THE AFL concedes the score review process needs amending following long delays and an embarrassing mistake on Sunday at the MCG.

League operations manager Steve Hocking confirmed the blunder during Richmond’s win over Hawthorn was a result of “human error” when the Tigers were awarded a goal despite Jack Gunston appearing to touch the ball.

There was also at least one long delay at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night during St Kilda’s match against Adelaide while the TV umpire assessed whether Dylan Roberton had touched the ball en route to goal. A behind was paid but the match was held up for more than a minute.

The score review needed its own review. Source: FOX SPORTS

Finals Week 1

“There was no doubt over the weekend is that there was a number of incidents which just took too long to review,” Hocking said in a wideranging media conference at AFL House on Monday.

“We need to shorten the timeline of that. It’s there to support the goal and on-field umpires decision making and only call out the obviously incorrect calls.

“In saying that, what we will do from here is we will work with that group and make sure we tighten that up for the fans, because it is frustrating. I’m a fan of the game as well and when you sit there and see half-a-dozen replays going on, that is just too long.

“It is extending it out to 30-plus seconds and we need to pull that back to about 15-20. We acknowledge that and take ownership of that. We will sort it out.”

As for the incident on Sunday, Hocking said the TV official simply pushed the wrong button.

“It was human error,” he said.

“I am happy to put our hands up and acknowledge the fact that’s actually what happened.”

Hocking also said the TV umpire is not “there to intervene,” rather he or she is charged with supporting the umpires.

There were three incorrect deliberate out of bounds calls during Round 3. But rather than “relax” the law, Hocking simply wants to get decisions right.

Broadly speaking, the ex-Geelong defender likes the current interpretation of the contentious rule but admitted Sam Powell-Pepper, Mitch Robinson and Jack Henry were all wrongly penalised over the weekend.

“There were three decisions that were incorrect and they were spread over three different games,” he said.

“The coaches and players will get that information during the week and be notified of that and that’s part of an umpiring team that’s led by Grant Williams … They will communicate with the clubs.”

Meanwhile, it was reported on Monday morning that Geelong pair Mark Blicavs and Zach Tuohy both had stitches in their hands after running into the fence at the new Perth Stadium on Sunday evening.

Zach Tuohy collides with the fence at Optus Stadium. Source: FOX SPORTS

Hocking would not rule out introducing padding at every stadium around the country to avoid a recurrence of Sunday’s incidents, which both occurred in the second term during West Coast’s loss to Geelong.

“That (having padding at every ground) is something we need to look at,” he said.

“I’ll go back to the comment I made earlier. It has been passed from a risk management point of view.

“The LED is the same (in Perth) is the same as the MCG, same as Etihad Stadium.

“It is unfortunate but we will work with the club (Geelong) over the coming days to see what we need to do to support the players.

“They certainly hit it with some force, it is disappointing.

“We are absolutely 100 per cent committed to player health and safety.”

Hocking on the poor bouncing over the weekend:

“There has been some outstanding bouncing. We need to acknowledge that. In Round 1 there was something like 215 bounces in total and only 11 over that number were recalled. Round 2 wasn’t as good as we would have liked and certainly in Round 3 there were some issues, on Friday night, definitely.

What they’ve been instructed and coached to do is if they feel they need to throw it up, that’s ok. We are fine with that. They can then come back to bouncing or rotate another umpire through. We don’t want to load up one umpire through the game.

There have been a number of people that have said over the course of the game, ‘how about we just have one professional bouncer and that umpire just takes all of it’. You are talking about a lot of bouncing in a game. There has been some really high scoring in the first three rounds and if you start equating that to one umpire having to bounce all those times, that will lead to a lot of fatigue.

The mechanism is there for the umpires to call it. We are supportive of that and they are aware of that.”

Hawks fans heckle umpires. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

On whether poor bouncing is a form of silent protest from the umpires, who reportedly want the bounce to be eliminated:

“Any time you go to the integrity of the umpires, I think it’s disgraceful personally. I’d like to call that out. I just don’t think that is something we should be doing in the game. Their integrity is absolutely unquestionable.

A lot of the things we are talking about is human error.”

On Carlton’s four Friday night games and one Thursday night game:

“I don’t really (understand the frustration from other clubs). I think everybody gets an opportunity … It’s shared around.”

Marc Murphy of the Blues (left). (AAP Image/Julian Smith) Source: AAP

On prior opportunity:

“If you polled the coaches, 50 per cent would like it (the rule) tightened up and 50 per cent would like it freed up. We’ve got a competition committee that has been put together and that is something that will be on that agenda, as will just the health of the game.

I’ve had a number of fans call out that there is no fans on that. There will be an opportunity to have a range of different groups come through and provide feedback. That’s the purpose of it.”

On the Etihad Stadium roof, which was open for Saturday night’s game but closed for Sunday’s match:

“There is a 20 per cent threshold. When I say that, it’s a 20 per cent chance of rain if it’s close. Anything less than that then it’s open. We will navigate that over the next few weeks. We’ve been really fortunate with the weather.”