The AFLW has introduced groundbreaking technology to assist in assessing the accuracy of umpires' calls, and it's inside the ball itself.
It's called 'score assist' smart ball technology, and it operates by having wireless sensors inside the Sherrins which track motion, the position of the ball on the field, distance travelled, speed, spin rates and flight or hang time.
It's been in the works for the past 18 months and has already been used in practice matches along with training or games with various AFL, AFLW, VFL and VFLW teams, to test out its viability. AFL GM of footy Laura Kane said it is immediate, meaning there's no delay in being able to assess the accuracy of the umpiring calls.
"Technology and innovation is a key strategic pillar of the AFL football department and we are thrilled to be able to introduce the smart ball to the NAB AFLW competition," Kane said.
"The smart ball technology and system works in a different way to our current ARC system, instead, it will provide information in real-time fashion alerting our score assist officials if required, who will then communicate with our umpires.
"This will be a fantastic addition to NAB AFLW and provide a level of accuracy that we have not previously been able to facilitate.
"We have fully upgraded the umpire communication system to ensure that the score assist process can be enabled between the score assist officials at each game and our field and goal umpires."
It will work by having Score Assist Officials (SAO) at each game, who will receive a real time alert if the ball hits a post, is touched in flight, or crosses a goal line.
This, in conjunction with reviewing broadcast vision, if necessary, can then be the catalyst to change a decision made by a goal or field umpire.
At the 2024 AFLW captain's day Kane explained the difference between what occurs with the ARC used in the men's game and the new smart ball technology.
"It's to help the umpires officiate, it will just happen in a different way, in the AFL we use cameras, in AFLW we will use a ball that effectively has a GPS chip in it," she said. "We've upgraded all of the communications for all of our umpires who will have headsets and microphones and there will be score assist operators at every game."
Despite this, the final decision rests with the umpires still. "As the name suggests, it's to assist our umpires, the umpires will still make the decision, but if we can see conclusively via the technology that the ball has hit the post, it's hit a finger, it's hit something, our SAO's will be able to use vision to cross reference and help the umpires make the decision.
"The technology is instant, so if there's any conjecture, they can help right away but at the moment as it is with AFL, unless the ARC is called for a review, the umpires will still make the decision."