Youtube any game of footy up to about the mid-90s and one of the first things you notice is how inconsistent the umpiring is. One player almost swallows a mark and it's play on, the next minute a guy hardly gets hands to it and it's paid. Then a bloke tries to dance around three players, gets gang-tackled and it's play on, the next minute some poor bloke gets tackled immediately, the ball spills out and he's pinged for holding the ball. And the commentators just brush over it and keep calling the game.
I reckon the umpiring's as good as it's ever been, we just notice the mistakes more.