Geelong coach Chris Scott has dabbled in AFL taboo areas with a cautious response to lopsided free kick count at the MCG on Thursday night.

The Cats were impressive in their victory over Collingwood, winning the match by 25 points but getting flogged in the free kick count, 24-7.

After the match, Scott was asked about the scenario, but had to be careful, knowing that the AFL has warned coaches about commenting on umpires directly after games.

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With the relationship between the league and umpires reportedly strained, Scott is aware that it is a sensitive area.

“I wouldn’t focus too much on the 24 part,” he said, but he called the seven free kicks for Geelong “very strange”.

“We’ve had a few games like that this year,” he continued.

Chris Scott speaks to his players during Geelong’s victory over Collingwood. Credit: Getty

“If it’s 7-12 it’s a ‘put the whistle away’ kind of night, but there’s a few things that I would describe as strange at the moment.

“I think we’ve been here before, haven’t we?”

Scott then checked himself.

“It’s not the forum to be discussing these things but that’s not to say it shouldn’t be discussed,” he said, realising he was walking a fine line.

Scott said he had no plans of taking his concerns up the chain at the AFL .

“The confusing parts arise when you think you understand the rules really well, explain it in great detail to the players and then you don’t see it play out that way,” Scott said.

“That’s the part that we need to straighten out, that’s really our only role.

“I think at some point it’s good for the people in charge at the AFL to consult broadly, especially the people that understand the game really well, which tend to be the coaches.

“… We’ll get consulted at some point, give our input.”

7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary asked Scott about how much time the club spent talking to players about rules, rule tweaks and umpire interpretation.

“Not that much ... unless you see a shift,” Scott said.

“So there’s definitely been a shift, they deny it, but there’s definitely been a shift in holding in the marking contest so it’s really important that you adjust with that and sort of double-down on what are the cues, what are they looking for ...,” Scott said.

“And the other side, there’s ways to work it to your advantage as well ... but it’s not as if we’re spending hours on it.”

Scott then grinned as he realised he was pushing the envelope.

“All the people in Geelong shirts here are really nervous at the moment. They’re starting to get sweaty palms because they don’t know what I’m gonna say ... but I will bring up one issue that’s confusing for everyone,” he said.

“(And that is) when you have an umpire 12 metres away with a perfect view and he gets overruled, that’s strange.”

Clubs have been warned about commenting on umpires after Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick went on a rant following his team’s loss to Geelong in early June.

Hardwick’s comments prompted a direct call from the League’s football boss Greg Swann, Swann making his feelings about the issue crystal clear.

Hardwick later admitted he was a “horrible loser” and said he had to be better.

“Swanny’s a cracker. You’ve got to love him and that’s why he’s a great football person,” he said.

“He’s doing his job and obviously the umpires were disappointed. I have to be better with that.

“To his credit, he was very understanding of my point. But he made it very, very clear, Swanny, that I (overstepped) the mark.

Scott’s unlikely to get a call from Swann, buthis comments are would have been carefully monitored.

On Thursday, Geelong had tagger Oisin Mullin go to Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos to limit his impact.

When asked how close to the edge Mullin went in terms of his physicality and blocking when tagging, Scott said: “Probably pretty close.

“But it’s an interesting part of our game, isn’t it? Because holding in the marking contest should be the same as a ruck contest which should be the same as a ground level contest.

“I think we all know that intuitively that’s probably not the way it’s interpreted.

“... I push back on the people that say ‘there’s a rule of the week and the umpires have changed’. They should change, exactly the same way that we change.

“The difficult part for them is that if we have concentrated on something, do we communicate it? Because if they communicate it, they get criticised for that as well.”

- With AAP