THE AFL has admitted a third error with the goal review system within the past seven days.
Richmond forward Jack Higgins' shot for goal in the second quarter of the Tigers' thumping loss to Geelong on Friday night was called a behind after appearing to brush the goalpost padding.
It was referred to the score review official, who failed to review a key piece of footage that showed the kick in fact cleared the padding and should have been awarded a goal.
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That segment of footage was shown on the broadcast after the score review had taken place.
"The score review system was introduced to correct obvious scoring errors," AFL general manager of football operations Steve Hocking said.
"In the last fortnight, there have been significant errors made during score reviews that have undermined the confidence of our clubs and the football public in the system.
"The AFL acknowledges that our players, our clubs and our fans are incredibly frustrated by each mistake, and we take full responsibility for them."
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Hocking flagged the AFL is looking into a bunker-like set-up for score reviews, where all matches would be reviewed from one location, instead of at the grounds as is currently the case.
"We are committed to ensuring we have the best process and technology available and over the last few months have been examining all possible alternative to improve the score review system," he said.
"We will keep the football public fully informed as we explore avenues to improve the system, such as the potential for a centralised officiating facility covering all venues and matches.
"In the interim we will continue to engage our score review officials, broadcast and technology partners in ensuring the current system operates as effectively as possible."
Last week, an Oscar Allen kick was awarded a goal after the official failed to review footage which showed Marcus Bontempelli touching the ball off the boot.
Instead, footage was studied to see if the ball was touched in the goal-square.
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Butters crumbs, snaps and goals. #AFLSaintsPower pic.twitter.com/XN6l1TSX2X
Very similar circumstances played out one day earlier, when Chris Mayne touched a kick off the boot of Michael Walters. In that situation, the AFL said the score review official did not have access to the footage in question due to "technical reasons".
Instead, when the clip was reviewed, the official looked to see if it had been touched while going over the goal-line.
This Michael Walters kick was paid as a goal, despite Chris Mayne's pleas for a touch.#AFLPiesFreo pic.twitter.com/7pFAs2wW2x
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