It's the fifth time across four seasons the AFL has admitted a late umpiring mistake went against the Crows in close losses. When a pattern emerges at this frequency, it stops being bad luck.
The AFL confirmed that the decision not to pay a free kick against Tom Atkins and Geelong during the final quarter of their eight-point win over Adelaide was in fact the wrong call. The moment in question: during their Thursday night clash against the Crows, Cats midfielder Atkins soccered the ball out of bounds. With the AFL's new last touch rules, this now means that a free kick should have been awarded to the Crows. Instead, Geelong got the free kick. The Cats went on to kick a goal through Jack Martin from Atkins' free kick, and held on for an eight-point win despite the Crows' frantic late efforts.
What happened next matters as much as what happened on the field. With the ARC having no time to intervene, there was no opportunity to correct it in real time. "The ball came back into play before the ARC had time to intervene on the last disposal free kick awarded to Geelong in the fourth quarter last night," read the league statement. Atkins, it seems, recognised the situation and acted quickly. Quick play resumed before the system designed to catch these errors could activate.
Geelong coach Chris Scott acknowledged the issue. "If people are saying that it (the decision) was wrong, it's likely to be accurate," Scott said in his post-match press conference. "I think it's a pragmatic, logical decision to say, well, if we can get some help from the ARC on those things, we should do it, but not a way that holds the game up for too long. If the question was, 'Would you rather it take a little bit too long, but they get it right?' Yeah, I'd rather they got it right."
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks took the diplomatic route, declining to blame the loss on the umpiring error. But the broader context is unavoidable. In 2023 Collingwood beat Adelaide by two points in a game that would have helped secure Adelaide's place in the finals had they won. With only 15 seconds left in the game, captain Jordan Dawson received the ball in Adelaide's forward 50, only to be smacked in the face by Collingwood's Jamie Elliott, resulting in him dropping the ball. The AFL later admitted that all four umpires had missed the contact due to restricted view.
The same year brought Ben Keays' disallowed goal against Sydney. Only eight weeks later during the Crows' final opportunity to make the finals, in a game against Sydney, Ben Keays scored a goal with only 78 seconds left in the game, placing the Crows four points ahead. However Keays' celebration ended prematurely as the ball was judged to have grazed the post, despite subsequent replays showing otherwise. No score review was called and the Crows, who ultimately lost the game, were awarded a point.
When you aggregate these incidents over time and track the pattern against other clubs, a troubling story emerges. The question the AFL must answer isn't just about this one decision or even this one season. It's whether the systems in place can reliably protect the integrity of close contests when stakes are highest. The AFL said it will look at its late-in-game process and the ability to potentially hold play to get the correct outcome. That promise will mean little unless the league is willing to fundamentally alter how it handles the final minutes of tight games.