{"id":497017,"date":"2026-03-27T00:56:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=497017"},"modified":"2026-03-27T05:22:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:22:45","slug":"afl-admits-error-in-farce-non-call-that-swung-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=497017","title":{"rendered":"AFL admits error in &#039;farce&#039; non-call that swung thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/afl\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"AFL\">AFL<\/a> has admitted Adelaide was dudded by a crucial decision late in Thursday night&#x27;s thrilling loss to Geelong, which Nick Riewoldt labelled a &quot;farce&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeffThe Crows were leading the contest at one stage during the final quarter in a Kardinia Park thriller, before the home side clawed back to be leading by two points with about 10 minutes remaining on the clock.<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide sent a clearing kick out of its defensive 50m and the ball ended up on centre wing, where Crows player Zac Taylor and Geelong&#x27;s Tom Atkins battled for it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2026-daly-cherry-evans-brookvale-oval-return-post-game-interview-crowd-reaction-roosters-sea-eagles-20260326-p5zj3k.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"DCE gets last laugh in &#x27;weird&#x27; Brookvale return\"><strong>DCE gets last laugh in &#x27;weird&#x27; Brookvale return<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2026-jake-trbojevic-head-knock-hia-call-from-manly-sea-eagles-criticism-20260326-p5zj3e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Trbojevic &#x27;not happy&#x27; after Manly makes rare HIA call\"><strong>Trbojevic &#x27;not happy&#x27; after Manly makes rare HIA call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/football\/news-2026-fran-karacic-injury-socceroos-kyle-rowles-called-up-tony-popovic-press-conference-bryan-mbeumo-20260326-p5zj29.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Hard luck hits Socceroos on eve of game\"><strong>Hard luck hits Socceroos on eve of game<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Atkins toed the ball towards the boundary line and it went out of bounds. Under the AFL&#x27;s new last-touch out of bounds rule, Taylor should have been awarded the free kick and given the chance to send it inside the Crows&#x27; forward 50m.<\/p>\n<p>Instead the boundary umpire mistakenly awarded the kick to Atkins, as Taylor and members of Adelaide&#x27;s bench raised their arms in protest.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeff&quot;I think that&#x27;s a Crows ball,&quot; AFL great David King said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"79d98615-8741-4873-856e-e90e3b659b2d\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/79d98615-8741-4873-856e-e90e3b659b2d\" alt=\"Geelong player Tom Atkins kicks the ball out ahead of Adelaide&#x27;s Zac Taylor.\" data-width=\"1277\" data-height=\"718\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;They review these upstairs, will they recall it? Too late.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>\ufeffWhile the AFL&#x27;s video review officials are meant to review the new out of bounds rulings and can overrule decisions in real time, they failed to act in this instance.<\/p>\n<p>Atkins was able to keep the ball in Geelong&#x27;s hands and about 30 seconds later the Cats scored a goal through Jack Martin to extend their lead to eight points.<\/p>\n<p>They won the game \ufeff9.14 (68) to 9.6 (60). If the Crows had the chance to score in that crucial moment, the wrong decision may have resulted in a 12-point swing against Adelaide.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the AFL confirmed the ARC should have overturned the decision and allowed Taylor the kick rather than Atkins.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If the ARC did intervene, the decision would have been overturned,&quot; AFL House said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bradeningram\/status\/2037336080153022778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"embed-social embed-twitter\" data-show-caption=\"false\" data-conversation=\"none\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/bradeningram\/status\/2037336080153022778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&quot;The AFL will look at its late-in-game process and the ability to potentially hold play to get the correct outcome.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks refused to criticise the process following the game, but a number of AFL greats were not so courteous.<\/p>\n<p>St Kilda legend Riewoldt lashed the incident when speaking on Triple M on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The umpires got that wrong. We&#x27;ve been told they have the ability to overturn big decisions,&quot; Riewoldt said on <em>Mick in the Morning<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffIt&#x27;s a bit of a farce, isn&#x27;t it? I just don&#x27;t understand.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Why bother having it if you can&#x27;t go back and say, &#x27;We got that wrong&#x27;, take it back and it&#x27;s an Adelaide free kick.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"9b42c547-4027-4f5c-9fd0-de7d08004c2c\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9b42c547-4027-4f5c-9fd0-de7d08004c2c\" alt=\"Crows player Zac Taylor reacts to the dud call.\" data-width=\"1536\" data-height=\"864\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Fox Footy experts were equally stunned.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>&quot;They completely missed it there, the ARC, in what was a pretty pivotal moment,&quot; Richmond legend Jack Riewoldt said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;In the end, there&#x27;s a few moments you could say, &#x27;This may&#x27;ve gone Adelaide&#x27;s way&#x27;.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>It would have been a stirring victory for the Crows at a venue that opposition teams notoriously struggle to beat the Cats at.<\/p>\n<p>King doubled down on his criticism following the game, asking why the review officials could not have stepped in and given the ball to Taylor.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We&#x27;re under the impression that it gets reviewed upstairs, and it can be corrected or overturned as the first one was. So, why wasn&#x27;t the second?&quot; King said, referencing an earlier overturned decision.<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6391776550112\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pickerimage-50.jpg\" alt=\"Cats\u00a0beat\u00a0Crows\u00a0in\u00a0thriller\" data-vms-id=\"ref:cmn7xqmuv00070hk81kkiodct\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;It was a clear and obvious kick off the boot of Atkins. I don&#x27;t know why the first one was paid that way, but certainly the second one was obviously and clearly off the boot of Atkins \u2014 who stooged the umpire beautifully.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If we&#x27;re going to be able to review these things, chasing perfection, then that&#x27;s across the board. You can&#x27;t miss like that\u2026 the game had stopped, so there was enough time if the ARC was on the ball.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s a stretch to say that cost them the goal (the Cats then scored), but it certainly gave them (the Cats) the opportunity.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks refused to criticise the decision or blame it for costing the Crows a goal.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Geelong now sits fifth on the AFL ladder with two wins from three games, while the Crows sit ninth with one win from three games.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday night&#x27;s result could well have flipped those standings.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The AFL has admitted Adelaide was dudded by a crucial decision late in Thursday night&#x27;s thrilling loss to Geelong, which Nick Riewoldt labelled a &quot;farce&quot;. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=497017\" title=\"AFL admits error in &#039;farce&#039; non-call that swung thriller\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":497019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=497017"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497023,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497017\/revisions\/497023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/497019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=497017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=497017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=497017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}