AFL score review system under fire after finals thriller

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Richmond coach Damien Hardwick believes the AFL’s score review technology is “not good enough” following a controversial overturned goal that essentially cost his side the game.

The ARC’s dubious call resulted in Brisbane’s thrilling 16. 10. (106) to 16. 8. (104) elimination final win over Richmond being shrouded in controversy.

The incident occurred with the Tigers holding a three-point lead in the dying minutes when Tom Lynch had a set shot on goal to seal the match from an acute angle.

Lynch went back and opted for a checkside kick but caught more of the belly of the ball, resulting in the footy sailing over the top of a goal post, with the Tigers star unsure if it was a goal or not.

he decision was sent upstairs with field umpire Jacob Mollison noting that the soft call was a goal, before the ARC controversially overturned the on-field call despite their being little clear-cut evidence to say it wasn’t a goal.

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The controversial call gave Brisbane a glimmer of hope and it would prove telling a minute later when Joe Daniher kicked a game-winning goal to put his side ahead for good.

Hardwick was visibly frustrated after the match when discussing the review technology and sent the AFL a clear message: improve the technology or get rid of it.

“I just feel the technology is not good enough, it hasn’t been for a long period of time,” he said.

“I think we’ve put a lot of money into it and clearly it’s indecisive still. We’ve got goal umpires, pick which way you want to go.

“The whole thing is that the technology’s not to the level that it needs to be so either get it better, or don’t have it.

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“I sit there and I see the same vision you do. I see the umpire make a call and generally it’s got to be definitive to overturn it. Why don’t we just let the umpires make the call?

“They’re paid to do a job, let them do the job or don’t have them, one of the two. To me, it just doesn’t make any sense.”

Hardwick was far from the only one left scratching their head after the controversial call.

“I’m not sure how the score review umpire can say that was definitively incorrect,” St Kilda great Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy’s coverage.

“I don’t know if they have a laser that goes beyond the goal posts. How can you definitively tell whether it’s gone over the goal post from the camera angles that we look at?”