Carlton defender Zac Williams has come under fire after appearing to stage for a free kick in Saturday’s 13-point loss to Geelong.
Late in the third quarter, with the Blues trailing by just four points in a tight contest, the Cats were moving the ball down the left wing.
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Tyson Stengle took a mark and wheeled around before sending a short kick to Gryan Miers at the top of the centre square.
Right as the ball was on its way to Miers, Ollie Henry was heading towards the forward 50m arc when Williams changed direction and attempted to meet the Geelong forward.
Henry stuck his left arm out towards Williams, but most watching on felt the Carlton defender made the most of the soft contact, throwing his head back and theatrically jumping to his left, seemingly hoping to catch the attention of the umpires.
It didn’t work and Henry took an uncontested mark before going back and drilling the goal to stretch the lead to 10 points in a game the Cats would ultimately win, 18.10 (118) to 15.15 (105).
“(Williams) went down off the ball. Umpires didn’t see it. Everyone’s seen it now,” Anthony Hudson said in commentary as the crowd reacted to a replay on the big screen.
“Williams was the player who kind of changed direction.”
Hawthorn great Jason Dunstall had a blunt assessment as he saw a replay of the incident.
“He goes down a bit easily for mine,” Dunstall said. “I don’t mean to be brutal about it, but he changed direction into him.
“There was a little brush over the shoulder, but he did go down very easily.”
David King had a similar reaction.
“He played for the free kick and lost,” he added.
There was a mixed reaction from fans watching on, although many used a similar theme when taking to X, formerly Twitter.
“Give him his well deserved Oscar,” was one comment.
“Embarrassing and cost his team a goal by staging,” wrote another.
“3 weeks for simulation. Make an example out of this wimp,” suggested another.
“Is Christopher Nolan at the ‘G today? Who’s Zac Williams trying to impress?” asked another.
There were some, however, who felt the contact did merit a free kick to the defender.
“Played for the free kick getting clotheslined?!?” one wrote.
“It’s a free kick every day of the week. Four umpires couldn’t see that?” asked another.
The Cats held an 11-point lead at the final change as they attempted to continue their unbeaten start to the season.
When Geelong kicked the first four goals of the final term the match looked over, before the Blues made it interesting by kicking the next four in succession to close to within eight points.
Jeremy Cameron then kicked his fifth for the day to seal the win as the Blues slipped to 5-2 for the year and out of contention for a top-four spot at the end of round seven.
Henry finished with three goals, while Williams had a quiet game, finishing with 17 disposals, three marks and two tackles.
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