AFL "exploring" player challenges for goal umpire decisionsBy SEN
27 Nov 2019The AFL is considering allowing players the chance to challenge goal umpire decisions next season.
It comes after a goal was incorrectly awarded to Collingwood’s Josh Thomas that almost cost GWS a spot in this year’s Grand Final.
All goals are reviewed via the league’s new AFL Review Centre (ARC), but this mooted change could see teams have up to three challenges per game for touched-off-the-boot decisions only.
The challenge system idea was discussed at today’s AFL Competition Committee meeting and will also be on the agenda when the AFL Commission sits down in mid-December.
"We want to provide the player and also the team with the ability to follow it through strongly and it also allows us greater time as well," AFL operations boss Steve Hocking told reporters on Tuesday.
"A lot of that happens back-of-house but in this sense if I'm at a game and (a player) makes that decision then the fans are going to respond to that in a different way.
"I think the average (review) over the year was about 28 seconds but we could've taken it out to a minute (to look at the Thomas goal).
“Fans would've been really comfortable with that because it would have been a player challenge.
"On top of that, it doesn't look like officialdom is intervening in the game. There's some work to be done on that but we're exploring it."
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/11/26/afl-weighing-up-player-challenges-for-goal-umpire-decisions/
