A mid-season rule change has backfired on the AFL after the review centre was unable to intervene on a bizarre set of circumstances in the fourth quarter of Port Adelaide’s huge Showdown win over the Crows on Saturday night.
Controversial Sequence of Events
Adelaide forward Riley Thilthorpe’s set shot clearly crossed the line for a behind before bouncing back into play, with Ben Keays receiving a free kick and converting for a goal. The goal umpire never called for a review — and the AFL review centre (ARC) was prohibited from taking action under new guidelines set by football boss Greg Swann following a controversial late intervention earlier this season.
Replays showed the whole of the ball had clearly crossed the line after Thilthorpe’s shot, with boos raining down from Port fans as a result.
Confusion Over ARC Powers
“They can’t go back with the ARC and pay the point, can they, or not?” Mark Ricciuto said on Fox Sports. “What we just saw there was the ball hitting the ground behind the line, which means it’s a score, and then the free kick to Keays was after that. Are they allowed to use the ARC to go back?”
Former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley bluntly took a shot at the league: “The AFL is allowed to do whatever they like.” Ricciuto replied: “But that should technically be a point. It hit the ground behind the line.”
Football Gods Intervene
The ‘footy gods’, as called by Dwayne Russell, corrected the situation moments later when Port Adelaide struck back through Mitch Georgiades to effectively end the match as a contest. The incident has reignited debate over the ARC’s limited powers under the new rule, which was introduced to prevent late-game interventions that had previously caused uproar.
