Thirty seconds mysteriously vanished off the clock during St Kilda’s nailbiting four-point victory against the GWS Giants at Engie Stadium on Saturday.
Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph reporting in the Herald Sun that the incident took place after a Max Hall goal late in the second quarter.
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There was 33 seconds remaining before half time when Hall’s crumbing goal put the Saints 32 points in front at the main break.
The clock ticked down to 29 seconds to go but then suddenly reduced to .00 as the players made their way back to the centre square.
The siren was then blown as Tom De Koning and Jake Riccardi jumped in the air to contest the ruck battle.
Ralph confirmed that the issue lay with the AFL and it’s timekeepers.
“The AFL’s time clock is governed by the league, with broadcasters Fox Footy and Seven only taking a feed of that clock rather than having any influence over it,” he wrote.
“In the third quarter of the same clash the clock jumped around from 9.41 to 12.46 before seeming to autocorrect.”
At that stage of the game, it did not appear as if the blunder would be costly.
But with the Giants charging home in the dying minutes, kicking the last three goals of the game, that 30 seconds could have been decisive.
The full-time siren sounded as Jack Silvagni spoiled the Giant’s final kick inside 50.
Thirty second mysteriously disappeared from the clock during St Kilda’s win over the Giants.Source: FOX SPORTS
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It was not the first time this round that the AFL has had issues with the time clock.
It went down across the telecast and in the coaches during the final quarter of the Western Bulldogs’ six-point win against the Adelaide Crows at the Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
A technical fault caused that problem but the timekeepers were able to impacted as everyone else was left in the dark during the thrilling finish.
“The difficult thing for both teams was that the clock stopped,” Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said post-game.
“No-one knew what the time was until it got to about, gee what was it? There was about five or six minutes to go. Everyone was flustered because you weren’t sure how urgent it was based on that clock ticking down.”