AFL football boss Laura Kane insists the league will continue to explain contentious umpiring decisions amid growing criticism of the practice.
Kane has this year repeatedly sought to clarify critical decisions by officials.
The policy has increasingly become the subject of debate, while her recent explanation the officials were correct not to pay Kangaroo Bailey Scott a 50-metre penalty was howled down.
But the executive general manager of football on Wednesday stood firm.
“What’s really important to me is that we are transparent and, as required, we’re explaining things,” Kane said following a media tour of the AFL review centre.
“We are articulating to fans and we are articulating to people watching our game what’s happening.
“That’s not something we will stop doing. It’s been a really important focus area for me and it’s something we will continue to do.”
Essendon coach and former AFL football boss Brad Scott acknowledged the difficulty of the practice on SEN’s Whateley earlier this week.
“One of the most difficult pieces is the communication of umpiring decisions,” Scott said.
“I tend to lean on the side that I get everyone wants to look at the late decisions because everyone perceives that as deciding games, but I think once we start going down the track of explaining every single umpiring decision, then it creates more frustration maybe, rather than less.”
Scott’s comments came after St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said the AFL had “gone too far” in explaining decisions.
But Kane said the AFL had no intention of going into its shell when it came to clarifying decisions.
“The really important part is to start with being transparent and that’s the default setting for our football department,” Kane said.
“Umpiring is an incredibly hard job but we will continue to work. You’ve seen today the technology and support our umpires have and we’ll continue to invest in that to make sure we officiate this magical, but very difficult game to umpire.”