THE AFL has conceded Greater Western Sydney should not have been awarded a late goal against North Melbourne on Sunday night, but the League says the controversial mark awarded to St Kilda's Rowan Marshall at Marvel Stadium was the correct call.
However, AFL footy boss Greg Swann said the Marshall decision took too long to make, and the League will make a change going forward where the AFL Review Centre (ARC) will no longer intervene in scores - apart from reviewing all goals while the ball is being taken back to the middle - unless the goal umpire asks for a review.
Swann said Sunday's review of the Marshall incident "took too long", although he said the correct call was made.
"They got that decision correct, but it obviously took too long. It was 55 seconds, so it took way too long," Swann said on Monday.
"Going forward now, the ARC won't do that. The ARC will still do goal reviews (when a goal is awarded), but they won't intervene in a score like they did on the weekend, unless the goal umpire asks for a score review.
"It was a mark. When you go through it frame-by-frame, the ball doesn't cross the line. The mark was right.
"Was it right? Yes. Did it take too long? Yes, it took too long.
"So we've fixed that going forward. That won't happen again."
Swann conceded the Giants' late goal against the Kangaroos at Manuka Oval, where North defender Griffin Logue appeared to touch the ball before it crossed the line, should not have been awarded.
He said while initial replays were not conclusive, replays broadcast after the ARC had awarded the goal showed Logue had touched the ball and the incorrect decision was made.
"In this case, they (the ARC officials) both felt there wasn't sufficient evidence to turn that over, so they went back and said it was the umpire's call," he said.
"We've had another review of that today and you can see that it was touched, so that one was incorrect."
The change in late 2023 to allow greater ARC intervention for all scores was effectively a response to the controversial Ben Keays non-goal against Sydney.
Swann said the Keays call was a consideration when deciding on Monday to reduce the ARC's role, but he said he is confident there would be no repeat of that incident.
"We discussed that, and that was just an umpire error at the time," he said.
"We've instructed the umpires today ... if there is an issue, a little bit like the last touch (rule), if there looks like there is a problem or you're reading signs from the players that there's a problem, they can call to have the review.
"But they'll be the ones in control, not the ARC in control."
Swann acknowledged the reduced intervention of the ARC could lead to mistakes being made, but said he wanted to "simplify" the process and not 'affect the fabric of the game'.
"There's a balance between getting it right and ... affecting the fabric and the flow of the game," he said.
"That example took way too long. It frustrated the fans, it probably frustrated those watching.
"It's a good question around the balance between technology and letting it go. We still review every goal and we're trying to prevent the howler. We don't want it too be too technical.
"And technology is advancing as well. We're trialling optical tracking and some other things and possible upgrades to the quality of the cameras. As everything evolves, we can look at it again.
"But at the moment, we're just going to simplify it again.
"We think we've got a really good umpiring set so let them be the controllers of the game. If they call for a review, the ARC gets involved. If not, we get on.
"People ask if there will still be mistakes; there probably will be. But it's no different than players making mistakes, myself making mistakes. That's footy, it's not a perfect science."
More to come
