The AFL works because the ruck officiating is neutral. When play breaks down the ref gets the ball and restarts it, this also allows for contesting to occur in actual play and not on the ground. The refs have to keep a black and white timing for tackles to create consistency and remove dominant rubbish (way to do this is to call a tackle after a player has made no more forward progress at at least a walking pace, then give them 3 seconds to play the ball and play on, and infringement is simply another tackle to the ball carrier, or if against the ball carrier a call to go back and play it from the mark). Then push the contesting and play to when the ball is in motion.
That way the ruck becomes neutral and the referee is not giving the same scope to influence the game.