RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is 'bewildered' that Essendon counterpart James Hird received advice on a shift in umpiring philosophy ahead of their round nine clash when he did not.
 
Hird said on Saturday he had been called by umpires boss Jeff Gieschen and spoke to the match day umpires before the Dreamtime at the 'G clash on May 25.
 
He was told the umpires would "only be paying the really obvious [free kicks]".
 
Hardwick said on Wednesday night the Tigers weren't given the same insight.
 
"Someone mentioned that to me today, actually. I didn't (receive any information from the umpires)," Hardwick told 3AW's Sports Today.
 
"It's a little bit bewildering, I suppose."
 
Hird said he expected his rival coaches had received the same information.
 
"Jeff Gieschen gave me a call a couple of weeks ago and explained that's what they'd be doing," Hird told Saturday's pre-game show on 3AW.
 
"And just speaking to the umpires before the game – maybe it was the Richmond game – the umpires came into our room and talked about how they'd only be paying the really obvious ones.
 
"I'm sure that's happened to all of the other coaches because there was sort of a change in mindset three or four weeks ago.
 
"I think they would have told all the other coaches that as well that they're going to go for the obvious ones and it seems to be a better game because of it."
 
While Hardwick was confused by the fact the Tigers didn't receive the same call, he said the club generally had a solid relationship with the umpiring department and suggested the Bombers might have been the ones to make contact.
 
"We've certainly got an open dialogue with the umpiring department at all times so it's whether or not it was initiated by Essendon, I'm not too sure," he said.
 
"The umpiring department, if we make a phone call, they certainly respond and come back to us so I don't think there was anything untoward.
 
"I just think it might have been a phone call maybe initiated by Essendon and they responded.
 
"At the end of the day, that had nothing to do with the result. We were incredibly poor and it was probably our worst game for some two years that night.
 
"From my point of view, it was a non issue."
 
Jennifer Phelan is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenPhelan.