Coach embarrassed by thuggish Demons
Interim Perth coach Trevor Williams says the club will consider lodging a formal complaint about the umpiring in Saturday's 92-point loss to East Perth, but acknowledges the poor discipline shown by his players was "embarrassing".
The Royals booted their highest score for the season in the 28.14 (182) to 14.6 (90) win at Lathlain Park, but the contest was marred by spotfires and off-the-ball aggression which increased as the game went on.
Attempts by the umpires to quell the aggression from both sides seemed to have the opposite effect, with the Demons lashing out even more as the free kick count climbed to 32-17 in the Royals' favour.
Perth's Dene White and Joel Houghton and East Perth's Blayne Wilson were the only three players reported on the day, all for striking, although it wouldn't surprise if several more charges were laid today.
Williams said the Demons coaches tried to bring their players under control, but the lop-sided free kick count worked against them.
"I've never seen, within 15 seconds of the final siren going, I've never seen umpires run from the ground," he said.
"That tells me something.
"We're not saying some of the decisions weren't right, what we're saying is they weren't paid when it was the other way and there was clearly several that were exactly the same circumstance and they weren't paid."
Perth officials met immediately after the game to consider lodging a complaint.
"After the emotion gets taken out of the moment, history would show things don't change," Williams said.
"It's not going to change the perception of the Perth Football Club that people have after today, and that's the part that we are extremely embarrassed about."
Williams said some of the ill-discipline showed by his players had left him speechless.
"No doubt we learnt a lot about some of our people today. If there were any grey areas, it's turned black and white today," he said.
Royals coach Brian Dawson said he was pleased with his side's performance in a game which threatened to descend into chaos.
"There was plenty of spotfires, so I thought our discipline, our demeanour in those situations was pretty good," he said. "It's disappointing. It's unnecessary. It was not a good spectacle."
The Demons were only seven points behind at quarter time thanks to strong performances from Nick Kane and draft prospect Clem Smith.
When Callum Collard kicked his third goal halfway through the second term the game was still in the balance, but two brain-fades from Chris Billings saw the Royals kick two goals from free kicks within a minute.
The momentum shifted and the game quickly slipped from the Demons' grasp.
