At least once a quarter there is a group huddle, a consultation and a collective groan across the AFL. The goal umpire talks out of the corner of his or her mouth, the field umpire paints a square in the sky, the ARC arcs up, and the guessing game begins. The score review system is sponsored by a crypto exchange. Minutes are lost. Games are sometimes decided. Seasons are sometimes derailed. It sucks the air out of games. It is a mess. It’s an embarrassment for the competition right now.
In the wake of the goal umpiring error at the Adelaide Oval last year, we were assured things would change, that the technology would improve and that the errors would be averted. Three weeks is a fair sample size and little seems to have changed.
