Score review will rarely prove better than AFL goal umpires’ judgment on the line

AFL goal umpires are following their cricket counterparts in leaning on technology rather than backing their own calls. But in Australian football technology is not as reliable as in cricket

AFL goal umpires are finding video score review too unreliable to conclusively over-ride their judgment. But the goal umpires are becoming more reliant on the failing video system. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

PREMIERSHIP coach Damien Hardwick would have made for the ideal Googlebox viewer on Saturday night as his rage with score review gained greater force in Sydney.

Already part of the AFL’s version of television’s hot series - by having cameras on the league coaches in their command boxes - Hardwick’s despair with score review at the MCG during the Richmond-St Kilda game would have turned to complete bewilderment in the GWS-Essendon match.

Second-year Giants forward Tim Taranto’s snap from a pocket in the third term carried so high over a goal post that no camera would have accurately tracked the Sherrin’s path - unless the Hubble telescope (that Hardwick wants to hire) was in line with Spotless Stadium. And even then the smoke haze from the controlled fires at the nearby Blue Mountains would have added to the confusion to any video review from space.

But the goal umpire called for a score review. Inevitably, the umpire’s call - a behind - stood. It had to. There was no video evidence to give any clarity as to which side of the goal post Taranto’s high kick was on crossing the line.

It was - as Hardwick said at the MCG earlier - an embarrassing moment for score review and the goal umpires’ increasingly addictive reliance on limited technology.

As with Test cricket, it is all too easy to lean on technology for critical umpiring calls. But in cricket the technology is far more developed, particularly with “Snickometer” to determine if a ball comes off the bat.

Australian football has no”Touchometer” to resolve a score review if a kick at goal has been touched in transit.

Technology is failing the goal umpires. And the goal umpires are failing the game by relying on a flawed system.

The best goal umpires will continue to back their judgment. And not one of them should fear television replays embarrassing their judgment.

After all, there is rarely conclusive vision to do that.

Originally published as Score review will rarely prove better than AFL goal umpires’ judgment on the line