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Sport Nation
AFL considering revolutionary technology to solve score review dilemma
Sam Edmund • August 8th, 2025 12:28 pm
The AFL is considering revolutionary Australian technology as the elusive answer to its longstanding score review dilemma.
League chiefs have recently held talks regarding world-leading software that not only promises to provide score review decisions with zero latency, but doesn’t need the ball to be microchipped.
Vello Technologies is the company behind a system that would use optical tracking software and proprietary technology to categorically determine whether balls are touched, hit the post or cross the goal line.
It would work by embedding tiny cameras in the goalposts and another group of cameras around the stadium, rather than inserting chips in balls.
While Hawk-Eye’s SkeleTRACK system tracks 29 data points on a player’s body, the Vello Technologies software claims it can track 132 data points to provide unparalleled model accuracy.
It would mean that the game would no longer need to be stopped for a score review in the AFL Review Centre (ARC), with goal umpires told in real-time what their decision should be.
It’s understood the AFL is close to testing the new system, potentially in the AFLW competition.
It’s unclear what it would cost the AFL to implement, but the system could also prove crucial in helping the AFL maintain concussion protocols given its optical tracking technology can tell doctors how hard a player has been hit, the velocity of the whiplash and at precisely where the point of contact occurred.
There is believed to be scope for field umpires to also be told instantly whether a ball has travelled 15m and if a mark can be paid.
The technology has the potential to be one of the biggest developments the game has ever seen.
Sources said Fox Sports are exploring ways to factor it into their AFL and NRL broadcasts as early as next year.
For more than a decade the AFL score review system has been plagued by embarrassing blunders, farcical mistakes and inadequate technology that has decided games and affected seasons. It has been heavily criticised by fans, coaches and media.
The introduction of the ARC in 2019 has done little to save the game from scoring controversies given substandard technology, while the delays in reaching a decision have frustrated fans and players.
The AFL engaged Sportable to introduce “smart ball” technology for the 2024 AFLW season, but the system encountered problems.
The league, which last year admitted a smart-ball error in an AFLW match, held off introducing it in the men’s competition, citing the need for further development.
