Amid backlash from the football world about ongoing ARC and umpiring errors, AFL executive general manager of football performance Greg Swann declared the ARC will no longer be able to stop play once a ball is back in play.
The AFL originally allowed for the ARC to stop the game when any error was found in the wake of the controversial Ben Keays non-goal in Adelaide’s loss to Sydney in 2023. But it has now backflipped on that decision.
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It comes after controversial scenes on Sunday, in particular during West Coast’s game against St Kilda.
In the first half, after the goal umpire called a behind when St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall took a mark on the goal line, play continued for a minute before it was called to a halt on the wing almost a minute later.
Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell said: “Free kick. Is that advantage paid or play on, or not? Bit confused here.
“Everyone’s looking around to see whose free it is or what they’re doing?
“They’re going back to the score review for the mark on the goal line as to whether it’s a behind or not. They played about a minute of play.”
You can watch the controversial moment in the player at the top of the page.
The ARC deemed that Marshall had taken the mark before crossing the goal line and awarded him a shot on goal a minute after the play had moved on.
The review system said: “Looking at this angle, we can see the ball is controlled before crossing the line.”
Replays cast doubt on that decision, appearing to show Marshall marked the ball over the goal line and the goal umpire had made the right call in the first place.
However, Swann believes the ARC got the call correct but admitted the process needed to change.
“That’s the first time that’s happened, and the ARC has intervened. The ARC’s goal is on the basis that every score matters … they got that decision correct,” Swann said on Monday afternoon.
“Obviously took way too long. It was 55 seconds. Stopped the game midgame.
“Going forward now, the ARC won’t do that. The ARC will still do goal reviews, but they won’t intervene in a score as they did on the weekend unless the umpire calls for it.
“There’s a balance between getting it right and affecting the fabric or flow of the game. We brought rules in at the start of the season for a couple of reasons.
“One, to make it easier to umpire and two, to keep the game moving. We just felt that the example yesterday just took way too long. It frustrated the fans and those watching.”
As well as conceding that the ARC process was not good enough, Swann also said a controversial goal in the final quarter of the GWS Giants’ seven-point win over North Melbourne should not have stood.
In that instance, the ARC ruled Xavier O’Hallaron’s kick was a goal despite replays showing Kangaroos defender Griffin Logue’s finger touching the ball.
The goal umpire said it was a goal, and the ARC confirmed that decision even though the slow-motion replay clearly showed Logue’s finger making contact with the Sherrin.
Swann said that the decision was “incorrect”, but there wasn’t enough time to go through all the replays, given that no official review was called.
“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.”
Reacting to the rule backflip following the contentious moments across the weekend, AFL great Jack Riewoldt said the ARC has been “an absolute disaster”.
“This is an absolute disaster – the ARC – for the AFL, they could not have had a worse weekend with what is supposed to be modern technology,” Riewoldt said on Kayo’s On the Couch on Monday night.
“There are 400 frames a second available and we’re not using it.”
While Nathan Buckley said it was a bad look but he’s glad the AFL has backflipped on the way it is used.
“It’s a bad look … the whole idea is that it doesn’t have too much impact on the flow of play …(and) it jars with me that we’re using it for the last touch in between in the midfield,” Buckley continued.
“But that one (Marshall) jarred enough for the leader (Greg Swann) to come out and say ‘that won’t happen again,’ and I think that’s a good move.”
No change to AFL’s ‘most hated rule in history’
Swann also said that there are no plans to change the contentious stand rule after an incident in Hawthorn’s win over Gold Coast was widely criticised.
With just nine points separating the teams in the third quarter, Tom Barrass was gifted a crucial goal after confusion about who was standing the mark for Gold Coast resulted in the umpire awarding a 50m penalty.
The umpire could be heard saying stand and move out, but as no name was called, both Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Jarrod Witts looked at each other in confusion before Witts left the mark and tracked back.
Ugle-Hagan continued to stand before the umpire called him off the mark.
Hardwick erupted in the coach’s box, as commentator Gerard Healy said, “It’s got to be the most hated rule in the history of the game, the stand rule … and this is the reason why.”
However, despite several contentious moments across the weekend’s action, Swann went into bat for the umpiring quality, stating, “If you take away the ARC issues, most of the feedback we’ve had from clubs is that the umpiring has been as good as it’s been for a long time.”
