Rory Sloane brushes off captain's challenge idea despite AFL admitting Crows dudded in thriller

Adelaide great Rory Sloane believes a captain's challenge-style review system would not work in the AFL amid the fallout of the Crows' one-point loss to the Suns.

On Sunday, the AFL admitted that Crows midfielder Izak Rankine should have been paid a mark in the dying minutes of Saturday's game.

The league conceded that the field umpire made a mistake, and even if Rankine did not have complete control of the mark, he should have received a free kick in any case.

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The Suns defeated the Crows 13.13 (91) to 14.6 (90) but were the beneficiaries of a late umpiring controversy when Rankine was not awarded a mark despite appearing to get a decent hold of the ball.

The former Sun was also denied a free kick, despite being pushed in the back by defender Sam Collins.

The incident marked the fourth time in less than two years that an AFL-admitted umpiring error has cost the Crows dearly in a tight match.

In the final minutes of the match, and with the Crows trailing by a point, a set shot at goal from 25 metres out in the left-forward pocket could have changed the outcome in favour of Adelaide.

Speaking on Nine's Today, Sloane addressed the field umpire being wrong on both counts.

"Don't bring it up again," Sloane joked.

"It's like rubbing salt in the wound.

"I don't know why the AFL does this. They go away, they assess [the decision] and go, 'Yeah, we made another mistake' and it's pouring salt in the wounds of some already very salty fans."

Asked how the AFL should address the matter to ensure it does not happen again, Sloane echoed coach Matthew Nicks' post-match comments that the onus was on the team and that it should not have been that situation at the end of the game.

"Unfortunately, there's not much you can do, and that's the only choice you have as players [to move on]," he said.

"You go, 'Well, as Nicksy [Nicks] said, look if we didn't put ourselves in that position where the game was so close, maybe if we tried to win the game by two, three, four goals instead of being in that position where you're relying on a little bit of luck and an umpiring call'.

"You don't want to be in those positions and, yeah, there was a couple of areas the Crows would have liked to tidy up on the weekend."

In the NRL a team's captain can use a stoppage in play caused by referee intervention to dispute the decision.

If "challenging", the call is referred to the video referee in the sport's Bunker for review.

While this process slows down the speed of the game, the ability to question on-field decisions theoretically allows the correct calls to be implemented more often.

Sloane could not see the same system functioning in the AFL.

"I don't know if a captain's call could be done; I think it has got to come from a coach," he said.

"A coach has the ability to see much more than a captain on the ground, and sometimes as captain, you get caught up in the moment and it's hard to see everything.

"So, I reckon if we're going to do something like that, make it a coach's call — let them look at the footage and take the call from there."

Sloane did not elaborate how a coach's challenge might work in real time during a game, given play moves on quickly in Aussie rules.

Last year, AFL executive general manager Laura Kane said the concept of one captain's challenge for each team per game was not something the league was considering.