If there was a Wayne Harmes moment from Friday night's preliminary final, then Geelong enforcer Max Rooke's clash with Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson in the final quarter was it.

In the match's most crucial play, Rooke, seemingly out of the contest, slammed into Johnson, forcing a spillage which enabled the Cat to goal and put his side 22 points up 11 minutes into the last quarter.

However, Bulldogs fans were adamant their captain had been unfairly impeded and furious no free kick had been awarded.

Similarly, Collingwood fans in 1979 were, and still are, as insistent Harmes was over the boundary line when he desperately slapped the ball towards a goal-bound Ken Sheldon.

The Bulldogs were diplomatic when asked for their view on the Johnson-Rooke contest, while the Cats knew they had been given the rub of the green. One player even went as far as suggesting the umpire had erred.

Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade chose his words carefully when asked his view of the clash.

"Those sort of 50-50s went against us all night," he said. "(I) can't say too much (otherwise) you may get fined."

Johnson admitted he was surprised not to be awarded a free kick.

"I obviously thought it was a free kick at the time but that's the way it goes," he said.

"You can't change it, you can't dwell on it. They were lucky enough to get a goal from that and that's just the way it falls."

Geelong coach Mark Thompson said he was not sure whether a free kick was warranted, but described Rooke's commitment at that contest as 'significant'.

"Sometimes they pay them, sometimes they don't. There's a lot of free kicks that could have been free kicks," he said.

"Was Darren Milburn unlucky when he got pinned for holding the ball? Maybe they pay them sometimes."

"Every game there's a lot of decisions which aren't consistent. And you've just go to live with them."

"We don't ever whinge or moan about decisions. Ultimately they don't help you win or lose the game, 99 percent of the time."

Cats forward Cam Mooney conceded the umpires may have erred in not handing the Bulldogs a free kick.

"Looking at it, it was obviously a mistake from the umpire. That happens," he said.

"I thought there was a couple of incidents where we got have got free kicks where we didn't. It kind of evens themselves out by the end."