Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has slammed the AFL's score review system following his side's narrow three-point loss to the Crows in Saturday's Showdown.
It comes after Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins' controversial match-winning goal was allowed, despite appearing to hit the post, a decision the score review could not overturn due to a lack of evidence.
Even Jenkins admitted he thought it was behind.
“My grandma raised me not to tell fibs, I think it hit the post,” Jenkins told Fox Footy post-match.
“But I’m pretty happy he (score review) didn’t think so."
But Hinkley was not so impressed with the system, labelling it an "embarrassment."
"Let me be really clear right from the start, Adelaide deserved to win, they were the better team in a really close game," Hinkley told reporters in the post-match press conference.
"But to deal with that last moment, where the player acknowledges it's hit the post and the AFL, in a billion-dollar industry, can wreck seasons for football clubs.
"If I was the AFL, I'd be embarrassed and disappointed in an industry that's so important to so many people.
"(The AFL) will come out and say they got it wrong, but the technology should have changed that.
"The technology should have made sure this monumental mistake in a football season shouldn't have appeared."
Hinkley added that someone needed to be held accountable for the potentially flawed score review system.
"The score review is there to make sure this doesn't happen, and it continues to fail," he said.
"Someone should be accountable for that because I'm accountable for winning and losing.
"It was a great game of footy, but a major failure by the AFL tonight."
The AFL have since approved the decision to award Jenkins the goal in a statement released on Saturday night.
"It is the AFL determination that after accessing all relevant vision this evening, it supported the decision of the reviewer to confirm the goal umpire’s decision of a goal, with no clear evidence beyond reasonable doubt to make an over-rule," the statement read.
Despite the tough loss, Hinkley affirmed that his side is well-placed to make finals despite a tough draw ahead, including clashes with West Coast (home), Collingwood (away) and Essendon (home).
"We're in pretty good form and we've got a big challenge next week," Hinkley said.
"We've played well enough to deserve where we are and we can still make a fair bit out of this season.
"Any one moment, or moments, in the next six or seven weeks, anything can happen."
