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Live sport on SN this weekend“It will ruin the game”: Whateley whacks ARC over another controversy
Nicholas Quinlan • May 2nd, 2026 2:43 pm
Gerard Whateley has once again slammed the AFL’s Review Centre (ARC) following their intervention during Friday night’s match between Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
In the 59th iteration of the Showdown, the Crows pulled off a thrilling one-point win against the Power thanks to a Brayden Cook goal right at the death on Friday night.
But while Adelaide walked away with four premiership points, there were plenty of umpiring controversies that nearly saw the Crows robbed of yet another win.
During the halfway mark of the third quarter, Adelaide’s Jake Soligo appeared to have kicked a goal to cut Port’s lead to seven points.
However, the ARC decided it would review the decision, resulting in a delay in play, believing that the ball had crossed the line when it was on top of the goalpost, resulting in a point.
Following that decision, the respected broadcaster thinks that it was the worst overreach he has seen by the review centre.
“The real problem for the game is what happened with the ARC last night, which is the greatest overreach we have seen yet,” Whateley declared on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“This is the worst intervention from the ARC. This has been building, and this is going to get worse unless somebody steps in and stops it.
“So, the Soligo snap goes eight feet over the goalpost. The goal umpire is directly underneath the goalpost; he sees what happens in real time.
“One minute and 40 seconds later, the voice of God says, ‘We see the ball crosses the line over the top of the goalpost’.
“So, the challenge is, show me the frame where all of the ball crosses all of the line, which is the rule.
“And then once you can't do that, thanks for your services, you're dismissed.”
Whateley then doubled down on his view, believing that the ARC’s ‘meddling’ in matches has the capacity to ruin the match.
“I'm actually really, really angry about this,” he continued.
“When you give humans the capacity to intervene, it becomes a compulsion to interfere.
“What we have now is an addiction to meddling. This is straight out meddling, and it'll ruin the game.”
