It's an old adage but it rings true. In Aussie rules footy, it's almost part of the culture to criticise and blame officials when things don't work out.

Every free kick against looks like it's part of an elaborate plan to screw your team out of victory. It's not, but it feels that way when you're a one-eyed supporter.

Fan anger against whistle-blowers rose again on the weekend after a series of contentious holding-the-ball decisions in St Kilda's 23-point win over Adelaide.

It prompted AFL football operations boss Stephen Hocking to publicly acknowledge the mistakes on Tuesday.

"We acknowledge there were decisions in last night's game that were either missed or unwarranted free kicks and we will continue to work towards ensuring stronger consistency in decision making, particularly with regards to holding the ball decisions," he said.

Holding the ball is tough to judge because at times, it can be subjective.

It'd be reasonable to suggest level-headed fans don't want them to be superheroes. Human error will still always be present because we're prone to mistakes as a species. This stretches to the workplace and anyone who says they've never made a mistake at work, like umpires do from time-to-time, is kidding themselves.

But a bit of consistency is king. Fans want to know when they can expect the whistle to be blown.

Hocking went on to say earlier in the season the AFL identified a number of instances whereby players should have been penalised for holding the ball.

They're not going to be perfect but the first step to rectifying a mistake is admitting it. "Like many people in our game, umpires have made significant sacrifices to keep the game going for all fans across the country, including moving interstate at short notice for extended periods of times," Hocking said.

That's the other part we need to be mindful of. Umpires are human and many, like Warrnambool export Shaun Ryan, are away from family and doing their bit to keep the game going.

Cut them some slack, they're having a crack.

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