AFL legend Leigh Matthews has slammed the ARC's (AFL Review Centre) consistent intervention in Thursday's clash between Adelaide and Carlton, saying it could be a slippery slope on how much vision is used to override umpires.
On multiple occasions, the umpires were alerted to a wrong call by those in the ARC, overturning the initial call either made by the boundary or field umpire.
"This is another ARC," Matthews said on 3AW.
"This is the thin edge of the wedge. We'll actually have the ARC looking at free kicks soon."
Matthews was asked on the broadcast, "By your tone, Leigh, you don't like that."
He responded: "Only because it's a matter of how far you take it. It used to be just score review, nothing else.
"That's the problem. When you've got the vision, it's embarrassing if it's the wrong call. It's a matter of where you stop using vision to override umpires, which is always interesting for me."
The league is on high alert following the massive blunder a fortnight ago when the Crows were wrongly penalised for a last touch-out-of-bounds that was awarded to Geelong at a crucial time of the game. The Cats capitalised on the wrong call, kicking a goal that put the margin beyond doubt.
It wasn't the only questionable umpire call on the night, with Adelaide livewire Josh Rachele's blatant throw ignored at a pivotal time in the contest.
Rachele's rugby pass was deep in the defensive 50, and would've resulted in a Carlton goal had he been correctly penalised.
Former Richmond player Jack Riewoldt posed the question of whether the ARC should intervene on such a mistake.
"That is a flat-out throw!"
Carlton fans aren't thrilled tonight - blatant misses like this aren't helping...
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"That annoys me there – you get the ARC to go and look at the things on the sideline," Riewoldt said.
"You see a flat-out throw from Josh Rachele that gets missed – you can sense why there's frustration around it.
"In a critical part of the ground as well (the Rachele throw). That's a shot on goal! A missed opportunity for Carlton."
Riewoldt suggested that the ARC should intervene in all decisions in the final minutes of the match.
If the “flat out throw” from Rachele was a concern – what of the free given against Michalanney because he was held … or the additional biased 50m gift and goal ?
Then of course, is Cripps gifted a free because he hurt himself while striking Peatling …..