At least once a quarter there is a group huddle, a consultation and a collective groan across the AFL. The goal umpire talks out of the corner of his or her mouth, the field umpire paints a square in the sky, the ARC arcs up, and the guessing game begins.

At least once a quarter there is a group huddle, a consultation and a collective groan across the AFL. The goal umpire talks out of the corner of his or her mouth, the field umpire paints a square in the sky, the ARC arcs up, and the guessing game begins. The score review system is sponsored by a crypto exchange. Minutes are lost. Games are sometimes decided. Seasons are sometimes derailed. It sucks the air out of games. It is a mess. It’s an embarrassment for the competition right now.

In the wake of the goal umpiring error at the Adelaide Oval last year, we were assured things would change, that the technology would improve and that the errors would be averted. Three weeks is a fair sample size and little seems to have changed.

If anything, the majority of goal umpires have over-corrected. They appear terrified of making a howler, and review the most bleedingly obvious of calls. They reviewed a goal at the MCG on Sunday that missed the goal post by about a metre. In the first half of the Melbourne-Bulldogs game last week, they reviewed similar incidents half a dozen times.

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What exacerbates the situation, and I’m looking squarely at Channel 7 here, is the way their commentators weigh in on each review. Brian Taylor will give a frothing, factually chaotic run down on what’s happening. “I think it’s a goal, JB! “I think you’re right, BT!” Meanwhile, Blind Freddy can see the ball has barrelled into the goal post.

In the off-season, the AFL’s new head of football Laura Kane went on an overseas study tour. Certain sports, she found, lend themselves to technological intervention. The geometry of sports such as tennis and baseball make it far easier to implement. She put an extra person in the ARC. She fast-tracked the trials of chips in balls.