The AFL will introduce video reviews to help with borderline scoring decisions this season.
The review system was trialled during the pre-season and the league confirmed its use for the premiership season on Friday, just a day before Saturday night’s season-opener in Sydney.
AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the technology was not perfect, but would be an improvement on purely relying on the naked eye.
“We have elected to introduce the change if we can eliminate errors in some instances,” Anderson said.
“Video technology will not remove all errors from the game, as some replays can not assist, but the aim is to improve decision-making where possible.”
Field umpires will be able to request a review and if available vision is inconclusive, the decision will be referred back to the umpires on the field.
Players can not challenge a scoring decision.
Anderson said the trials indicated there would be an average of one or two reviews per game, each causing delays of no more than a minute.
In two of the past three AFL grand finals there have been errors in scoring decisions.
Last year, Collingwood’s Sharrod Wellingham was incorrectly awarded a goal, with Geelong’s Tom Hawkins benefiting in the 2009 decider.