Leigh Matthews calls out AFL farce after illegal act 'completely ignored' in Hawthorn loss

Legendary coach Leigh Matthews has questioned the officiating in the AFL finals having claimed umpires are 'ignoring' obvious penalties after Port Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions won in thrillers. Port Adelaide's ability to hold in the dying stages in their victory over the Hawks was overshadowed after coach Ken Hinkley and Hawthorn star Jack Ginnivan were involved in a controversial post-match incident.

Hinkley went at Ginnivan and Hawthorn captain James Sicily with the scenes marring a brilliant contest between the Hawks and Port Adelaide. However, AFL great Matthews has turned the attention on the umpires and claimed they are failing to penalise clear pushes in the back in the forward line.

Matthews claimed the contest around the full-forward line was not officiated to the standard he expects for an AFL finals game with the four-umpire system in place. "They seem to be just completely ignoring the push in the back in the marking contest," Matthews said on Channel Nine.

Matthews used two examples with Port Adelaide superstar Mitch Georgiades putting his hands on the back of a Hawks defender before taking the mark in his three-goal haul on Friday night. The incident took place in the fourth quarter with 8.36 minutes left on the clock.

Port Adelaide were leading 69-64 at the time and Georgiades added to his tally after what Matthews believes was a missed call. He also pinpointed a moment from Giants superstar Jesse Hogan, where the forward appears to push a Lions player to take a mark.

"Georgiades on Friday night, he pushed Jack Scrimshaw in the back. This one, Hogan has pushed Jack Payne in the back," Matthews added. "A subtle push is still a push. You don't have to push them into the next suburb to be an in the back free-kick...the umpires are ignoring it most of the time."

Matthews wasn't the only one noticing a number of pushes in the back go missed. Fans agreed with the AFL great and claimed the umpires have been lenient for quite some time.

Port Adelaide managed to escape with a three-point victory to set-up a clash with the Sydney Swans on Friday night in the preliminary final. The Swans are coming off a week's rest and will be ready to go in front of a packed SCG crowd.

Unfortunately, the majority of the fallout from Port Adelaide's victory has focused on coach Hinkley after a run-in with the Hawks players. Ginnivan caused controversy in the lead-up to the clash with the home side after a reply to a post from Swans star Brodie Grundy that said: "See u in 14 days", suggesting the Hawks would dispose of the Power and play Sydney in the preliminary final.

While Hinkley remained quiet all week over the drama, he let out some frustration at the end of the game when he mocked the Hawks star. Hinkley said “you’re not flying, Jack”, in reference to Ginnivan's social media post that caused uproar in the lead-up to the game.

Ken Hinkley slapped with $20,000 fine

Hinkley was hit with a $20,000 fine for the post-match scenes having apologised immediately in his post-match press conference. Sicily admitted he did also regret some of his carry on, which saw him defend his players.

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“The only thing I wish I had my time again with is that the exchange lingered too long and it took the gloss off Punky’s 300th and not being able to be fully present in chairing him off,” Sicily admitted on Saturday about the unsavoury post-match scenes. “We love Jack, we love what he’s brought to our football club.”