Alastair Clarkson has warned umpires to be on guard for players milking free kicks after a pair of off-the-ball incidents involving Cody Weightman hurt North Melbourne in their 17-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs.
Dogs goal-sneak Weightman kicked a game-high three majors in a low-scoring affair at Marvel Stadium on Saturday and was at the centre of two contentious decisions by the whistleblowers.
The first occurred just before quarter time, when Weightman won a free kick paid against inexperienced defender Jackson Archer for holding, and duly converted from 30m out.
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Weightman was also bundled over by Aidan Corr moments before three-quarter time, leading to a 50-metre penalty that gifted Adam Treloar a major from the goal square.
It gave the Bulldogs a 31-point lead at the final change and they held on for an 11.11 (77) to 9.6 (60) victory despite the Kangaroos kicking three goals to one in the last quarter.
“It is frustrating but the umps are making decisions on what they think they see, so you’ve just got to abide by what transpires on the ground,” Clarkson said.
“But when it’s a close contest and goals are at a premium, they become quite costly.
“We need to work out with our own players, is the contact unnecessary?
“There’s contact between players all the time and what the umps need to be really, really mindful of is how much free kicks are getting milked when they’re so costly when they’re in that part of the ground.”
While conceding North were outplayed by a superior Bulldogs outfit, Clarkson felt his defensive unit held up fairly well against a deluge of opposition supply.
The Dogs won the inside-50 count 57-42.
“They get two goals through Weightman off-the-ball free kicks and you could argue whether they’re there or not,” Clarkson said.
“But of their goals, two of them are like that, and they only have 10 inside-50 marks for the game from 57 entries.
“So we were pleased with the way we were able to defend but when you have 57 inside-50s against you, you’re not winning too many games of footy.
“That was mainly around their control of the ball and uncontested marks.”
The defeat capped a disappointing 48 hours for North Melbourne, who lost Rising Star candidate George Wardlaw to concussion after a training mishap on Thursday.
Wardlaw sat out against the Bulldogs and will also miss next week’s clash with Gold Coast under concussion protocols.
“I think he’s OK. It’s just so unfortunate,” Clarkson said.
“To get better in footy, it’s a combative game that we play, and every time the players run out for a training session they’re at some sort of risk, given that they need to prepare well for the game.
“We initially thought he’d just hurt his shoulder but he just complained about a bit of dizziness from the contact and as soon as he goes into protocols it’s an instant 12 days.
“It’s really unfortunate that he’ll miss (two games) but we’ve just got to roll with the punches with that.”