AFL says downfield free kick to Cam Rayner in final against Geelong should not have been paid

The AFL has said the first controversial free kick awarded to Cam Rayner on Friday night — just before half-time — should not have been paid.

Rayner was handed two controversial free kicks that resulted in two goals to Brisbane, leaving Geelong players, commentators and fans angry and perplexed.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Boos rain down as double free-kick controversy erupts.

On Saturday morning the AFL said the first penalty against Mark O’Connor — when the ball was a 150 metres away — should not have been a free kick.

But the league said the second one against Zach Guthrie — who lost his cool after Rayner kicked a goal from the first free — was correctly paid.

Obviously, the second incident doesn’t happen without the first error.

In the first incident, small forward Tyson Stengle was about to have a shot to put the Cats 33 points ahead, before the ball was taken down the other end of the MCG.

Geelong’s O’Connor was controversially penalised for shoving Rayner in the back in the Lions’ goalsquare. It appeared to be a soft nudge and on viewing the vision star Seven commentator Dale Thomas immediately said: “That is not a free kick.”

Matthew Richmond was almost speechless when he saw the first incident: “Ohh ... come on ... wow.”

In the second incident, Guthrie had a rush of blood.

The defender ran in to remonstrate with Rayner after Rayner had reduced the margin to 21 points.

Rayner fell to the ground, leading the umpire to pay another free kick immediately.

Instead of being more than five goals ahead, Geelong led by just 15 points at the main break to give the lacklustre Lions some belief.

“It pissed us off, to be honest - they had three goals like that (from free kicks) in that (second) quarter, and it revved us up,” Geelong star Max Holmes told AAP after the game.

“So it might have helped us a bit in the end.

“But there’s nothing you can do about that. It’s uncontrollable.

“So we just put our heads down, we still had the lead when they had those goals.

“It was one of those ones where we just knew we were dominating them the whole day.”

Geelong coach Chris Scott was proud of how his players didn’t become distracted by the situation.

“For the most part, that was handled pretty well on our part,” Scott said.

“I don’t think I’ve heard our crowd as engaged as they were, and maybe that was something that sparked them even more.

“It was so far away you couldn’t see it in the behind the goals vision.

“Fortunately, one of my colleagues in the box said you don’t want to see it on the broadcast vision, so I didn’t see it until post-game.”

Rayner leant into being the villain of the fired-up Geelong crowd.

The star of last year’s preliminary final win against the Cats when he booted the matchwinner, Rayner was barely sighted before being moved to full-forward.

The 25-year-old booted the Lions’ first goal of the third term, then celebrated in front of Geelong’s cheer squad.

Rayner was booed every time he went near the ball for the rest of the game.

“It was a hostile crowd, there was a lot of Geelong supporters here tonight,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.

“That would have been Cam’s way of just trying to bring a little bit of energy for the team.

“So no issue with that.”

While the controversy mattered little as Geelong cantered to a comfortable 38-point win, the AFL world was left spinning.

Veteran AFL journalist Rohan Connolly said: “OK that REALLY is crappy umpiring and potentially game-changing. 150 metre reversal of free kick is just garbage. Double goal after extraordinary controversial call is an even bigger over-reaction. No feel for circumstances in either case. Terrible calls.”

Sports writer Peter Ryan said: “Seriously is that what the game has come to?”

ABC sports editor Kyle Pollard was even more blunt: “That is absolutely garbage umpiring.”

Needless to say, fans exploded on social media.

“That’s the worst decision I’ve ever seen, potentially season defining. Put the whistle away, I’d be livid if I was a Cats fan,” one footy fan said.

And another: “That was horrible. Luckily it didn’t change the outcome.”

And another: “Neutral observer. Worst 30 seconds of umpiring in the history of the game.”

Fortunately, the Cats won comfortably and In some way gained a little revenge for their season being ended by the Lions last year.

The Cats booked a spot in a 14th preliminary final since 2007, while Brisbane will be forced to go the long way if they want to back up last year’s premiership.

They will head back to the Gabba for a semi-final against the winner of Saturday night’s elimination final between Fremantle and Gold Coast.

- With AAP