An interchange blunder in the dying stages cost North Melbourne dearly in its three-point loss to Sydney.
With less than two minutes left in the match and North Melbourne up by three points, Brett Ratten’s side had used 74 of its permitted 75 interchanges.
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North player Liam Shiels came off the field with cramp issues along with Will Phillips, which meant the club had used 76 rotations, which led to a penalty.
The rules state the interchange steward report the violation to a field umpire and that the field umpire will stop play “at the first available opportunity”.
That opportunity occurred inside Sydney’s forward 50 with 59 seconds remaining.
A free kick and 50 metre penalty was awarded to Hayden McLean, which resulted in a set shot from the top of the goal square, and he slotted it home to score a strange victory.
“Very unusual set of circumstances with the game paused like that and the umpire clearly talking to someone through his head set,” Nick Dal Santo said on Fox Footy.
“It feels like there’s a fair bit of confusion. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the cap go over and therefore be penalised.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if the majority of players on the field have no idea what the last free kick was for.”
Interim Kangaroos coach Brett Ratten did not want pour furl on the fire after the match.
“We’ll have a look at it during the week and work out how we can do some things better but we’re not going to worry about that we had our chances,” he said.
“So, we’ll have a look and review it and see if we can get better … there’s sometimes chat about we’re getting close, but there’s nothing from a senior coach’s point of view where I’m looking at the interchanges, no we leave that to the bench.”
Sydney Swans coach John Longmire: “I had no idea what was going on,” he said.
“I genuinely had no idea what the free kick and 50 was paid for it wasn’t until afterwards someone told me after the siren had gone.”
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