Geelong stars were left flabbergasted after two touchy umpiring decisions during the frantic final minute of their thrilling loss to Sydney didn’t go their way.

The Swans on Saturday night overcame a 29-point deficit to upset the Cats by two points, despite Geelong having more disposals (+80), contested possessions (+33), inside 50s (+26), clearances (+3) and scoring shots (+8) for the game.

But as wasteful as the Cats were, players post-game appeared frustrated by two non-calls in the final few seconds of the match.

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With the Swans in front by two points, Cats star forward Jeremy Cameron thought he’d taken a mark in the forward pocket. But he couldn’t hear the umpire’s call of ‘play on’ due to the loud crowd, leading to a boundary throw-in close to goal with six seconds left on the clock as he’d stepped out of bounds.

Then during the final seconds, Cats skipper Joel Selwood carefully wrapped up James Rowbottom in a tackle, with the young Swan appearing to not make a genuine attempt to get rid of the ball. But before any holding the ball call could be made, the SCG siren went, much to the disgust of Selwood’s Cats and the delight of the Swans.

“Joel Selwood has got some claims to holding the ball there,” Channel 7 commentator Luke Darcy said seconds after the siren. “That will be talked about all week.”

Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson, though, said Rowbottom and his team was “saved by the bell”, telling Fox Footy’s Saturday Stretch: “If that had been 10 seconds left in the game, that’s holding the ball.”

However Johnson and fellow Fox Footy panellist Jordan Lewis said the Cats were unlucky that a mark to Cameron wasn’t paid.

A kick from Cats forward Brad Close from just outside the top of the goalsquare landed into the lap of Cameron, who caught the ball near the right behind post, which would’ve put him on the right side for a left-footer for a chance to win the match. However one umpire appeared to shout “not 15” while the ball was in the air.

If the umpire didn’t pay the mark because he deemed the kick didn’t travel the required 15m distance, four-time premiership Hawk Lewis said Cameron should consider himself mightily unlucky.

“That’s nearly 20m,” Lewis told Fox Footy’s Saturday Stretch.

“That should’ve been paid a mark.”

Johnson said umpires had been “a lot tighter” when paying marks off short kicks in recent times, but suggested the kick that ended up in Cameron’s arms went at least 15m.

Asked post-game if he thought the ball travelled 15m, Cats coach Chris Scott said: “Well I’ve looked at the vision and it’s clear it did. But it’s a different perspective for the umpire. He can’t go back and replay the vision, they’re tough calls.

“The deliberate out of bounds ... that’s a hard call as well. There’s pressure on everyone.

“I suspect they (the umpires) will have a look at it and go: ‘The Swans made some blues early, the Cats made some blues after that and we might’ve made some blues as well.’ That’s the game unfortunately.

“If Cameron had’ve had that shot, he’s the best person to have the left footer from that spot. He rarely misses from there.”