AFL grand final 2026: Umpire Hayden Meyer ‘threatened’ by Hawthorn’s James Sicily and Tom Barrass

The AFL umpire who awarded the decisive last-minute free kick in Brisbane’s preliminary final win over Hawthorn “felt threatened and intimidated” when James Sicily and Tom Barrass accosted him after the final siren, but has accepted an apology from the latter.

Hayden Meyer correctly paid a holding the ball free kick to Lions midfielder Hugh McCluggage in front of goal for his tackle on Jarman Impey, giving the two-time reigning premiers the chance to snatch the lead back with just seconds remaining last Saturday night.

The clock stopped at 18 seconds when McCluggage put it through the middle, and the Lions sealed victory with Will Ashcroft’s clean break from the final centre-square ball-up of the game, which finished in the hands of Kai Lohmann, whose after-the-siren goal put an end to arguably the greatest preliminary final in history.

Before Lohmann had even kicked the ball, a furious Barrass ran demonstratively towards Meyer while Sicily mouthed off to him in rage from behind.

Sicily and Barrass were fined $10,000 and $5000 respectively for the incident.

“I was a bit taken aback, to be honest, because in my mind I thought I was 100 per cent sure it was a correct free kick,” Meyer told reporters on Wednesday.

“I just wasn’t expecting two players to come up to me like they did on the day. It did surprise me a little bit, but I felt like I handled it pretty well in the situation post-game.

“I felt threatened in the situation. The abuse that came my way, I felt threatened. I can’t repeat it (what was said) on the microphone here.

“I expressed exactly that, the language and the way those two players — James and Tom — came at me, I felt threatened and intimidated in that situation.

“I spoke to (umpires boss) Steve McBurney the day after and gave my view on the situation and how I felt and what occurred.

“He then transferred that to ‘Swanny’ (AFL footy operations boss Greg Swann) and the MRO to eventually come up with the decision around the fines.”

Meyer revealed he has taken a phone call from Barrass, who offered a sincere apology, but the whistleblower has not heard from Hawks captain Sicily.

“I haven’t heard from James, no, I have heard from Tom, yes,” Meyer said.

“Tom contacted Steve McBurney to ask to speak to me and apologise. We teed up a time yesterday for us to have a conversation over the phone.