Greg Swann changes ARC score reviews after two Sunday controversies — Footy Scores
AFL footy scores changed again on Monday, with Greg Swann saying the ARC will only intervene in a score if the goal umpire or another umpire asks for a review. The move comes after two Sunday controversies and after Swann said the ARC got the Griffin Logue touched decision wrong.
Greg Swann and the ARC
Swann moved quickly after the weekend’s disputes. The ARC will still handle goal reviews when a goal is awarded, but it will no longer step in on its own unless an on-field umpire requests a score review.
That reverses a power the league introduced after Ben Keays’ shot for Adelaide against Sydney was mistakenly not called a goal in the penultimate round of 2023. That call effectively cost Adelaide a finals berth, and the authority for the ARC to call a score or non-score lasted less than three years before being revoked.
Rowan Marshall and Griffin Logue
The weekend’s pressure point came in the St Kilda-West Coast game, when the ARC paid a retrospective mark to Rowan Marshall about one minute after the goal umpire had ruled a point rather than a mark and play had continued. That sequence left the review system at the center of the match instead of the field umpires.
In the GWS-North Melbourne game, Griffin Logue appeared to have touched Xavier O’Halloran’s shot, but the Giants still won by seven points. Swann said that was the call the ARC got wrong, and it became the clearest example of why the league has narrowed the process.
Ben Keays and the new limit
The change returns the first call to the goal umpire and keeps the ARC in a supporting role unless another umpire asks for help. It also closes the door on automatic intervention in the sort of score or non-score decision that came under scrutiny after Keays’ missed goal in 2023.
For clubs and supporters, the practical shift is straightforward: disputed scoring incidents will now need an umpire request before the ARC steps in. That is the line Swann drew after two controversies on Sunday, and it leaves the field officials with more control over whether a review starts at all.
