Bartel admits to being annoyed that his integrity has been brought into question.
Geelong midfielder Jimmy Bartel has hit back at critics who labelled him a ‘diver’ after the Brownlow Medal winner appeared to go to ground easily in a marking contest during the Cats’ loss to Hawthorn last Saturday.
Bartel admitted to SEN Radio that the vision looked bad, but said it was an unavoidable incident due to the momentum he was carrying into the contest.
The three-time premiership winner admitted he was annoyed that his integrity was being brought into question.
“I think it’s a load of rubbish really to be honest,” he told the Morning Glory program.
“If you’re running flat out for the ball and as your jumping you’ve got someone who puts any sort of contact behind you’re going to go forward.
“I’m not sure what people wanted me to do? Maybe flip my legs out and land on my back. At no stage did I actually think for a free kick.
“It’s pretty disappointing, I’ve played a lot of footy and straight away people assume that’s what I was thinking, playing for a free kick.
“I can see it looks bad but I can only tell you how I was thinking in the moment. Probably the fact that I kicked a goal out of it made everyone more upset, I can understand that.”
Geelong face Brisbane on Saturday night at Simonds Stadium in its final home and away game of the season.
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