{"id":3108,"date":"2026-05-01T23:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/3108\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T23:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:32:07","slug":"afl-bosses-dodge-three-bullets-live-after-adelaides-miracle-win-over-port-adelaide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/3108\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL bosses dodge three bullets live after Adelaide\u2019s miracle win over Port Adelaide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Adelaide Crows<\/a> miracle victory over Port Adelaide<\/a> has spared the AFL<\/a> from a gigantic headache after three decisions cost the eventual winners crucial goals.<\/p>\n

Controversy threatened to mar the result of the game when the ARC intervened and overturned a Jake Soligo goal<\/a> (with the ball soaring high above the post), despite seemingly inconclusive camera angles to prove it.<\/p>\n

Commentators and fans were all stunned when the review changed the umpire\u2019s call from a goal to a behind, but it was not the only dodgy decision of the night.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier, a free kick to Zak Butters handed Port Adelaide goal despite the superstar midfielder \u201cunaware\u201d the ball was his.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just incidental contact. He didn\u2019t even know, Zak Butters, that he\u2019d won that free kick,\u201d AFL expert Kane Cornes said of that decision.<\/p>\n

And with with a tick over two minutes remaining in the game, Adelaide was denied another goal, this time when Wayne Milera slotted one from 50 but had it disallowed because of a very minor push from Josh Rachele on Logan Evans in the goalsquare.<\/p>\n

\"MostMost people believe the ARC decision to call this a point was inconclusive. Credit: @FoxFooty\"TheThe mood at Adelaide oval rapidly when the umpires decided this was not a goal, but a free kick to Port Adelaide. Credit: @FoxFooty<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the Crows were going to be robbed again. I thought it was another chapter. I had a chart ready to go,\u201d Cornes said on the AFL website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen this late,\u201d he said while showing the free kick against Rachele). \u201cThat is a goal. And then that\u2019s been reversed because of the Rachele, I\u2019m assuming it was a push in the back in the goalsquare. I couldn\u2019t find the contact very, very minimal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I thought Adelaide had been robbed again. I thought this is going to be the Vol-Kane-O.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were the better side on the night. They dominated the inside-50 count, but they\u2019re on the wrong end of the umpiring decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness, thank goodness for Adelaide, because there would have been all sorts of carnage in Adelaide. I\u2019m not sure the Crows fans would have even left the stadium if they\u2019d been robbed again … (thank goodness) that they were able to get over the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think you have to be 100 per cent sure if you\u2019re an umpire in those huge moments, and we can have some incidental contact in our game … and that cost Adelaide two goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pulsating one-point victory \u2014 (11.10 (76) to 11.9 (75) \u2014 saved the AFL from further embarrassment (and Adelaide fury) much to the relief of AFL chief Andrew Dillon and footy boss Greg Swann (who were spotted at the game).<\/p>\n

Indeed, when the cameras beamed the league\u2019s top dogs onto the scoreboard, Crows fans were not shy in showing their displeasure.<\/p>\n

Adelaide have a long history of crucial decisions that have gone against them and cost them games.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to view this content, please adjust your Cookie Settings.<\/p>\n

To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year in the Round 3 thriller against Geelong, Crows fans were fuming when a free kick was paid to Cats star Tom Atkins after the quick-thinking veteran fooled all the umpires when the ball came off his boot.<\/p>\n

Despite Adelaide\u2019s Zac Taylor furiously protesting, Atkins grabbed the ball with authority and took the kick (which led to a Cats goal) … with the AFL later conceding that it was an error (but said the ARC did not have a chance to intervene).<\/p>\n

Adelaide lost that game by eight points but only two points separated the teams when the error was made.<\/p>\n

Last year the Crows were dudded (again) in a clash with Gold Coast when Izak Rankine was denied a mark (or free kick) inside Adelaide\u2019s forward line that would have been a shot on goal and given his team a chance to lead with less than two minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

After that error, the AFL also admitted they got it wrong. Adelaide lost that Round 4 clash by a point.<\/p>\n

Of course, the biggest blunder of all was in 2023 when the Crows\u2019 hopes of making the finals were blown up due to a goal-umpire error that denied Ben Keays a goal with just 80 seconds on the clock in the clash with Sydney (they also lost that game by a point).<\/p>\n

Last year, the Crows were so frustrated (after the Rankine call), CEO Tim Silvers issued a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe once again find ourselves faced with an AFL acknowledgment of an umpiring error but unfortunately and in reality, it is of no use or benefit to our club, or our players, coaches, staff, members and supporters,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s increasingly frustrating. With a five-day break between games, we must switch our focus to putting in a strong performance against (our next opponent Geelong …).\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Boos rain down on AFL bosses during one-point Showdown epic<\/p>\n

4 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Dockers mid injures own teammate in celebration gone wrong<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Adelaide Crows miracle victory over Port Adelaide has spared the AFL from a gigantic headache after three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[395,404,77,227,595,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-3108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adelaide","8":"tag-adelaide","9":"tag-adelaide-crows","10":"tag-afl","11":"tag-lifestyle","12":"tag-sponsored-content","13":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}