think he's been tagged on a lot of occasions, and I think the umpires have done a really good job of protecting him, and other pure ball-players, on most occasions.
"So we had a couple on the weekend where we wished the umpire had intervened and paid a free kick.
"But by and large over the course of the year, I think the umpires have done a good job of protecting the ball-players from players who are playing the man."
Gieschen has also addressed the goal umpiring mistake that led to a West Coast goal during the first quarter of the Eagles' big win over Essendon on Sunday.
The goal umpire in question had part of his body over the goal line when a long kick struck him on the shoulder.
The ball was deflected towards a West Coast player, who picked it up and kicked a goal.
"Goal umpires are instructed to just be back off the line a little bit, not to get too close to the field of play, so he was in the wrong position in that situation," Gieschen said.
"Unfortunately, he got hit by the football and the football stayed in play, which means the ball was live, and West Coast picked the ball up and kicked a goal.
"In a perfect world, he would have been back behind the line a bit, which means that if the ball hits him, it has already crossed the line.
"For clarification, people need to understand that if the ball does hit an umpire, any umpire on the field, and stays in play, then the ball is still alive."
In contrast, Gieschen was happy with the free kick paid against Jarryd Roughead for a push in the back on St Kilda's Jason Blake during the third quarter of Friday night's match.
The decision provoked a lot of discussion among commentators, but Gieschen believes the right call was made.
"There didn't look a lot in it, but what we do see is Jarryd Roughead go at his opponent, elect to bump him, move him off the ball, and then go back for the football," he said.
"What we’d like Roughead to do in that situation is to hold his ground, stand his ground.
"But if you look at the vision you can see the bump. It's not the biggest bump in the world, but he did bump Blake, put him out of business, then went back for the ball."
