There's been yet another score review controversy after Thursday night's game between Essendon and GWS.
During a crucial stage of the last quarter, Essendon ruckman Shaun McKernan kicked a goal to draw scores level with two minutes to go.
However, GWS defender Adam Kennedy appeared to touch the ball, with the incident not sent upstairs.
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Shaun McKernan kicked a crucial goal late, but should it have counted? pic.twitter.com/NRQ10ScJQ1
— AFL.com.au (@AFLcomau) June 27, 2019
Speaking to 3AW, AFL boss Gil McLachlan defended the decision.
“It wasn’t as if it wasn’t reviewed,” McLachlan said.
“My advice this morning is that was reviewed for 40 seconds.”
McLachlan added that the AFL had one of its best score reviewers working during the game.
“They had to make a decision on whether the ball was touched beyond reasonable doubt – that’s the standard to overturn a decision,” he added.
“They had specific training this week, had gone through vision about what reasonable doubt was.”
However, when pressed for his own opinion, McLachlan refused to engage.
“I’m not going to comment on whether I think it’s right or wrong, the view of the AFL will come from the footy department,” he said.
The score review system has been a source of much ire this year for footy fans, with multiple decisions being failed to be reviewed.
Speaking after the game on Fox Footy, Melbourne great Garry Lyon slammed the score review system, which marred an otherwise great game of footy.
“It’s a rubbish situation,” Melbourne great Garry Lyon said.
“We’ve got two systems in place; if an umpire says yeah, we can review it, then we might spend 45 seconds on it and take our time looking at it and use all the angles in the world. If there’s no review, you’ve got 20 seconds left before we bounce the ball.
“We’ve got two systems set up, we’ve got horrible results all around the place.
“I’m not sure whether this would have effected the result but it certainly would’ve effected the way the game was played out in the last minute and a half.”