Footy Frontline Ep 18 – Controversial Umpiring Decisions, Flag Favourites & Round 17 Insights

In this week’s episode of Footy Frontline, Nick D’Urbano and Oliver Caffrey tackle the latest AFL news, analysis, and predictions.

Umpiring dominates discourse: The state of AFL umpiring was again firmly on the agenda this week after a number of controversial calls in Essendon’s loss against Geelong. It prompted the AFL to contact Essendon and admit to several mistakes, while AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said the umpiring is “as good as it’s ever been”. 

Who’s the flag favourite? A big win from Carlton over Richmond extended their undefeated streak to five straight matches, and cutting the gap on league leaders Sydney, who suffered only their second loss of the season against Fremantle. It’s seen the Blues stamp their claim as a flag fancy heading into the business end of the season, but will Sydney be able to stave off their challenge as the team to beat heading into September?