To the surprise of nobody, the AFL has signed off the decision to award Essendon's Shaun McKernan a crucial goal in Thursday night's win over GWS.
The league says there was not enough evidence to overturn the on-field decision of goal.
It came after the Bombers big man drew his side level with a shot from the arc in the dying stages of the match, though Giants defender Adam Kennedy claimed to have touched it off the boot.
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Replays seemed to back up Kennedy, with one of the fingers on his left hand appearing to bend back as the ball travelled past.
Shaun McKernan kicked a crucial goal late, but should it have counted? pic.twitter.com/NRQ10ScJQ1
— AFL.com.au (@AFLcomau) June 27, 2019
Though the quality of the vision and minimal angles made it hard to be sure, seeing the goal stand.
Essendon then kicked the match-winner through Cale Hooker shortly after, giving them a much-needed, pressure-relieving win.
The controversy took some of the shine off the come-from-behind result, with Fox Footy pundit Jonathan Brown calling the ongoing score review drama "the biggest embarrassment in our game since Meat Loaf sang the pre-game at the grand final."
With plenty of commentary around the incident, the AFL responded on Friday, reiterating that they felt the correct decision was made, further to CEO Gillon McLachlan's comments earlier in the day.
"The AFL football operations department has today determined that at the time of the review, the score review official deemed the vision was not conclusive beyond reasonable doubt.," an AFL statement said.
While fans won't be surprised to see the AFL back their officials after yet another headline-making decision, this one can probably be put down to the system, rather than user error.
The on-field umpire didn't ask for an official score review, meaning the official upstairs had less time to make the decision, with McLachlan claiming they took 40 seconds on this occasion.
With only one angle showing the possible touch, it certainly looks like Kennedy got his finger to it, though the frame rate on the cameras used makes it impossible to be sure.
The AFL has trialled a 'bunker' system this season, which looks all but certain to be a full-time feature next season given the host of mistakes and contentious calls this year.
Though NRL fans will know that a bunker isn't the quick fix it might be made out to be.
