Adelaide’s season over after controversial loss to Sydney in Adelaide Oval heartbreaker

Adelaide’s push for finals has ended in highly controversial circumstances after a late shot at goal was declared a point. Did the umpire get it right?

Isaac Heeney enjoys a goal. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images.

Adelaide has quickly contacted the AFL in the wake of a controversial goal umpire call that denied them a match-winning goal, with Ben Keays’ shot appearing to not hit the post.

Keays had the Adelaide Oval crowd in raptures in the dying stages of the Crows clash against Sydney on Saturday night when he and the Adelaide fans thought he had kicked a goal that would have given them the lead.

A win for the Crows would have seen them take a huge step towards their first finals campaign since 2017.

But as Keays and some of his Crows teammates celebrated what they thought was a goal, the goal umpire signalled that the ball had hit the post and signalled a point.

With no goal review enacted, the Swans quickly played on and were able to get the ball up the field and hold on for a thrilling one-point win.

After the game, social media was abuzz about whether the Crows’ season was ended by a wrong call - especially with photos and videos suggesting that the ball did not brush the post as it crossed the line.

The bravest goal umpire in the world. It cleared the padding. The replay shows daylight between the post and the ball. Snicko didn’t work. If he had reviewed it you could easily make a case the ARC would have called it a goal. Adelaide will believe they should have won #aflpic.twitter.com/Ffk7qkz5Od

— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) August 19, 2023

Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks says he couldn’t tell whether his side had been denied a match-winning goal.

“I’m on the bench, from where I was I can’t tell you if it was a goal or not,” Nicks said.

“What I can tell you, my understanding is that we review those moments especially at the end of games.

“We have just put trust in the process now, so as a footy club and as a coach that is all we can do.”

On Saturday night the Crows had spoken with the AFL about the call.

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley posted that the Crows should have had a goal.

“Oh my! I think there is definitive evidence to turn that decision over,” he posted.

Former Essendon champion Jobe Watson said there was “unequivocal evidence” that it was a goal “I don’t think that hit the post at all ... I think that’s a goal,” he said on Channel 7.

Ex-Adelaide AFLW player Abbey Holmes posted; “What’s the point in spending millions on Arc Technology if we don’t even use it …?

If that did hit the padding of the post … no worries at all Sydney win … but if it didn’t , Adelaide’s season ends off the back of an error ? Doesn’t sit well.”

Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton called on the AFL to concede it had made a mistake.

“That is definitive. There is no grey area,” he said on Fox Footy.

“The AFL has to say we got it wrong and it is costing a team a berth in the finals.”

Crows young gun Jake Soligo said the system had to be backed in.

“I was on the bench, so just seeing the reaction of the crowd and the boys I thought it was a goal but you back the system in to get it done and that is all we can do,” he said.

Adding further intrigue to the no-goal was that there was no spike technology available for Keays’ shot.

“There was a bit of talk about whether they should employ an audio engineer to notice the difference between a ball hitting the padding and a hand hitting the padding,” Danny Russell said on Fox Footy.

“We’re told it would be two different sounds.

“We are being told there is no ARC spike available because the hand hit the padding at the same time as the ball hit the post.

Incredibly the goal umpire who made the call on Saturday night was the same at the centre of Josh Jenkins‘ controversial match-winner in a Showdown in 2018.

On that occasion a review was called, after the goal umpire thought it was a goal but there was a possibility that the ball hit the post, and Adelaide was given a goal that secured it a Showdown win.

But after the game Jenkins revealed he thought it hit the post.