The Captain had to notify the umpire who then had to stop play and call for a head count.
I’ve seen it done a few times and the most recent was about 10 years ago in our local A grade comp in a Prelim final. Side was up by about 5 goals up in the third quarter and had their score wiped.
In the SANFL a couple of years ago North played with an extra man for 5 minutes in the Prelim and won by 5 points. Got hit with a wet lettuce leaf
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Apparently the AFL are investigating the interchange bungle as it’s believed North actually breached it further and at that last centre bounce Sydney should have received another free and 50m penalty
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No point fining them as the AFL will only hand it back to them anyway.
You would hope that they get some sort of penalty though for such a blatant breach unless it was simply a matter of North reversing the incorrect interchange which they are required to do
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Seems to be the indication from some of the media.
Need some clarity on the “interchange stewards.” Are they AFL officials or club officials? Are they there to simply stand back, watch what happens, monitor for complaince and report breaches, or are they actually supposed to enforce compliance (eg give clubs warnings when they’re getting close to the cap, somehow stop clubs from exceeding the cap etc?) Do they report breaches to both the AFL and the club, or just one or the other?
AFAIK they’re appointed by the AFL to monitor each club’s interchange bench, and report breaches to the AFL (umpires, who will then give an on-field penalty.) It’s on the clubs themselves, through their own staff in and around the interchange area, to ensure they operate within the rules and don’t give the AFL-appointed stewards any reason to report anything.
In the NM v Syd game, the afl-appointed interchange steward saw that NM was on 74 interchanges, saw them do another 2 interchanges, meaning they were now on 76, which is more than the allowed amount of 75, and reported it. NM either failed to keep count of their own interchanges and didn’t know that they were already on 74 before they made those 2 interchanges, or didn’t realize that 74+2 would be >75.
Happy to be corrected.
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Yes the Interchange Steward is appointed by the AFL. The make sure all is above board and they warn the teams if things are getting close regarding cap numbers as well as how players go on or off. If a breach occurs they immediately tell the umps who then pay the free and a 50. The umps on the ground will pay it when they get a break in play.
Unfortunately for North it happened when the ball was in the Sydney F50 and close to goal.
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Thanks. So either the interchange steward didn’t warn North that they were getting close, or North ignored the warning.
Yeah they would have been warned. The issue was a player took himself off with cramping at the same time they were taking another player off and it got confusing for them I believe.
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They were saying on the broadcast that they were at 74, but then Shiels came off with cramp when another was coming off. They should have all known on the bench they only had one left and told #76 to stay on.
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Or instead of forcing him to continue playing injured, they could have let him come off but not replaced him, and just played with 17 (or used their sub, if not already activated?) So the issue wasn’t with him coming off (on field he probably doesn’t know the exact interchange count,) but with them replacing him being #76.
The Swans bench was certainly aware of what was happening
Someone here was suggesting we should have a crack at MacKay. Could be the farking massive bodied mid we’ve been looking for .
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Big boy, indeed. 1045kg. Huge !
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At that weight, not so much swung forward as unable to walk to the other end of the ground when teams swapped ends
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Play him at full-back. Just wedge him between the posts.
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Not sold on Wardlaw, goes in hard but just looks a bit out of his depth.
He’s only played 1 game give him a break, will be a star.
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He’s only played 1 game, how do you know he will be a star?
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