Umpires
The AFL introduced an additional two boundary umpires in Round 21 in order to reduce the error rate and enable the umpires to keep up with the play.
Brett Rosebury was appointed the 2008 All-Australian umpire, the first West Australian umpire to receive that honour. Controversially, however, he was not appointed to umpire the AFL Grand Final, with Scott McLaren, Michael Vozzo and Shaun Ryan selected ahead of Rosebury.
Scott McLaren umpired his 300th game in Round 4 and Shane McInerney umpired his 250 game in Round 4. Experienced field umpires Martin Ellis and Matthew Head both announced their retirements during the year.
Read more about this topic: 2008 AFL Season