Essendon coach Brad Scott said he had a “bit of a laugh” at a fourth quarter umpiring blunder, but conceded that may not have been the case if his side had lost on Thursday night. During the fourth term, North Melbourne small forward Jacob Konstanty kicked the ball away from a stoppage deep inside the Roos 50 metre arc and the controlling umpire consequently called a free kick. The catch? It was to Konstanty’s Roos teammate Finnbar Maley. Watch your club in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Stream every round LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play, on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. The Essendon players at that stoppage were in utter disbelief, pointing to Konstanty as they pleaded with the umpire. “No, no, no, he kicked the ball,” Dons midfielder Ben Hobbs said at the time. “Okay, I’m going to ball it up. I just got word, I just got word,” the umpire said. “That’s our free kick,” Bombers on-baller Will Setterfield said. “I’m going to ball it up,” the umpire finished. Scott lauds leaders after thrilling win | 12:50 Speaking on Fox Footy’s post-match coverage, Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph shed some light on the controversial incident. “Halfway through the last quarter, it was pretty decisive here. There was a mistake made, it just wasn’t one made with outside interference,” Ralph began. “The conspiracy theorists thought maybe when the umpire reversed the free kick it might have come from the coaches’ box (umpiring) coach, they are mic’d up with him but they’re not allowed to interfere in the game in any way. Clarko 'pleased' despite tough loss | 08:51 Ralph then referenced the “I just got word” line, explaining to Fox Footy’s expert panel what actually went down. “That came from one of the other umpires, all four of those umpires are mic’d up,” Ralph continued. “Konstanty kicks the ball away, the free kick is paid to (North Melbourne)… it should have been a free kick to the Dons, that wasn’t the decision. “Umpires make decisions all along, but I just needed to clarify, it’s not from the umpires box coach, because that would be absolutely out of bounds.” Bombers win SOURED by horror injuries | 02:21 Essendon coach Brad Scott was asked about this incident post-match and couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know, you’re asking the wrong person there. It was a free kick against us first, wasn’t it? Someone kicked the ball away; it just wasn’t us,” he quipped. “The guys in the box lost their minds and I said, ‘no, no, they’ll sort it out’, they sorted it out and then balled it up. “I don’t know what happened there, but I mean honestly, I spend about 0.5 of a second worrying about that stuff, I can’t control it, so have a bit of a laugh. I wouldn’t have been laughing if we lost by two points.”