'Hard done by': AFL stars react to Dale Thomas' $7.5k fine

The $7500 fine handed to Carlton’s Dale Thomas has split some in the AFL community as to whether it was too harsh.

Thomas was handed the fine by the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night after he called umpire Michael Barlow a ‘f***ing cheat’ for warning the GWS Giants they were about to breach the newly-introduced ‘6-6-6’ rule.

Umpires will warn teams if they are about to break the rule - something Thomas was not aware of when he launched into his tirade.

The Blues midfielder was apologetic after accepting the sanction on Tuesday evening, but fellow players Jordan Lewis and Jack Riewoldt say Thomas is stiff.

“I think he has been hard done by to be honest,” Lewis said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“I don’t know why he did it and I didn’t see the incident — I don’t like seeing an umpire called a cheat but you have got to understand the mindset of a player out there in the moment.

“He hasn’t premeditated that, it was in the heat of the moment, I think he has been harshly done by.”

Riewoldt agreed with his Melbourne rival, saying the fine was “too steep”.

Host Mark Robinson disagreed with the pair, saying the AFL had been left little choice but to crack down.

Umpiring has frequently been a talking point this season, and Robinson applauded the AFL for supporting their officials so strongly.

“They’ve said no more, ‘we have got a major issue in our game filtering down and we are going to set a benchmark here and this will stop players abusing umpires’,” Robinson said.

“Hit them in the hip pocket with big fines not $1500, not $1000, not $500, I applaud the AFL for taking a strong stance.

“I can understand why the players are a little bit bewildered, because they have probably gotten away with that for the last 15-20 years.

“Players can shake their heads all they want but this is the new brave world the AFL is operating under.”