Inside the mind of an AFL finals umpire when everyone else is losing theirs

September 24, 2026 — 9:00am

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Imagine you demonstrate astute judgment, enormous courage, make the correct decision, and for that, you get bottles hurled at you.

Doesn’t feel right, does it?

That’s what happened to umpire Hayden Meyer and his mates, Brett Rosebury, Nathan Williamson and Jacob Mollison last Saturday night. They umpired one of the greatest games ever seen and, as such, played a small part in it being so great. They weren’t “the Wizard”, obviously, but in a game of that magnitude and pressure, they played their role.

The conversations I’ve had with people since the game have followed a similar tone.

Them: “It’s a shame the umpire made that call at the end”.

Me: “It would have been a bigger shame if he hadn’t, because it would have been wrong”.

Them: “Yeah, but it’s just a shame that it gets decided by an umpiring decision”.

Me: “It would have still been decided by an umpiring decision – it just would have been the incorrect decision”.

Three contentious free kicks, one crazy minute: The detailed verdict on preliminary final umpiring calls

Them: “Shut up, Wayne”.

Football is an irrational game, especially in the stands. It’s tribal, and that’s one of the things that makes it so great.

I’ve written before that halfway through my time as head of umpiring at the AFL, it dawned on me that the very thing people wanted from umpiring – consistency – is fundamentally........

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