Macrae felt sorry for O'Meara but he wasn't going to 'do a Gilchrist'
Western Bulldogs star Jackson Macrae has called for umpires to be consistent when awarding free kicks for prohibited contact after being the lucky recipient of a game-changing free kick awarded against Hawthorn's Jaeger O'Meara late in the Bulldogs' win on Sunday at the MCG.
The 24-year-old said players would get used to the rule if they had a clear understanding of what was acceptable and what wasn't allowed.
Macrae said the decision not to pay a free kick against the Brisbane Lions' Luke Hodge when he pushed North Melbourne's Aaron Hall in front of the umpires at Marvel Stadium on Sunday muddied the waters.
"You want consistency from the umpire so if the O'Meara one gets called against me then you want the Hodge one to be called as well," Macrae said.
"You just want consistency so there is a baseline rule for players so you know what is right and what is not right."
Macrae said he understood the game was increasingly difficult to umpire so he felt some sympathy for the umpires.
He also said it was hard not to feel for O'Meara when the incident unfolded but he was still happy to accept the free kick.
"I felt a bit sorry for him but I am not going to do an Adam Gilchrist and tell the umpire it shouldn't be a free kick, obviously," Macrae said.
Former Australian cricketer Gilchrist made headlines when he walked in the 2003 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka despite being given not out by the umpire for a catch behind, stunning the cricket world and his teammates.
Macrae said he has been hit harder before in a game and not received a free kick but he supported the AFL's overall objective to eliminate off-the-ball incidents.
"Obviously the AFL are strict on trying to stamp this out of the game and I think this is a good thing. We don't want players getting picked off off the ball and people come to watch the footy not that stuff," Macrae said.