Adelaide Crows season over after being cruelly robbed by score review system

Footy fans have lost their minds after one teams’ final hopes were cruelly crushed after the AFL’s score review system failed miserably.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 19: Izak Rankine of the Crows reacts after the loss during the 2023 AFL Round 23 match between the Adelaide Crows and the Sydney Swans at Adelaide Oval on August 19, 2023 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The AFL has a lot of explaining to do.

On Saturday night the already controversial score review system found itself in the spotlight after it didn’t come to the party in the dying stages of the Adelaide Crows thriller against the Sydney Swans.

Crows midfielder Ben Keays looked to have sealed a stunning 44-point deficit when he snapped a shot from the pocket with just over a minute on the clock.

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As Keays celebrated what he believed was a goal, the goal umpire signalled the ball had hit the post.

The Swans went the length of the field, holding onto their slender lead as the final siren rang out. The result crushes the Crows hopes of making the finals in 2023.

Replays showed the ball hadn’t come into contact with the post and had sailed through the goals.

It left footy fans seeing red and calling out the AFL and the ARC for failing to review a call that would have handed the Crows the lead late in the contest.

Did the ball touch the post?

The Crows were robbed. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Channel 7’s Mitch Cleary called it an “absolute debacle”.

He said: “The fact the process has broken down. How has it not gone to a score review with a minute on the clock? That is a debacle.”

Sports reporter Damien Ractliffe tweeted: “No spike Arc technology at Adelaide Oval. This is ridiculous. Potentially costs Adelaide the chance to play finals.

“It’s no where near the padding. So did it hit the post? Umpire in best position but can’t afford to guess. Crazy scenes all round.”

A new angle from behind the goals began circulating on social media on Sunday morning from directly in line with the goal umpire. It showed the ball clearly missing the post.

Definitive. Clearly a goal. Completely unacceptable not to call for a score review in the biggest moment of a clubs season. Absolute amateur hour. https://t.co/920rFKaFIK

— Campbell brown (@Browndogg_30x) August 20, 2023

Footy journalist Rohan Connolly said: “Yep, gotta say after seeing those replays, looks to me to be pretty clearly a goal. Adelaide stiff indeed. Pretty unbelievable that the goal umpire hasn’t at least called for a score review.”

SEN’s Nic Negrepontis said: “If goal umpires aren’t reviewing that, with everything at stake, then what’s the point of the review?”

It’s cold comfort for the Crows, given there is no way the AFL would consider overturning the result.

Unless I'm blind/missing something, I'm almost 100% certain that was a goal for the Crows. What on earth happened? pic.twitter.com/SrpwGOQyZx

— Max Laughton (@maxlaughton) August 19, 2023

Why wouldn’t the Goal Umpire review that? #aflcrowsswans

— Ryan Fitzgerald (@FitzySA) August 19, 2023

You have got to be kidding me. #AFLCrowsSwans

— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) August 19, 2023

Dermott Brereton said he believed the evidence was “definitive” and that a goal should’ve been awarded – and that it’d leave the AFL in a tricky position from a PR perspective.

“I don’t know where the AFL go with this, because it’s definitive with what we see now that it was a goal,” Brereton told Fox Footy.

“This is their worst nightmare, because every time we see a bung decision, people say: ‘You wouldn’t want to miss a Grand Final on that. You wouldn’t want to miss the finals on that.’ Well, a team is missing the finals on a bung decision when we assume that the technology is there to get the absolute and correct decision. The true decision, the right decision has not been found here.

“I feel there’s a real injustice here. You play by the league’s rules, the league introduces technology so that the right result is found, they have the technology. Clearly if there was something ‘down’ on the night, those two pieces of footage – marry them together and you can make a decision straight away, within 10 seconds.

“That is definitive. There is no grey area there. The league cannot say ‘it was grey’. They have to say ‘we got it wrong’ and it is costing a team a berth in the finals.

The Crows were in celebration mode. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Asked how the AFL would handle the issue on Sunday, Brereton said: “I think the AFL will come out and admit some responsibility, but I don’t know how they get through this. I don’t know how they sell it.

“We have a sport where each team needs to turn over $50-plus million a year and we have 18 teams – that’s a huge industry – and we can’t get that right? That’s kids stuff. That just shouldn’t happen.

“If you’ve got an industry seeking the ultimate success and you’re doing everything to get it and you clearly play by the league’s rules and you achieve that and their technology doesn’t allow for it or they make a mistake … we’ve got something wrong.”

Triple premiership forward Cameron Mooney said he couldn’t believe a score review wasn’t called for.

“We generally see anything remotely close that might be touched, they always go to the score review,” he told Fox Footy.

“I think this is human error, more than anything, because we didn’t even get a chance to go to the cameras and the angles. Unfortunately this is just a human error.

“Nothing good is going to come out of this from an Adelaide point of view. I don’t believe you can turn it (the result).”