IT WASN'T necessarily the down-field free kick that aggrieved Justin Longmuir the most from Saturday night's heartbreaking defeat to Carlton, but the player taking that fateful set-shot after the siren.
According to the Fremantle coach, Jack Newnes and the Carlton players "probably pulled one over the umpire's eyes" in getting the club's off-season recruit to the fall of the ball in order to take the remarkable post-siren shot from deep inside the Optus Stadium pocket.
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Newnes flushed his incredible buzzer-beater goal, sending the Blues to a four-point victory over the Dockers and sparking wild scenes of celebrations after a pair of contentious umpiring decisions paved the way for the kick in the dying stages.
Matt Taberner was pinged for deliberate, having ushered the ball to the boundary, before Andrew Brayshaw conceded a down-field free for a late bump on Sam Docherty that resulted in Newnes' match-winning moment.
Newnes, as well as Michael Gibbons and Eddie Betts, were in the vicinity of where the ball landed – with the former St Kilda midfielder deemed the closest by the umpire and subsequently provided the chance to steal victory for Carlton.
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According to Longmuir it was a clever play, with the first-year Fremantle coach saying he would have advocated his team do something similar if they were in the same late-game situation.
"Every team would've tried to do the same thing," Longmuir said of Newnes taking the shot.
"They probably pulled one over the umpire's eyes. But that's alright, that's footy.
"We'll take it, cop it on the chin, move on and get better."
Brayshaw gave away the down-field free kick having collected Docherty after the Carlton co-captain disposed of the footy. His kick sailed out of bounds, but Brayshaw's smother attempt was deemed a late hit and penalised by the umpire.
It appeared a harsh call, with Brayshaw's momentum carrying the Dockers youngster into Docherty. Speaking on the incident after the match, Longmuir said he would coach his player to do the same thing again.
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"From what I saw … Andy Brayshaw goes to smother and makes contact," Longmuir said.
"All I can talk about is Andy Brayshaw. I'm not going to sit here and talk about the umpires.
"But, if the same situation arose again, I'd ask Andy Brayshaw to put front-on pressure on and try to smother the ball. That's where I sit with it.
"It's not really in my decision-making. What's done is done. The game's done, the result's done.
"I think they did a pretty good job of getting the right player to the ball, but I would've been asking our players to do exactly same thing in the same situation. But the result's done, it's in the book. We've just got to move on and take the lessons."
Carlton coach David Teague wasn't fussed by suggestions Gibbons should have taken the post-siren shot, not Newnes, saying he would have felt just as confident regardless of who was awarded the free kick.
"Gibbons, to be honest, he likes having those shots at training and he kicks them quite regularly … I would've been very comfortable if Gibbons had that kick as well," Teague said.
As for how he felt about Newnes taking the shot?
"He's a really straight kick, which I like," Teague said.
"Especially when it's a bit wet and slippery, you don't want to be kicking around corners. But, having said that, there's nothing you can do. I just sat there and enjoyed it."
The Carlton coach wouldn't be drawn on whether he felt the down-field free kick was warranted, saying his attentions had already turned to where Docherty's kick was set to land when it was paid.
"I'm staying out of the umpiring comments," Teague said.
"I'm not sure. I wasn't even sure what the free kick was paid for.
"I was looking ahead of the ball and saw it go out on the full. I was yelling for us to number off and didn't realise we had the free kick."
