The AFL has made another failure of common sense. It’s time for us to arc up

It wasn’t technology that failed the game on Sunday when the ARC stopped play to overrule a goal umpiring decision in the St Kilda v West Coast match.

It was common sense.

And that failure of common sense continued on Monday when the decision was made to remove from the ARC the power to call the ball back if a goal umpiring error occurs.

The ARC must retain that power to be used at its discretion – with discretion.

It is a useful, break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option that should be retained.

The time to use the power was not with more than nine minutes remaining in the second quarter of a round seven match, when a line-ball decision had been made by two umpires in the correct position. That was an overreach.

The time the call back was needed – and still might be needed – is with 70 seconds remaining in a round 23 match with finals up for grabs when the wrong decision is made, as happened in 2023 when Adelaide’s Ben Keays kicked a goal in the dying minutes of a tight match against Sydney but it was adjudicated a behind and no umpire called for a review.

Instead on Monday, football performance boss Greg Swann scrapped the rule designed to stop that happening again. He went with this explanation as to what is in place now if a Keays situation arose, as it inevitably will.

“If that happens, we would like to think two things. It doesn’t. [And] if it is that clear, we have instructed today the umpires including the field umpires, boundary [umpires] if there is an issue for them – a little bit like last touch – if it looks like there is a problem, or reading the signs of players, if there is a problem, they can call a review. They will be the ones in control, not the ARC directly in control,” Swann said.

In other words, we hope the umpires pick it up and call for a review. If not, cue the drama.

That’s not a solution. That is a reaction.

It’s what we have seen from AFL House recently – reaction, reaction, reaction, and seemingly without much common sense applied.

Of course the flow of the game gets interrupted when the ball is called back. It’s just that in Sunday’s case, it was called back when no one thought the decision from on high was necessary.

The rule should now be that the ARC will retain the power to call back play if it deems a clear error has been made within the final five minutes of a match, anytime in a grand final, in any final, within the final 10 minutes with three goals the margin (pick your poison) and the umpires on the ground have failed to ask for a review. What happens if Tom Hawkins’ infamous 2009 grand final poster happens again and no umpire on the ground notices?

The rule should be interpreted, or detailed if needed, that the power will only be used in exceptional circumstances to remove howlers. If the error still makes it through both lines of defences, well, we did our best.

That’s when we can live with mistakes.

Because the call-back rule wasn’t the problem last weekend so much as its rigid application. Nor, when we step back, was the technology, as much as it can be annoying. It was the decision-makers applying the technology.

I don’t want to be rude but the person making the Marshall call from the ARC did not, for whatever reason, employ the powers of common sense. That happens to everyone in the moment, but dumb decisions should not lead to rule changes. Get better decision-makers in the ARC instead.

An alternative to what the AFL did on Monday was to stand down the ARC official until that person is ready again, and keep the rule.

We haven’t got better at living with mistakes. We have got better at turning mistakes into bigger mistakes by changing the rules rather than refining them.

It’s time to arc up.

Do not remove the emergency power to call back the ball after a wrong decision from the ARC. Instead, refine it.