I thought the rule was that when a lino sees a foul, they flag it, the ref will then make the decision on whether to call it right away or play advantage. If it has occurred during a goal-scoring play, he'll go over and chat to the lino before deciding whether it's a goal or not.
Are you saying that the lino's don't have to flag for fouls, they're only supposed to whisper into the mouthpiece? Why are linesmen still flagging all over the world then? Working out their arms? And why did the ref go over to him yesterday before saying no goal? Couldn't they have just chatted through their 'communication kits' if that is the reasoning behind the non-flag?
Would love to know the actual rule here. I can understand why a lino may not flag so as not to cause confusion until a play is over, but in this case that doesn't apply - there wouldn't be any advantage to Brisbane if we didn't score, they would've had the ball in their own box. For me the lino should have waved the bejesus out of his flag as soon as he saw the shirt holding - and the ref should've blown his whistle before the ball was in the net.
To me it seems that when it happened, the lino said nothing, did nothing, then when we scored he was like 'oh f*ck there was probably a shirt-pull there and I'll get monstered for not calling that' so he belatedly did something about it.
Correct decision, but delivered in typically comedic A-League fashion.