It was a long opening quarter that lasted 37 minutes — and that wasn’t because of a goal avalanche or shootout.
Commentators and fans were left frustrated and stunned on Friday night after four moments of officiating indecision during the Adelaide-Geelong clash at Adelaide Oval.
The first two instances saw boundary umpires unable to conclusively say the ball landed out of bounds on the full, meaning boundary throw-ins were instead called for.
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But replays suggested Adelaide should’ve received a free kick with eight minutes left in the quarter as the ball landed over the boundary line, before Geelong was denied a free of its own with the ball going out of bounds on the full off the boot of Crows defender Mark Keane.
The quarter then finished with two score reviews.
The first one took the ARC just over one minute to determine Jeremy Cameron had failed to keep the ball in play close to Geelong’s goal, before a quicker call was made in the dying stages of the quarter after video replays confirmed the ball had hit the behind post and was, therefore, out of bounds.
Channel 7 commentator Brain Taylor lamented the “mountain of indecision” in the opening term.
“This is one of the most bizarre opening quarters,” Taylor said.
Co-commentator Matthew Richardson added: “I know we want to make sure we get decisions right, but I reckon back yourself in a bit more with some of these decisions.”
The Cats had a blistering start to the game, booting six goals to three to hold a 20-point lead over Adelaide at quarter-time.
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