AFL officially approves contentious goal-line mark paid to Richmond forward Jack Higgins
It was the most controversial moment from football’s return. Did Jack Higgins take a make inside the field of play against Collingwood? Now new evidence can shed some light on if the call was correct.
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The AFL has officially approved Jack Higgins’ contentious goal-line mark but has admitted Fremantle’s Matt Taberner should have been paid a critical mark late in the loss to Brisbane.
The league’s football department said it was comfortable with both Higgins’ mark and the decision to award a behind when North Melbourne’s Jamie McMillan rushed a Toby Greene kick on the goal line.
Higgins’ mark on the goal line on Thursday night was heavily criticised by the Channel 7 commentary team, with the mark freeze-framed after he controlled the ball on the line.
New vision used by the AFL’s team in its bunker confirms the mark, as it marries up two different TV angles showing Richmond’s Higgins controlled the ball on the line.
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All of the ball needs to be over the goal line and while the TV camera was not perfectly placed the league has ticked off that mark, which saw Higgins kick the last goal of the game late in the third term.
North Melbourne’s McMillan rushed a ball kicked by GWS forward Toby Greene just as it hit the goal line, with the goal umpire calling it a behind in his initial decision.
The third umpire said he did not have definitive evidence to overturn the decision despite the Greene kick looking desperately close to over the line.
The TV camera was caught between two frames and did not show definitely whether the ball crossed the line.
Fremantle’s Matt Taberner controlled a mark on the goal line as the Dockers were mounting a comeback in the last quarter but it was not paid.
The ball was knocked out of his hands and rushed through for a behind, with the AFL’s umpiring department ruling the umpire made an error not awarding the mark.
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“The goal umpire presumed a mark, Dean Margetts, the field umpire, didn’t pay the mark,” AFL great Jonathan Brown said on Fox Footy at the time.
“Oh no, that’s a shocking decision. That could be costly, that’s a clear goal. Wow.
“That is a horror … I know the umpires have had some time off as well but that’s not a complicated decision.”