Adelaide insider blasts AFL as Geelong veteran Tom Atkins responds to umpire’s controversial call

Adelaide fans are bracing for yet another apology from the AFL after Geelong benefitted from an incorrect last-touch call that directly led to a match-sealing goal for the home team on Thursday night.

In the final tterm of the pulsating clash between the Cats and Crows, a free kick was paid to Geelong star Tom Atkins after the quick-thinking veteran fooled all the umpires when the ball came off his boot.

Despite Adelaide’s Zac Taylor furiously protesting, Atkins grabbed the ball with authority and took the kick ... but the incident has left nearly everyone puzzled as to why the ARC (AFL Review Centre) wasn’t used to get the decision right.

Following the game Atkins was quizzed about the call in star commentator Brian Taylor’s famous Roaming Brian segment.

“Yeah, did it come off me?” Atkins asked.

BT: “It looked like it did on the replay.”

Atkins: “Yeah, right. I thought it was pretty line ball. I just tried to grab the ball and act like it was mine. Yeah. I don’t know how they even decide that to be honest.”

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks refused to add fuel to the fire after the match, but his counterpart Chris Scott believed it was important to get such crucial decisions right.

“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.”

7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary believes there was enough time for ARC to intervene and review the decision.

“(Nicks) refused to use this as an excuse but this will be a talking point out of the game. Now, going back over the vision, Atkins has the ball for about five or six seconds before he brings it back into play,” Cleary said.

“In that period, the ARC can intervene and overrule, but once the ball’s back in play, they can’t. So there was enough time, I think, to have a look at it.

“It is marginal but these are the things that the AFL is introducing to try and stop incidents like that.”

On Friday, the AFL conceded that it was an error, however, it has backed in the ARC, stating there was no chance to intervene.

“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,” the AFL said.

“If the ARC did intervene, the decision would have been overturned. The AFL will look at its late-in-game process and the ability to potentially hold play to get the correct outcome.”

Gun caller Hamish McLachlan said he had received a message from a former Crows star who was fuming.

“We have the ARC? In the NHL (America’s National Hockey League) they review every decision. Regardless of where the puck goes after (a review), they blow the whistle and bring it back to where they got it wrong. It’s accepted,” the ex-player — who is still involved in the club —told McLachlan via a text.

“Geelong kicks a goal after they got it wrong. You can’t wait until Monday and say sorry. It costs Adelaide and teams games. The ARC (and) the AFL need to be so much better.”

The incorrect call marks a run of costly errors from the game’s officials that have gone against Adelaide at crucial times.

Last year the Crows were dudded in a clash with Gold Coast when Izak Rankine was denied a mark (or free kick) inside Adelaide’s forward line that would have been a shot on goal and given his team a chance to lead with less than two minutes remaining.

After that error, the AFL admitted they got it wrong.

Of course, the biggest blunder of all was in 2023 when the Crows’ hopes of making the finals was blown up due to a goal umpire error that denied Ben Keays a goal with just 80 seconds on the clock in the clash with Sydney (they lost by a point).

After that game then CEO Gillon McLachlan said, “This was a mistake ... and ultimately the mistake could have been reviewed and wasn’t.

“It was a human error that happens repeatedly through games across the course of the year, but this is an error that given the context and the moment was of great consequence.”

The Crows were so frustrated (after the Rankine call last year), CEO Tim Silvers issued a statement.

“We once again find ourselves faced with an AFL acknowledgment of an umpiring error but unfortunately and in reality, it is of no use or benefit to our club, or our players, coaches, staff, members and supporters,” the statement said.

“It’s increasingly frustrating. With a five-day break between games, we must switch our focus to putting in a strong performance against (our next opponent Geelong ...).”

Meanwhile, fans lost it after the decision wasn’t reviewed last night.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful and we will cop it on the chin again and say thank you as always,” one fan said

“They’ve been absolutely shafted,” said another.

And another: “Speechless mate, shocking.”

Social media guru Bear said: “Crows fans get ready for yet another AFL apology.”